You seem not to read OP. I said that this gen brought serious advancements in graphics department which affected perception of games for some people and it was revolutionary enough. Next gen won't have this.
Also I'm coming from PC background and pretty much all these games you listed were possible on PC in 2004 if we talk about gameplay. Morrowind was released on xbox and it had this big world with hundreds npcs and all this stuff.
Yes I read the OP thoroughly...
I am saying Next Gen, will affect perception of games for some people and will be revolutionary enough.
I also come from a PC background, I own 120+ games on steam alone. No all of those games were not possible on PC in 2004.
Yes Morrowind was on xbox (I owned both the launch version and the GOTY version, as well as 3 different versions on PC..) It also ran and looked terrible compared to the PC version. If Morrowind was barely possible on Xbox, how on Earth do you think Skyrim would be possible?
There comes a point where graphical fidelity is not just about pretty coats of paint, but a fundamentally altered game.Skyrim is technically possible on a freaking NES if you converted the graphics to a top down 2D RPG. But at that point is is barley the same game. I can play through the Modern Warfare 3 campaign on my Wii, but it is a completely different experience at that point because it has been hacked away so much.
When creating levels in Little Big Planet people constantly have to work around memory constraints, severely limiting their visions. And that's on current gen hardware late in the life-cycle. Battlefield 3's maps are much smaller and with 1/3 the players of the PC version, making it feel like a much different experience. Even without mentioning the graphical downgrades.
Games like Portal and Prey did not come around until this gen because it was technically too difficult on older hardware to make a game fluidly with Portals. Sure some guy can reverse engineer it to work on an old PC with absolute bare minimum visuals, but at that point it is a fundamentally different experience.
Forza 4 not only has amazing graphics and increased number of cars, but it calculates Physics @ 120fps and also includes damage, plus head tracking with Kinect. These things were not feasible on Xbox 1.
MGS4 had more open environments and seamless cutscene to gameplay transitions, as well as a plethora of other new features not feasible(notice not impossible) on the PS2.
Halo Reach, Halo 3, and Halo ODST all have huge battles, huge maps, advanced AI, increased number of AI, live integration, 4 player coop, replay mode, etc. All of which were not doable on Xbox 1.
I could go on.
Then, there is Graphics alone. The graphics don't matter argument is a stupid hipster argument. Video games have always been in large part about the graphics. One of the main goals of the vast majority of titles out there is to immerse the user in a fictional world that artists have constructed.
Every time I am walking around in Deus Ex and see a beautiful backdrop artistically that looks like crap because it is half the resolution of my phone wallpaper I think of what could of been.
When I play games like MW3, and Forza 4, I am constantly pulled out of the world by blurry textures, jaggies that make cars look like serrated blades and power lines look like _ _ _ _.
When I play Uncharted 3 and Jaggies, or Polygon seems pull me out for that brief instant in between being totally immersed. It is jarring.
When I play the intro to Gears 3 and parts of the Deck of Sovereign look amazing and others look literally PS2 quality, it pulls me out.
Next gen will be a huge step forward.
Allowing more players to come together in games like Battlefield 3.
Allowing larger maps, with more complex ecosystems of NPC's.
Allowing some games to get rid of the constant "Fade to black" that makes cut-scenes in games so jarring.
Allowing artists to fully realize their vision without relying on CG or Pre-rendered graphics.
Allowing for more complex physics, in Racing games, better destruction in BF, Realistic flowing liquids in games like From Dust or Fable.
Allowing games like Skyrim to have seamless worlds instead of loading every time you stand in front of a door or enter a city.
Allowing games like Modern Warfare to run at 1080p 60fps with some AA and AF in 3D on my TV instead of half that resolution not in 3D and with blurry textures and jaggies everywhere.
Allowing games like Little Big Planet to give me the freedom to creat the levels I dreamed of from the start.
Allowing further online integration and a singularity of devices such as PC's, Tablets, Phones and the 720 all using the Windows 8 interface. Or increased connectivity between the PS4 and the Vita.
Allowing the embracing of cloud storage and digital downloads.
etc etc etc. allowing, etc.
And those are just OBVIOUS improvements. Next gen will allow for innovation that none of us have even thought of yet.
