: Eh. I don't know. The video was so focused on the reasons we will not achieve
: TRUE photorealism that it all but ignored the benefits of realistic-ish
: graphics in games. It was rightly pointed out that a realistic looking
: version of Minecraft wouldn't make much sense but then we were shown a
: realistic looking racing game. Does it somehow make sense for the Forza
: series, which is concerned with recreations of real race courses and the
: setups of actual cars, to render its visuals as Minecraft blocks? Or
: Rez-like glow-y wireframes?

: What about things like mood and setting? There's this great effect Alan Wake
: uses several times to signify enemies are about to attack. The wind picks
: up and the fog gets really dense and it starts wiping and flowing through
: the forest of trees in front of you while the shadows dance about in a
: decidedly unnatural fashion. Alan Wake's graphics on the 360 were ok, but
: not the best, but that one effect was extremely well done and, for me at
: least, helped build legitimate tension. What other method of visualization
: would allow that same effect? It seems like something would be lost if the
: world was cartoon-y and cell shaded like the Zelda game the video showed.

: I keep thinking of photorealistic games I enjoyed and trying to imagine them
: in an art style that would have made them better. I'm not having much
: luck... I think maybe what it comes down to is most games already have
: visuals that compliment their gameplay, it just so happens that a lot of
: games we play have a strong basis in our visually complex world so they
: themselves try to match that visual complexity.

Additionally, they gave MANY examples of games, current games, that aren't focused on realistic graphics; then said that we have "so many" games that look like... COD.

To me, it looks like we have a very wide range of video games and graphical styles, right now, and he admits that realistic graphics itself is not a bad thing. So... what's the point of the video, really? To rant about the many of the most popular games being set in realistic gaming environments? =/

AS for Minecraft, I think he's mixing up "photorealism" with "feasibly realistic". I say that a photorealistic Minecraft would most certainly be possible, while retaining the gaming environment block-style gameplay. Already the footage shown had many aspects that are on their way to photorealism - from shadows to lighting effects to multi-layered textures, etc. Boost the graphical fidelity, and Minecraft could look like a real world made up of blocks. Visual realism (rendering capability) isn't necessarily the same as physical believability.

Anyway, I think video games are graphically in a sort place that cartoon movies went years ago - when they began mixing CG with hand drawn visuals, and then moved into realistic CG, and now embrace cartoon-like yet visually pleasing (closer to realistic) graphics. Characters retaint heir cartoon structure while being rendered with increasingly more realistic graphical fidelity, especially their environments.

The way I see it, our computers are now providing enough power that artists can choose freely how realistic they wish to depict their visions, regardless of whether they want their vision to become real and feasible in every way. If the story they want to tell is a 'real world' story, they'll probably aim to produce a more lifelike and feasible reality in-game. Other artistic visions may favour a more abstract depiction of the world of the story. And all of that is possible with the power we have now.

I for one can't wait for the day our computers are powerful enough to produce near lifelike visuals, or real-time raytraced graphics in-game. But I know that won't be at a time when artistic freedom has gone by the wayside - rather I fully expect that by that time our market will still be flooded with an enormous assortment of stylistic visions and gameplay.

This apparently controversial push for 'realistic graphics' could be likened back to the trendy move from 2D graphics to 3D now that the hardware could support it. It's not the downfall of anything... it's the opening of a door for more artistic freedom and visual capability.