Last generation, games looked good and played good. Nobody was complaining. We were all playing games like GTA (which had shit-graphics and shit-controls, mind you).

This generation, we have a choice to make. We can buy the Wii, which offers a minimal upgrade in graphics and the biggest upgrade in controls since the analog stick. Or we can buy the PS360, which offer a huge upgrade in graphics and power, and nothing else.

A 360 is shinier and stronger than an XBox.
A PS3 is shinier an stronger than a PS2.
A Wii is just a little shinier, but brings the control revolution to the industry, and it will be reaping the benefits of that revolution for years.

To argue that the Wii remote is not completely revolutionizing the entire industry and is the sole reason for the fastest sales the industry has ever known, is simply to say "Yeah well, but I don't like it" and stick your tongue out.

Graphics will always increase forever. Controller upgrades happen maybe once a decade. Thank Nintendo for that.

The GameCube controller wasn't anything new though.

I made a thread http://vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=20794 in which Rockstar Games President Sam Houser talks about things being done in GTAIV that simply weren't possible on last gen consoles.  This is an example of a game where things are going on under the hood to make the game a different experience than previous games.  Basically the characters in the game act in ways that surprise even the people who have played the game before.  I think that's a significant advancement in the genre.

I can't speak for other gamers but for me? yes. I sometimes find myself saying I think these graphics should look alot better or extremely close to cgi cut scenes or something.

I cant be bothered reading the whole thread so i dont know if any one has said this yet but being 3 pages long i guess they have... any way I find it interesting that I can look at a wii game like Metroid prime 3 and be like "WOW *drools* THOES GRAPHICS ARE SO GOOD" but still know that there nothing in comparison to the best ps3 or 360 title. So for me I seem to look at graphics based on the power of the console at hand, not at the standard of the industry. Which is why I can look at the good games of old and think wow thoes graphics are so good because I put them in the context of its time

Of course GTAIV couldn't be done on last gen consoles, that seems kind of obvious. AI is somewhat improved? That's not exactly revolutionary.

Hahaha, good work gentlemen. I was just referring to the D-Pad of the 80s, the analog stick of the 90s, and the Wii Remote of the current millennium, but yeah, the SNES controller was basically the industry standard until the Wii remote, and still every remote is just a SNES controller with some analog sticks "tacked on." And the GameCube controller on its own wasn't revolutionary until the WaveBird, but the design philosophy behind the GC controller was pretty rock solid in that it had one giant green button with everything else nearby, since every game has one primary action button used more than any other button, like say, shooting, jumping, or the gas button in racing games. Their controller designers must be demigods.

I agree with RubangB except I think they give their designers "shrooms" and what comes out of it is a million bad ideas with a few parts of good to them and then they just combine all the good parts to make an ultimate controller.