I thought this was about SFR? Oh well. Since the gauntlet has been thrown, I will take it upon myself to wade into the fray.
I think the point was that graphics will (and possibly have) hit a wall and that at some point it won't matter how much antialiasing or resolution there is available, the game itself will be the measuring stick. I think that this is likely. No matter how beautiful a game looks, if it isn't fun to play, no one will be playing it. If, for example, HL2 had worked on physics and then made a simple game with no puzzles or difficult sections that could be beaten in 10 hours, it would have sold very few copies. Thankfully this is not the case. Yes, graphics are a wonderful thing, but it comes down to the game itself for most gamers. Among my peers there are certain games that are pretty much treated as graphical demos.
As for your comments about HL2 and D3, i agree that they were well done, but i disagree with your analysis of them. D3 is just as linear as HL2, if not more so. HL2 was loaded with secret areas and a lot of story (more than the first HL). The problem is, as Kaihaku said, if you beat the game in 15-20 hours, you missed most of the story. Just because HL2 doesn't spoon-feed you the plot like D3 does, doesn't mean that it isn't there. To prove my point; can you answer these questions. What are the Vortiguant? How come earth is under the command of Dr. Breen? What happened to earth after the Black Mesa incident? Why are some aliens fighting on your side? These questions are really only the obvious ones, but there are more. HL2 adequately explains the 15 years between HL and HL2, but it requires you to think about the events and situations you are placed in instead of just getting the plot told to you. It immerses you in the world by making you figure the actual plot out. D3 and HL2 are both linear and suffer from that "cow being sent along to the next outpost." It's just that HL2 has a much more subtle plot that actually connects past games to it.
And BTW, I've seen D3 run at max resolution on a brand new Alienware and get choppy, crappy framerates (the console says 73fps, but I can see the frames skipping so it's less than 30), but HL2 can be run on full with a much cheaper system and actually get to 70fps. The code of D3 must really be bugged.
If you want a truly open-ended experience, go back and play Fallout or Fallout 2 (or even the new Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines).
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I think the point was that graphics will (and possibly have) hit a wall and that at some point it won't matter how much antialiasing or resolution there is available, the game itself will be the measuring stick. I think that this is likely. No matter how beautiful a game looks, if it isn't fun to play, no one will be playing it. If, for example, HL2 had worked on physics and then made a simple game with no puzzles or difficult sections that could be beaten in 10 hours, it would have sold very few copies. Thankfully this is not the case. Yes, graphics are a wonderful thing, but it comes down to the game itself for most gamers. Among my peers there are certain games that are pretty much treated as graphical demos.
As for your comments about HL2 and D3, i agree that they were well done, but i disagree with your analysis of them. D3 is just as linear as HL2, if not more so. HL2 was loaded with secret areas and a lot of story (more than the first HL). The problem is, as Kaihaku said, if you beat the game in 15-20 hours, you missed most of the story. Just because HL2 doesn't spoon-feed you the plot like D3 does, doesn't mean that it isn't there. To prove my point; can you answer these questions. What are the Vortiguant? How come earth is under the command of Dr. Breen? What happened to earth after the Black Mesa incident? Why are some aliens fighting on your side? These questions are really only the obvious ones, but there are more. HL2 adequately explains the 15 years between HL and HL2, but it requires you to think about the events and situations you are placed in instead of just getting the plot told to you. It immerses you in the world by making you figure the actual plot out. D3 and HL2 are both linear and suffer from that "cow being sent along to the next outpost." It's just that HL2 has a much more subtle plot that actually connects past games to it.
And BTW, I've seen D3 run at max resolution on a brand new Alienware and get choppy, crappy framerates (the console says 73fps, but I can see the frames skipping so it's less than 30), but HL2 can be run on full with a much cheaper system and actually get to 70fps. The code of D3 must really be bugged.
If you want a truly open-ended experience, go back and play Fallout or Fallout 2 (or even the new Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines).