Ok a little history, my console timeline goes something like this:

SNES
N64
Gamecube
Gameboy Advance
High end PC (decided to ditch this as it was too expensive to keep upgrading)
Wii
DS Lite
Xbox 360

When I first got my 360 I was totally blown away by how good Gears of War looked, I’d never seen anything so realistic. Then I bought my first HDTV and was amazed all over again at how much clearer everything looked. Throughout the lifetime of the 360 I’ve been consistently impressed with how much power the various developers have managed to extract from the ‘box.

Gears 3 is a massive step up from Gears 2 graphically, Battlefield 3 is much more technically impressive than Bad Company 2. However graphics aren’t everything. There really is something to be said for art direction. Now Rayman Origins is not a particularly graphically intense game but it sure is beautiful.

I’ve been playing my Wii again quite a lot of late too, reliving the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Now that game is not graphically impressive but the combination of a strong art direction and great gameplay means I never sit there thinking “I wish this looked better”. I played through Zelda: A Link to the Past last month, I bloody love that game and even though it was made long ago it still feels fresh toady. Great games will stand the test of time no matter what the look like.

I’ve also been investing some more time into my PC gaming, cheap deals on Steam mainly and games like DEFCON, Cave Story+, EDGE & Super Meat Boy. Cheap and cheerful is the name of the game and these games (while not graphically impressive) have great style and gameplay so are fun.

Graphics are important but gameplay will always be the main influence for me.