Why did graphics become so important in gaming?

[KillerJuan77]

I've been wondering why graphics have become such an important factor in gaming nowadays. I was watching some YouTube videos of the 360 version of Risen and most of the comment I saw were complaining about the visuals, the same with Rise Of Nightmares, Deadly Premonition and even Crysis 2 , what's going on? I don't remember this happening with the PS2, GC or Xbox .

[AznKhmerBoi]

Personally i think its because most games are cross platform games these days and the fanboys of each console want to express their thought of which console is more superior.

Thus they will use graphics as the piller for which console is better or greater.

Graphics=Power
Power= Superiority

[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.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I've been wondering why graphics have become such an important factor in gaming nowadays. I was watching some YouTube videos of the 360 version of Risen and most of the comment I saw were complaining about the visuals, the same with Rise Of Nightmares, Deadly Premonition and even Crysis 2 , what's going on? I don't remember this happening with the PS2, GC or Xbox .

Uh, there was tons of this during pretty much every generation.

Anyways, it's one of the few things that can be "proven" to be better when it comes to games. Most things are subjective. Power isn't.

[Pulsar_t]

When I played the BF3 beta BF2 (my only MP game) looked really archaic.. but hasn't it always been true that graphics are important to hype/sell a game? Even on older hardware first-rate developers always strived to make the most of the video processing power at their disposal.

[Flake]

I've been wondering why graphics have become such an important factor in gaming nowadays.

That's not really a recent development. Graphics became a key selling point for both consumers and marketers around 1983-ish.

[Gamerforlife]

Video games are the most visually oriented entertainment medium there is and have been for years, for better or for worse. Graphics always seem to be the thing that the average joe talks about the most. With comics, people will talk about both the writing and the art. With movies they'll talk about the story, unless it's an action flick in which case they may talk mostly about the special effects. With music, they talk about the singing or whether or not the song is catchy. With games, it's always been, "Dude, you have to play it. The graphics are SOOOO awesome"

I think it's because games are escapism and so casual gamers always like to evaluate a game based on how much it looks "real". I remember showing some friend Wild Arms when I was in high school and knowing nothing about the game they laughed and made fun of me for playing it because the graphics just didn't look anywhere near as awesome as that Final Fantasy 7 game they had been playing. They were not gamers, but any kind of game that looked pretty for its time like Final Fantasy 7 or Soul Edge they would end up playing

On the positive side, that did lead to them playing Comic Zone and actually discovering its awesomeness before even I, the gamer of the group, did.

[Xeogred]

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.

[isiolia]

Couple things offhand....

First, games are a young medium in general, and the more capability available the more ambitious projects can be. Kind of like special effects in films, not everything needs 'em, but advancements allow better suspension of disbelief for films that do. Console power has always been a topic of debate - though moreso on the schoolyard I'd say. Adults tend to be more objective, IMO, because we can just buy whatever consoles we want instead of defend what we got for Christmas

Second, the massive surge in popularity of HDTVs. While great SDTVs exist, or HD tube TVs, it may be fair to say that the bar of quality has been raised for the average Joe that wouldn't have had a higher end TV before. The shift to digital broadcast meant a large refresh of TVs, probably not seen since the transition to color.

[BurningDoom]

Graphics have always been a big deal in gaming.