Why did graphics become so important in gaming?

[deathsled]

This brings up a funny memory, back when the Nintendo 64 was about to hit the shelves a buddy and I were playing Sega Rally on my Saturn and his exact words were "if that was on the N64 those rocks would be jagged". There will always be fan boys for ever generation, just like there was back then. I try to get people just to have fun and appreciate the games for what they are.

Haha, were the rocks literally better looking on the Saturn, or were they perhaps pre-rendered? lol. Pretty funny.

I think what his friend was trying to say was that the rocks would be more geometrically complex on the N64 had it been an N64 game...

[bryan_65]

This brings up a funny memory, back when the Nintendo 64 was about to hit the shelves a buddy and I were playing Sega Rally on my Saturn and his exact words were "if that was on the N64 those rocks would be jagged". There will always be fan boys for ever generation, just like there was back then. I try to get people just to have fun and appreciate the games for what they are.

Haha, were the rocks literally better looking on the Saturn, or were they perhaps pre-rendered? lol. Pretty funny.

I think what his friend was trying to say was that the rocks would be more geometrically complex on the N64 had it been an N64 game...

Yes, you are correct.

[Damm64]

I think better graphics have ALLWAYS been the big selling point in videogames... remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7nsBoqJ6s8

or this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM5rYuco ... re=related

I expected this ad:

That's a WAY better example i think i wasn't even born when that commercial came out. btw i have 19 if someone is curious...

[saturnfan]

People like realism since they can't get it in real life, ironically. That is why graphics are so important.

[Breetai]

That's a WAY better example i think i wasn't even born when that commercial came out. btw i have 19 if someone is curious...

What do you have 19 of? I hope it's Fruity Pebbles. Those are so yummy!

[BurningDoom]

That's a WAY better example i think i wasn't even born when that commercial came out. btw i have 19 if someone is curious...

What do you have 19 of? I hope it's Fruity Pebbles. Those are so yummy!

Fruity Pebbles are rock! (unintended pun, lol) Cocoa Pebbles are quite tasty, too.

[Gunstar Green]

As much as people say "back in the day we didn't care about graphics" that's not the case.

Graphics have always been the driving force in developing more powerful consoles and fanboys have always enjoyed claiming their console of choice has the best.

I remember as a kid being annoyed at Genesis and SNES multi-platform comparisons though they go back even further than that. Go and watch a commercial for Intellivision.

Even in the early arcades when games like Galaxian and Defender started using color, Berserk quickly added a color overlay to try and keep up with the forward march of graphics technology.

[Inazuma]

Graphics were the most important thing in video games until recently. Nowadays everything has great graphics, so it is no longer super important. At least, some people think so.

Anything around Gamecube quality or better looks great to me. I've been playing Hatsune Miku Project Diva on the PSP lately, and am blown away by the graphics. I didn't think the PSP was capable of this much.

[Erik_Twice]

Because it's the most obvious component of the medium. It's the way you interact with the game in the first place and it doesn't require an explanation or buildup or anything. It's just there and it's easy to understand.

[Yancakes]

Buddy above me is absolutely right- somewhat. When it comes to marketing, graphics are the most obvious component of the medium. In reality, I believe, it's controls- while graphics WILL boost a games sales, no one will play a game that controls like shit.

Regardless, I remember being in grade school and getting in to Genesis VS SNES fights, and it almost always came down to graphics. Only a tiny portion of the children at my school (basically, my circle of friends) didn't get involved in graphics debates...but most of us were PC gamers, anyways

But yeah, this has been stated over and over in this thread already, but graphics have ALWAYS been important to marketing, always been important to casual gamers...it's only those of us in the retro community, for the most part, that have a viable claim to NOT being in to games because of graphics.

THAT BEING SAID, something that has gotten better over the years BECAUSE graphical capabilities of consoles (and PCs) have improved is INTERFACE. Interfaces, HUD's and whatnot in video games have gotten so much better and made games so much more playable that it's unreal.

Obviously I'm not talking about action games here, for the most part. An old-school, simple action game has no need of a complicated interface or HUD, whereas modern action games have two or three functions for every button on a game pad with 12-button, 2-joystick controllers. But looking at strategy games, simulations, RPGs and what-have-you, modern interfaces have made them so, so much more accessible than they ever were.