I don't think those would fall under graphics, so much as under mechanics of a game. The graphicas would be just the polygons and all the special effects they have out right now to make a game look good. If you add those to graphics you'd have to add physics,per-pixel hit detection, AI, etc. and those just arn't graphics.

Graphics add to gameplay in maybe 10 games in industry history (Okami being the most recent example). None of these games try for generic photorealism.

Depends on the jump in technology. The early era were extremely limited in what you could do. The jump from 2D to 3D was monumental. Since then though we have not really seen a graphics upgrade that is vital. The move from PS1/N64 to PS2/GC/Xbox was just a smoothing out of graphics. Rather than adding new gameplay elements we are seeing old ones being refined and made to look better. We are at a stage wehere new gameplay mechanics will not come from simply adding more graphical power to a system. We need new and more inventive concepts of how a game can be done rather than how a game can be pretty.

Graphics and gameplay are two totally different entities. A game can look visually beautiful and play like crap, and a game can look poor but actually be a lot of fun.

Yes, graphics matter tons.

but it doesn't have anything to do with gameplay

I think it does.

Could you please elaborate on how Okami does so.  I don't intend to belittle the game at all because I loved it to death.  However I'm not sure how it's graphics really adds to the gameplay unless you're talking about how the art style matches the story so well and creates and unprecidented level of immersion.

I wouldn't mind hearing what the other 9 are as well.

LOL Im telling you, as a dev, they are totally different elements taken care of two entirely different departments on a dev team.

For example - Lets say you're pushing a block to trigger a switch ( a la your average adventure game). No matter what the block looks like - whether a standard box or a very elaborate piece of a ruin, the object will react the same way to the switch via the coding. Graphics and gameplay are on entirely different tracks. It's not an opinion thing, its a fact of the way things are.

As someone said before, about FF7, the cutscenes and their "ooo" factor are pretty visuals, nothing more that actually enhances the gameplay or its mechanics. I'd even counter that to say that I hated the cutscenes in FF7 onward, because I felt they interrupted my game time.

yes, i want to see aeris death in HD!.