I've put about 2 hours into Elder Scrolls: Oblivion PC game

It is without a doubt, the most beautiful video game i've seen to date.

Now, that has absolutely nothing to do with it being fun. Games should be fun right?

But, me telling someone that the game is amazingly beautiful is often enough to have them purchase the game.

Especially if they own a 360 with a nice HD tv...becuase i'm sure its amazing there.

I tire of the visuals being the motivating factor in a game, since often the gameplay suffers because of this.

What about people us that just want to make a fun game, but don't have the ability to make next gen graphics? Lets face it, most people that are capable of that quality of work are already working in the industry and probably don't want to spend their free time working on pet projects.

This is why the 2D genre is coming back into the mix heavily right now. It's all over the GDC, as casual games are the new fad. A single developer can sit down with Flash MX or a new 2D engine we saw at GDC called Torque and create a fun, fully playable game in a small amount of time.

The thought of sitting down by yourself, or with a small group of friends and making something fun and potentially marketable in a small amount of time is HUGE.

Does a game have to look next gen to be fun? of course not. You can easily make games that are on par with the Nintendo DS and have an absolute blast playing them.