There are a good few people that only seem to appreciate games with good graphics (my dad is one of them) and I think that's completely wrong. Sure, you can like the looks of a game from a far and say, "wow, that looks really nice. It's crazy how graphics in games have come on these days" (also pretty much what my dad would say) but if you're actually playing a bad game it's nothing more than £40 worth of a shell.
A game that's new and innovative can sometimes captivate an audience and the fresh idea can sometimes be enough to be "fun". Mr. What's-his face's brain game thing on the Nintendo DS is essentially maths on a hand held, however, people are still buying it. Mainly for the "brain training" that it's been advertised for but also because when you play it you realise that it's pretty fun, which is strange since you're basically doing sums.
ICO and Shadow of The Colossus on the PS2 were fantastic blends of awesome graphics and unique and interesting gameplay, in my opinion they're 2 of the best games on the platform and people who were open to a different sort of game were also rewarded with a great experience too.
In most recent news, the most relevant thing I can think of around gameplay is the upcoming console war. You have the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, all with their own strengths and weaknesses and all promising awesome gameplay and games.
The 360 has already been out a year and to be honest, hasn't really done much new on the games front so far. Most games that have come out have been sequels or games that have been ported from other consoles. Boring
The PS3 is standing taller than it's competitors with it's more powerful set up and therefore will be able to deliver much more graphically intensive games. Sony do have a good few titles under their belt which considered to have brilliant playability such as the Metal Gear Solid series, Gran Turismo and the like. Usually though, Sony just tend to stick to the tried and tested games, a lot like Microsoft...Which can also be boring.
Finally, the Wii. It's capability for graphics is not very impressive in comparison to it's rivals. In fact, it doesn't look that much better than the Gamecube. However, I really admire that instead of going head on with their rivals, trying to equal their console's graphical output, Nintendo took a completely different path and went for accessibility. Basically trying to get more non-gamers to join in with an easy to use and fun system.
Even with a game on all three consoles such as CoD3, Nintendo have made it a more involved experience by making the player hold the controllers like a gun. Certain movements, such as a forward jab will make the soldier you're controlling hit the enemy with the butt of the gun, or when you're in a car you can use the remote as if it were a steering wheel. These kind of things are likely to make the game more fun and get the player more involved.
Wii. The most fun console ever? Only time will tell...
The fact is, innovative, fun things do well! Look at the PSP Vs DS. The PSP is a machine able to deliver near-PS2 graphics as well as handle many multi-media capabilities while the DS can reach somewhere near to N64 graphics and has next to nothing in the multimedia area. That's one generation behind the PS2 in graphics and Nintendo beat their rival with a more interactive and ultimately, more fun system. The games show a lot too, if you look at the PSP's offerings, it's mainly stuff ported from it's bigger brother. Not very interesting.
Nintendo decided on games like Wario Ware and Trauma Surgeon. Both original and both huge successes in Japan, the US and Europe.
Different games would obviously need to be designed in different ways, it's not as if the same techniques can be applied to all games. For example, Halo was a well thought out and executed FPS and is still regarded as one of the best FPS of all time but applying the same formula to Lumines, a game that's about solving puzzles and enjoying a combination of nice looking colours and tuneful music would equal in a very interesting game indeed.
In the end though, it's not easy to design a game that's new and wholly unique. People will still want the next installment of Halo or Madden but when developers come up with something groundbreaking like ICO, The Sims or Super Smash Bros. It makes me feel optimistic that we still have some greats that are yet to come.
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