Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

The challenge with graphics is that we have reached such a level that little improvements have a very high computational cost.

The difference between high and Ultra is barely noticeable but can cut frames in half.

The question, why is that? Mid-1990s games before hardware rendering frequently required a monster machine to run in 640x480 or 800x600 (through there are always exceptions, Duke Nukem 3D, Descent 2 or MDK run in hi-res smoothly on fairly modest machines), but the difference in quality between 320x200 and higher was worth buying an expensive computer. Nowadays, game apply effects that pig out on system resource usage, yet offer very little improvement.

As I said, the graphics are still far from even being "Pixar quality" or even amateur renders by artists. Look at these pictures and tell me any game ever came near close that quality:
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/cgi-artworks … ke-photographs/

The graphics today may look "good enough" but that is just total myopia. Quake or PSX games looked "good enough" at the time too, sure, nowadays all the SNES sprite lovers throw mud at early 3D, but when I was little, everyone talked about the PSX or 3D SVGA as if it was a reality simulator, Every generation since the NES thinks "games already look this awesome it cannot get any better", even if it is hard to believe nowadays. People in 15 years will look at PS3/Xbox 360 level graphics and it will look just as dated, if not much more, as PS1 level 3D looks now.

As for CoD and similiar games being beloved now, so? Everybody is pretending that they always hated "cheezy" (a term that I hate with veangance) FMV games, yet all the reviews I read in old gaming magazine scan are quite positive, around 70 out of 100 points or so. The only FMV games that really got bad reviews are Star Trek: Klingon and SWAT 1.
Examples (in Czech/Slovak, but the point summary should be understandable to everyone):

http://www.oldgames.sk/mag/score-12/page/44/ Sewer Shark, a game lampooned by many unfunny "internet comedians" got 82 percent.
http://www.oldgames.sk/mag/level-4/page/16/
http://www.oldgames.sk/mag/score-28/page/47/

There are many other examples.

I guess when gamers finally get tired of formulaic military shooters, everyone will start pretending they always hated them, even the kids who spent 10 hours playing CoD. When a trend flops, everyone pretends that they always knew it was bullshit and hated it. If FMV games continued and made a lasting impression, even the "haters" would pretend that they always loved them. People are hypocrites.

eL_PuSHeR wrote:

I still feel good games that appear every now and them sell well, despite its graphical qualities. But yes, I agree there is too many copycats nowadays.

I agree. Many people here interpreted my posts as a hateful rant against new games, but it isn't so. If I truly hated new games, I wouldn't be writing about my dissatisfaction with them stagnating. I WANT new games to be better, I don't want to just replay old games.