I've long been a supporter of the idea that gameplay comes before graphics. Though it's certainly neat to see a demo looking so dazzling, it really doesn't say all that much to me about the future of the games industry. It's long been clear that over time games will continue to look progressively better.

This reason is why I was actually so happy to see Nintendo abandon this pursuit of ever-prettier graphics in the hopes that gamers would be drawn in by the innovative gameplay ideas that propelled the Wii to the top of the console heap this generation. Though the Wii has somewhat fallen short on my expectations, I am still impressed by Nintendo's decision.

This generation has been the death knell for countless (up-til-now) successful companies. The higher development costs of making prettier and prettier games has meant that a single flop can tank the company. It's exactly because of this that I believe we are seeing the rise of mobile and social games as they are cheap not only for the consumer to pick up, but also for the developer to produce in the first place.