We keep hearing how games as opposed to graphics sell consoles, that the increase and rise of iOS gaming  and success of the Wii proves this, that buyers are after innovation and convenience in preference to horsepower and spectacle, but graphics, you understand, being a major component of most games, don’t they still have a job to play? Can they still amaze the hundreds and sell a console or an otherwise ‘by the numbers’ videogame? While a game can certainly be sold on its gameplay alone, isn’t sheer graphical grunt still enough to shift units? After 8 years of an analogous tech, I’m inclined to assert yes.

I crave innovative gameplay and new ideas as much because the next guy, but come on, who isn’t excited to look just how pretty games are going to be running at the new hardware from Sony and Microsoft. Sure, iOS is convenient and yes, the present gen still looks pretty great, but there’s still something to be said for a brand new product which can, on a purely visual level, blow your bloody socks off. Needless to say, balance is vital, and visuals alone aren’t going to sell a console in the end, but as an introduction to its capabilities, I’d say that they’re going to remain a massive portion of the experience and a chief aspect of every consoles marketing push.

Take Motorstorm as an example. By the second one and third iterations, visual polish wasn’t enough to shift units as players got savvy to the undeniable fact that the gameplay was actual a piece, well, for lack of a higher term, ‘meh’. But return to the PlayStation 3’s launch and Mototrstorm was hot shit. Why? Since it looked great and a was an excellent way for both PlayStation to teach off its new tech and players to reveal off their (outrageously) expensive new purchase.

Will the leap in visual fidelity be so dramatic this time around? Not likely, but that does not change the undeniable fact that improved visuals will still play a significant role is selling the next-gen to the masses.they are the easiest way to show the jump in power and above all else, good graphics look great in adverts…..why do you think so many adds go to such great lengths to tell you that what you are seeing is “in game footage”.

In fact, given the popularity of the current-gen and the fact that we are likely to see extended support for both the 360 and PS3 and an array of cross-generational titles on both of Sony’s and Microsoft’s consoles, it will most likely remain the improved visuals above all else that will set, for example, the following Call of Duty on 720 apart from the simultaneously released 360 version.

Again, I’d like to stress that innovation is paramount to the potential success of both the 720 (NextBox, SexBox…whatever) and the PS4 (Orbis thing), especially in the long term, but in the more immediate future, will graphics matter? Can they still be relied upon to lookl the following-gen? You bet your ass they’ll.

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