First party Nintendo games to stay $50

[MrWally]

I completely see what both of you are saying, personally I would like to see more balancing between graphics and gameplay (coughcoughOBLIVIONcough), because while I consider gameplay more important than graphics (I still play HOMM 3 constantly, for goodness sake), graphics add to the realism (or lack thereof) and feel/mood of a game.

[toms]

Turns out the original xbox had a 700mhz processor, and the new one has a triple core 3ghz one. I think. When you compare the graphics of the two you have to say that as the graphics approach reality the graphical gains are becoming much smaller compared to the hardware gains.

 

I think that the thing about graphics is that they just need to be "good enough". Obviously you get the odd game that pushes the boundaries - and that becomes it's major selling point. But if you think about it 9/10 games don't push the graphical boundaries... they just need to be within the same ballpark as the latest boundary pushers.

 

Lots of games released now don't look as good as farcry or Doom3 for example... but as long as they don't look significantly worse its not a problem. Not every developer can aford to spend a fortune improving graphics engines.

 

Its all about suspension of disbelief vs expectation.

 

Gamers have always been able to suspend disbelief and insert themselves into a "real world" where spectators might just see a mass of pixels. Over they years i've seen numerous new games and screenshots that have looked amazing. Looked almost photorealistic. But then the boundaries move on and when you look back and they just look like pixelated messes. And you wonder how you ever though of them as playable, let alone amazing. Thats all about changing expectations.

*Thinks of the original Doom as a great example*

 

People now can (and do in great numbers) still happily play PS2 games even though it is the weakest of the 3 main consoles graphics wise. Thats because the gap isn't too big and so you can still easily suspend disbelief. However go back and try and play a PS1 or N64 game and its much harder to overcome that initial barrier - the gap is just too big to what you are used to seeing.

(but with any game, once you get over the initial barrier you will find your mind filling in the blanks and you can still get just as absorbed in an n64 game as a current one - once your brain adjusts)

 

My perception is that the gap (in SD at least) between the current generation and the 360 is so small that anything in the range of an xbox or better will be able to "hang in there" in the same generation without a problem. Unless the PS3 blows the 360 out of the water graphics wise - and that is looking increasingly unlikely.