I’m gonna come right out and say it; nice graphics really do soup up a game. They are important to games despite what you might think. No they’re not the most important, but they can definitely add a nice touch of style to what you’re playing. Nintendo knows this, though they don’t use it to market their consoles.
When I first played RE4 some 10 months ago, I literally stopped playing for several minutes when I walked through the corridor with the purple drapes flowing in the wind. Capcom redefined “paying attention to detail” and I very much appreciated it as a gamer. It was a very memorable part of the game for me. The next Zelda due out next spring looks gorgeous too, despite being displayed on extremely outdated hardware. So maybe good graphics has more to do with “paying attention to detail” and hardwork than how much RAM is under the hood.
Holy Cannoli Leon! Walk that lovely scenery…
I believe, as Jim Merrick has said, that the Revolution’s graphics will be on par with the competition, especially with the 360. No this isn’t wishful thinking, it’s based on the fact that Nintendo’s console will drop some 6-12 months after the 360. If history teaches us anything, it’s that graphics age with time (it was obvious that the PS2 was behind in graphics this generation because of that reason). The same should hold true for this generation as well. Nintendo appreciates nice graphics, but they also appreciate what I like to call “graphical craftsmanship” that many games lack, despite the hardware they run on.