: 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.

I don't get it either. Lots of games look "realistic" because that's just what reality looks like. And realism doesn't preclude style. I'm certainly not going to confuse Mass Effect with Call of Duty despite neither being cartoony. And as you mentioned, Alan Wake is also a visually striking game even if Alan looks just like a regular dude.