Why cutting edge graphics are meaningless, Or at least, A Little Meaningless.

Take a moment, while reading this, and think of your favorite video game. More than likely it isn’t from this console generation which means that comparatively speaking, the graphics don’t look nearly as good as today’s games. Of course, that’s subjective as my favorite game, Mother 3 has fantastic graphics with colorful sprites and excellent design. However, it’s not 3D and I think a lot of people and gamers may not give it a chance because of their shallow desposition.

So, are you still thinking about your favorite game? Was the graphics one of the things you thought about when imagining it? Futhermore, even if the graphics were one of the things you enjoyed about the game, it isn’t really relevant anymore, is it?

I remember when my parents surprised me with a copy of Halo 2. I was über stoked along with probably everyone else who picked up a copy that day. The graphics at the time to me were absolutely amazing and so was the experience. However, I beat the game, never played it again, and now looking back, I could never play the game again nor tell you anything of worth, nor any reason as to why you should play it.

Halo 2 had cutting-edge graphics and in the end, even huge Halo fans don’t care, they just ended up playing Halo 3, and now they play Halo 3 multiplayer. It’s sad how it turns out that way, but perhaps that’s just proof that cutting-edge graphics in games are just fleeting bits of instant gratification and that a real game’s value lies at it’s core within gameplay and design.

Of course, this school of thought is obviously rare, as the video game sales charts tell us a different story. People love the cutting-edge technology and the graphics, not interesting gameplay, and story.

Well I mean, most people care about the gameplay and story, they just care about the other things first.

- Kyle