This is probably not what you think from the thread title. Please read on...

This generation we've seen graphics improve, and some are of the opinion that the developers put too much emphasis on graphics.

I believe that this is true, and I think the developers are missing a major point when they strive for this. Our imaginations.

For example, you stick a big box next to a road, put a big rectangle on it that touches the floor and put a couple of squares on it that don't touch the floor and my imagination fills in the gaps and tells me it's a building.

Do I need every individual every brick to be bumped to tell me it's a building? Do I need the brick work to look random to tell me it's a building?

Stick me in a car and have me drive passed this building at 100mph and I really couldn't care less how detailed it is.

The fact is that great graphics are best for stills. Best to look at and take every detail in. Once it starts to move then our whole perception changes. This happens to us in real life too. As we walk around we don't take every single detail around us into account.

A good example of all of this has to be GTAIV. For months we were bombarded with screenshots and they looked great. I remember well, when I first played the game, wondering what had happened to these amazing graphics I'd been seeing. It was only when I stopped and took the whole scene in that I could suddenly see the same graphics that I'd seen in the screenshots. It was quite weird.

So what I'm getting at is that I reckon there's a level of detail that could be considered "adequate". Our imaginations should be left to take care of the rest. Imagine the resources freed that could be put to better use.

Unfortunately this could never happen. We're too tied into looking at screenshots. It's how developers get us interested in games. Show is pretty screens and we're hooked. Show us ugly screens but try and describe the depth and we ain't interested.

What do you think? Do you think games have got better/worse for removing more of our imagination from them?

What do you think?  Do you think games have got better/worse for allowing their creators to more fully express themselves with better technology?

See?  I can make a loaded question too.

The Wii says hello

I got excited I had posts.

I was let down.

there is a reason why the Wii is not called an HD console... Its affortable and fun to play... the graphics have nothing to do with it.... If you want and HD console that available as well.... i just dont see what the problem is....?

That lack of high definition is a sorta reason why the Wii is not an HD console. I'm not sure if affordability or funness come into it.

If anything the Wii backs up my argument to a degree. The games don't look the best but they are still enjoyable. Your imagination doesn't mind filling in the gaps that the graphics leave. It doesn't matter that that human character doesn't have millions of polygons and fantastic textures. It has a body, two legs, two arms and a head. I know it's a human.

so what you are saying is that HD (high definition) consoles put too much emphesis on the garphics........?

Sorta.

But I'm also saying there is a limit to how graphically impressive a game needs to be, because passed this point we don't notice it when we're playing the game. We only notice it when we look at stills, or stop in the game and actually take in all the surroundings.

There might even be some science in this somewhere.

Ahh see, but I'm not quite the huge graphic's whore. To me, art style comes before the insane graphics, but the HD consoles can offer a more visceral experience in terms of on-screen physics, depth of field, body counts, etc etc etc. Graphics are just part of the experience. All of these new advancements take processing power and it's not just the pretty graphics that are the hook.

A game that I picked up again recently and really shouldn't have (I'm friggin hooked -_-;) is Warhawk on the PS3. The online play with 16 vs 16 matches, insanely huge maps, locked 60 frames per second, almost no lag, massive draw distance, THX surround sound etc etc etc really shows me what this "next gen" tech is really capable of. It's a game that I still find to be insanely impressive even to this day. And if you take a look at it's screen shots, they're really not that great :P The devs went with an art style approach instead of a maxed resolution/poly/texture, and the results are what I still think is one of the most gorgeous games on the market.

So while I agree, I think some things are being too heavily focused on, I also think that the stuff you don't notice right off the bat is REALLY pushing the experience as a whole.