A Brief History of Graphics

i say graphics aren't important but every game i've ever played has had them game visuals are the most obvious indicator of their technology from naive origins to an explosion of arcades and home consoles and the emergence and refinement of three-dimensional games graphics have come a long way over the course of video game history so what are the most important graphical milestones how has available technology shaped the type of games we play and shouldn't it be about the gameplay [Music] instead in their earliest days video games amounted to little more than electronic novelties these pixel pioneers

broke new ground with every step in an era when simply moving a flicker of light across a television screen was incredible games like pong were a space age wonder tapping into a surge in sci-fi interest and becoming the earliest major success of the video game industry for the first time ever video games were cool it wouldn't last forever of course and once the novelty wore off the need for more advanced hardware and more impressive visuals became clear full color graphics were an early threshold for arcade games and while color television had existed since before the

second world war most early video games were limited to a monochrome display some games used colored overlays to spruce up their playfields a translucent plastic sheet applied on top of a black and white display obviously quite a limited solution but it was at least a cheap one and while monochrome games continued to rake in coins technology would have a chance to catch up the very first arcade game to use a colored display is difficult to pin down some existed only as prototypes such as a color variant of gotcha some early multiplayer racing games used color

to differentiate each player's car indie four in 1976 is one early example and carpolo in 1977 was the very first color arcade game to use a microprocessor however these early examples are normally glossed over in favor of the first truly successful rgb color game galaxian essentially a fancier version of space invaders each of the brightly colored alien ships could flip freely across the screen and perhaps more impressive were the multiple colors used in each sprite for its time the game was an audio visual treat by 1980 color graphics were the norm pac-man just wouldn't be

the same without its colorful ghosts and the familiar yellow protagonist pixels haven't always been the only way in the early days of the arcade there were two principal paradigms for rendering an image on the screen raster and vector raster comes from the latin word rastrum meaning rake and today is the more familiar method of drawing on screen the electron beam rapidly sweeps every line of the display in sequence forming a grid and line by line a picture is assembled vector graphics directly manipulate the electron beam to form their images in a similar manner to an

oscilloscope indeed very early games like tennis for two used an oscilloscope display the most famous vector arcade title is asteroids and while its graphics might be sparse the perfectly smooth polygons do boast a certain charm compare the appearance of two similar games using each of these methods the smooth vector lines of space war versus the blockier pixels of star cruiser vector graphics are cleaner but less versatile while raster images can't reproduce smooth lines their ability to render more complex scenes and filled shapes helped to secure the pixel's dominance [Music] early arcade games normally had fixed

playfields a game's arena was sized to fit the screen scrolling the display to slowly reveal a level required more grunt it demands the ability to shift around large chunks of memory early driving titles like speed race were the first to introduce scrolling although the hardware limitations did force some concessions mirrored tracksides and a rather spartan roadway defender in 1980 was an evolution of the space shooter and set the scene for future side-scrolling shoot-em-ups and despite its simple graphics it offered freedom of movement across a planet's surface along with a host of aliens to shoot similarly

the top-down view seen in xevious is often cited as the origin of the vertically scrolling shoot-em-up with the player's ship at the bottom of the screen shooting upwards as the scenery slowly unravels below sega's zaxon was the first isometric game complete with isometric scrolling simulating three dimensions with a 2 1 dimetric projection this technique was employed by many later games particularly strategy games of the early 90s with a pseudo 3d appearance that still fits the pixel grid similarly the use of sprite scaling resizing images on the fly is sometimes seen in games attempting to lend

their otherwise flat graphics a sense of depth early nintendo shooter radar scope shrank sprites in the distance to give the impression that you're gazing across a plane of space the goal to repel any invaders more impressive was the scenery in 1981's turbo although painted in garish colours and with quite some distortion the effect is nonetheless outstanding when compared to other games from a similar time the advent of 16-bit arcade hardware brought about more colors and the ability to shift more pixels than ever before truly a new era was beginning and sega's super scalar tech in

the mid-1980s blew everything else out of the water hang on combined smooth sprite scaling with blistering frame rates and alongside its impressive lean to steer motorbike cabinet it certainly made an impact to the arcades running on the same hardware was space harrier an into the screen rail shooter that would set a benchmark in sound and graphics as well as establishing the basis for the top gun inspired afterburner perhaps the most incredible graphics of the early 1980s were those seen in dragon's lair leveraging the huge storage potential of laserdisc technology it was a bonafider interactive movie

too bad it wasn't much fun to play the middle of the 1980s saw the end of the arcade's golden era and the rise of the home consoles instead [Music] arcades would still rule the roost as far as graphical power was concerned but the ground they broke earlier meant that cost reduced home consoles could deliver both colorful graphics and smooth scrolling there is a certain beauty in well-designed pixel art it speaks of a simpler era a time when sprites reigns supreme [Music] designed to move across a game's playfield sprites are two-dimensional images that represent the player

enemies or other non-static aspect of a game often drawn with the help of dedicated hardware they have been an essential facet of computer graphics almost as long as games have existed early sprites were small in size and limited in palette but as the pace of technology increased they became larger more detailed and much more colorful huge sprites meant huge arcade impact games like strider were held in high regard for the sheer scale of the action towering characters and huge sweeping plasma swords this was made possible by the powerful cps-1 arcade board with custom sprite chips

capable of drawing 256 16 colour sprites per scan line this was the board that would power street fighter 2 a title which would set a benchmark within the fighting game genre with large and diverse character sprites coupled with fluid action it sent the popularity of fighting games skyward and kickstarted a new wave of arcade popularity graphics might not be important but they certainly attract attention one technique that proved particularly popular during the 2d era was parallax scrolling splitting the foreground or background into a number of layers which move at different rates to give the impression

of scene depth moon patrol was one of the first games to make effective use of the technique with its colorful mountain vista background it is a striking effect and home computer users were quick to imitate with games like parallax on the commodore 64 even named for the scrolling effect by the time of the 16-bit machines it was a far more attainable technical feat and would become a common sight in 2d platformers shadow of the beast's colorful implementation impressed and as hardware power increased scenes became more complex and the blast processing power of the sega mega

drive gave games like sonic the hedgehog more character than ever it was an era of cartoon mascots and platformers were on vogue [Music] the arcades were no stranger to animated heroes tie-ins to popular television series such as the teenage mutant ninja turtles or the simpsons were major draws and their frantic paced four-player action was the perfect fit for the social nature of such amusements on the home consoles the success of games like mario and sonic inspired a huge number of similar games and the familiarity of film licenses made tie-ins like aladdin a huge success the

colourful world and expressive animation of disney gave the game a great visual grounding and ensured its place as a bestseller some characters were homegrown shiny entertainments earthworm gym had all of these style and flair expected of the platform genre but did so with a new creation a powered up worm wearing a cybernetic super suit its zany sense of humor and unique style made for a memorable close to the 16-bit era super mario world 2 yoshi's island embraced a painted aesthetic rather than a push for showy effect or realistic appearance it's this style that helps the

game's visuals stand up today and while it might not be technically impressive there is a hand-drawn charm consistent throughout [Music] by the mid-1990s sprites was starting to become passe the focus was starting to shift towards a new wave of three-dimensional games and a potential but lay within another dimension that's not to say that 2d games went away entirely there were still plenty about and the mature tech behind them made for some particularly impressive visuals towards the end of the decade the lush sprite work in games like metal slug remains a pinnacle of the style unbound

by colour or size restriction and with fantastic animation some games work best in 2d and while 3d fighting games eventually rose in popularity there were still plenty of traditional sprite-based ones such as snk's long-running king of fighters series beautiful but a dying breed the best hand-drawn sprites require good artists however there are some techniques that serve as a passable alternative animation is a vital part of making movement in games believable and in the days before motion capture some artists would draw from reality using a process called rotoscoping the original prince of persia sprites are traced

directly from video a labor-intensive technique but one that delivers natural looking movement with realistic inertia similar techniques were used in other cinematic platformers such as another world and flashback both made use of rotoscoping for in-game sprites and for cinematic cutscenes fluid in motion yeah compact enough to fit on a couple of floppy disks digitized sprites were fashionable for a while too images taken directly from photographs or video of real-life subjects the earliest example is journey which featured black and white images of the band but the technique wouldn't become commonplace until the early 90s winners don't

use drugs nor do they have any qualms in slaughtering drug dealers by the dozen narc was a very early 32-bit arcade machine with thousands of on-screen colors and hugely impressive digitized sprites for its time and unabashed ultra violence paired with realistic images certainly caused controversy the realistic characters and large number of animation frames found in fighting games were a good fit for digitization reika doshi and pit fighter paved the way but it was one game in particular that flung such sprites to the forefront mortal kombat photo real characters and brutal action made the game a

very controversial one which in turn ensured its popularity like street fighter 2 before it mortal kombat's realistic sprites were particularly influential titles like clayfighter were clearly molded in its image and the previously hand-drawn riders of road rash were replaced by real bikers in the third installment the impressively rendered donkey kong country was perhaps the pinnacle of 2d 16-bit platformers colorful beautifully animated and a smash hit to boot the advent of multimedia technology meant more room for pre-rendered content and full motion video games like mist took full advantage of the huge amount of storage space that

cds brought enabling atmospheric pre-rendered backdrops the serene island setting of mist proved a shining example of what the emerging technology was capable of most early cd-based games were pure tripe however games like night trap for the sega cd are remembered not for their groundbreaking technology but instead for that awfulness all of the bluster of new tech and none of the impact [Music] the future wasn't in interactive movies and while the compact discs extra storage would become very useful in the years ahead fmv would eventually give way to games with more depth two dimensions are all

very well and good but even the earliest game developers yearn to extend into the third the ability to craft a virtual space the forging of a polygon realm of course with limited hardware it was no mean feat early 3d games were burdened with heavy compromise the very first were limited to wireframe representations and although simple games like atari's battle zone could paint an immersive scene with just a few vector lines similar tech was used to great effect in 1983's star wars arcade putting the player in the pilot seat of an x-wing to recreate the attack

on the death star complete with trench run even the 8-bit home micros managed to get in on the wireframe action space trader elite's visuals might have been spartan but the game offered a huge swath of space to explore the next logical step from wireframe polygons was to fill them with flash shading a simple effect but still tricky to achieve on early systems without dropping the frame rate to unacceptable levels the very first flat shaded polygonal game was arcade title i robot all the way back in 1983. it was definitely ahead of its time but a

new paradigm is always a tough sell and the game would not prove a financial success the advanced hardware needed for 3d games and the decline in arcade interest over the next few years rendered them prohibitively expensive so it wouldn't be until the end of the decade that 3d games would become more prevalent as home computers became more powerful certain genres would embrace flat shaded polygons a trademark of early flight simulators which valued full freedom of movement over arcade action or graphical detail some driving games employed this technique too jeff kramen's stunt car racer in 1989

had you driving at breakneck speed around a fanciful track complete with three dimensions not content with dull flat shading some turn to hardware tricks to simulate 3d worlds and the super nes's mode 7 could be considered a rudimentary form of texture mapping it was only a half measure but an ideal way to introduce a 3d feel to classic 2d action and games like super mario kart maintained a healthy frame rate while still giving the illusion of into the screen racing the super fx co-processor included in carts like star fox enabled polygonal 3d graphics blended with

sprite scaling effects and other 2d elements offloading graphics onto another processor would prove a useful technique in the future but some machines would rely on sheer grunt instead ibm compatible pcs had the benefit of a modular design along with a price point far aloft from console hardware this meant that by the early 90s they could start to push graphical boundaries however early pc games could be pretty ugly four color cga and 16 color ega modes often left games with a distinctive simple look vga graphics were a step up offering 256 colors with far more nuance

and they break from unnaturally bright shades early pc titles would sometimes make use of pre-rendered backgrounds games like alone in the dark reserved polygons only for the player and enemies with the remainder of the world painted as a bitmap this technique is a useful one for preserving limited graphical power instead of rendering a full 3d scene you can instead divert attention to more detailed character models some early games were more ambitious taking a first-person perspective instead of a fixed camera view ultima underworld the stygian abyss was an impressive game that took rpgs into the third

dimension and in turn would influence the rise of the first person shooter one technique that made early texture map games viable was raycasting it's an efficient approach to scene rendering that focuses solely on what the player can see and when combined with simple level geometry can be made quite performant wolfenstein 3ds levels were built on a simple square grid all on a single level this meant that the walls could be fully texture mapped while the game remains playable even on a modest pc wolfenstein is the grandfather of 3d shooters but in terms of overall impact

doom was the daddy building on the wolfenstein engine doom extended its feature set to permit levels with more organic design no more fixed grid maps and the addition of variable lighting and elements at different elevations as a result doom was more atmospheric its locations more believable and paired with high octane action it proved quite the success it inspired a huge number of clones and paved the way for the fbs genre as we know it today many of these early games were reliant on tricks to simulate a 3d world limited geometry the use of sprites or

other time-saving hacks true texture map 3d games required a great deal of processing power and so it wasn't really until the second half of the 1990s that such games took hold vanguards of hardware the arcades led the way with titles like ridge racer although dated today at the time it was universally praised for its sound and graphics treading in the arcade's footsteps the fifth generation of consoles could more confidently tackle full 3d graphics and so platforms like the playstation and nintendo 64 saw the rise of the polygon within a home setting super mario 64 transplanted

the previously planar plumber into a colorful 3d world and would prove to be arguably the first successful 3d platform game it blended the finest elements and charm of previous mario titles with new technology full freedom of movement and a dynamic camera system that permitted exploration without frustration the playstation had its own 3d platforming heroes with games like crash bandicoot and despite the low polygon count afforded by the hardware its characters are expressive and its art style charming these games were not only technically impressive they were fun to play true 3d games were a novelty no

more and instead an integral part of mainstream gaming while console hardware arrives in discrete generations the pace of pc development is continuous and with the popularity of pc gaming post doom there was no shortage of 3d titles magic carpet was an interesting attempt at transplanting bullfrog's earlier god game formula into a first person perspective hugely impressive from a technical perspective although its gameplay was slightly lacking and it was otherwise overshadowed by more conventional games of the era descent was notable for its six degrees of movement permitting full exploration of its maze-like minds a peculiar blend

of space shooter and doom clone it stands as an important example of early software rendering full 3d without shortcuts or compromise id software were prime innovators within the pc gaming space and not content with the countless clones their creation spawned they set the bar even higher with the release of quake quake was very much a true 3d game gone were the sprites and lack of vertical aiming of doom instead replaced with polygonal enemies weapon view models and biaxial aiming quake in all its brown hued lovecraftian glory was a prelude to the next wave of 3d

graphics development one final footnote worth a mention are voxels volumetric pixels an alternate approach to polygon construction instead of triangular faces objects are built from 3d pixels essentially building blocks in a manner similar to minecraft ideal for carving out terrain from height maps games like delta force and outcast are an interesting example of what would prove to be an evolutionary dead end hollow vauxhall showed some promise any progress was nipped in the bud by the rise of 3d acceleration with dedicated hardware games now had the power to construct smooth and detailed worlds without compromise the

magic of hardware acceleration was about to unfold [Music] three-dimensional games were clearly the future but traditional computer architecture was not designed to fit early accelerator cards like 3dfx's voodoo unlocked cpu rendering limits and saw a bloom in the potential of 3d gaming faster frame rates higher resolutions better graphics than ever before like so many visual firsts the earliest hardware assistance for 3d games can be found in the arcades 2d tricks were old hat by the late 80s and so the 3d tech provided by namco's system 21 polygonizer was a no-brainer it powered games like winning

run and was the first arcade board specifically designed to accelerate polygonal 3d graphics others followed suit and in the arms race at the arcades hardware 3d graphics would become the de facto attract mode similar hardware assistance found its way into the home consoles too the super nes super fx chipset was a late comer to the 4th gen and provided faster polygon rendering by the 5th generation a graphical co-processor was a must polygons were hot and the hardware had to match once 3d cards reached the pc market they quickly became a must-have accessory for gaming and

the modular nature of pcs has helped them to establish unchallenged graphical dominance since games like doom and quake pushed sales of powerful 486 and pentium class cpus and when paired with a dedicated gpu not much could touch the pc's power it was first person shooters that garnered the most attention for their graphics with games like gl quake getting early support for 3d acceleration by 1998 the first wave of shooters designed to take advantage of such hardware started to roll out and the first unreal was certainly a head turner in its day with a silky smooth

frame rate coloured lighting detailed textures and level geometry unreal and its engine would quickly become associated with cutting-edge graphics its technology would go on to power many other games more than just an impressive looking demo unreal would prove to be a powerful and portable platform its software's tech behind quake would see similar reuse powering games like half-life amongst many others by the end of the millennium the popularity of 3d accelerator cards was such that quake 3 arena abandoned its support for software rendering entirely any pc gamer without a 3d card at this point was left

playing solitaire fps was the dominant genre during this explosion of 3d acceleration and this wouldn't change much in the future the early 2000s brought with it a wave of follow-up titles to the emerging franchises from the previous decade and in each instance they brought an expectation of superior visuals sequels are also expected to raise the bar in terms of gameplay and so some had quite a reputation to live up to half-life 2 was praised for its overarching style combining state-of-the-art graphics with a bleak aesthetic and impressive if over eager demonstration of its physics capabilities similarly

id software had quite a task ahead when they stepped up to produce a sequel to the legendary doom doom 3 saw a radical departure from the brighter graphics of the original with the game fully embracing very dark environments the din lighting did help ratchet up the atmosphere however and your reliance on a flashlight to carve out a narrow cone of vision made for some tense moments during monstrous encounters it was a departure from the original both in style and substance a tech focused game which embraced new generation features unified lighting and shadowing and a detailed

world with more complex animations however amidst all this new technology some techniques turned stale it seems that the popularity of world war ii shooters during this time left a lasting impression the gritty brown hues these games use became quite the trend for a while with developers desaturating colours as part of an effort towards realism the origin of the style can be traced to quake with its subdued tones imparting a gothic industrial charm but an aversion to bright colours would later permeate games across all genres the minimalistic approach of shadow of the colossus was reflected in

its palette choice with subdued tones complementing the game's restrained style other uses are less fitting the dull yellow tones of need for speed most wanted are consistent throughout giving the game a certain unified look but crushing the color gamut in the process although the excessive use of brown has abated slightly in recent years it does still crop up duller tones are a good fit for post-apocalyptic settings after all brown was but one trademark of this era and it was a common counterpart to another blinding effect in bloom bright objects bleed into their surroundings as though

viewed through a cinematic lens smeared with vaseline the effect intended to make bright objects appear brighter one of the first games to make use of this style was eco with its soft lighting reinforcing a naturalistic style the technique became more popular in the wake of monoliths tron 2.0 the neon light glow a fitting addition to emulate the original film's visuals the techniques they used were detailed in an article and since then the effect has found its way into many other titles overton bloom is a common criticism levied at games of this era it can be

a convincing effect when subtle but when presented with a novel tool developers are not always known for their restraint more recently the effect has been toned down and can help an otherwise flat looking scene by simulating the higher dynamic range of natural light or by adding a touch of cyberpunk inspired neon flare while dull tones and cinematic effects are both intended to inject realism into games some took a more stylized approach instead cell shading is the deliberate use of flat color and inked outlines to give 3d images a cartoon-like appearance early titles like jet set

radio embraced the style and catapulted it into prominence and it served as a pleasant reminder that not every game has to drudgingly adhere to reality the style can be divisive however the legend of zelda the wind wakers visuals are striking but the game's sales are overshadowed by the much more successful ocarina of time a fact sometimes attributed to the cartoon style it marks a deliberate shift in focus towards a more cohesive aesthetic instead of photo realism this was a departure from a time when every new game was expected to make a major leap forward in

visuals an important realization as video game budgets spiral over upwards the middle of the millennial decade ushered in the start of the seventh console generation and marks our arrival in a contemporary era 3d technology was mature and hardware more powerful than ever so where do we go from here [Music] a new generation had arrived the future was here and the future was crisis krytek were already known for pushing boundaries with their previous title far cry its lush tropical setting and open-ended gameplay provided leverage for the impressive tech to shine huge draw distances detailed foliage and

expansive levels ubisoft retained ownership of the far cry franchise and so crytek set out to push technical limits further with a new ip crisis mirrors far cry with its island setting and open-ended gameplay but this time came with the addition of weapon customization a nano suit and its predator-like ability to cloak the game was also ridiculously good looking it asserted the pc's graphical dominance once more and embarrassed the newly hatched gen 7 consoles and yet few would follow an imitation its need for a particularly powerful machine led to the game becoming a standard punchline for

hardware requirements news of a new supercomputer is all very well and good but can it run crisis perhaps this was a limiting factor in the game's success why risk the investment when there are doubts as to how well it might run the market gets narrower as you get closer to the bleeding edge and pushing forward graphical technology won't always pay dividends instead it was the gimmicks of casual gaming that led the charts during this era the wii wasn't impressive from a graphical perspective but everyone wanted one anyway even amidst the core gamer market franchises like

guitar hero and rock band would prove to be particularly lucrative a seed of doubt perhaps graphics aren't that important after all the rise of indie games in recent years is further evidence and their lower budgets mean a greater ability to deviate from aaa norms some games purposefully evoke a bygone era drawing from a rich history of graphics a palette of styles steeped in nostalgia vvvv vvvs visuals are heavily influenced by the commodore 64 for instance sticking to the same sprite size and palette limitations of the classic hardware despite the abilities of contemporary machines for all

the milestones past indie games are not afraid to regress with some games even ensuring basic convenience such as color the completely desaturated limbo does help craft the game's gloomy tone dark silhouettes reminiscent of shadow theater an uneasy audience witnessed a grisly death on the brighter side the cartoon heroes of yesteryear hold a very dear place in many hearts and it's easy to see the influence of classic platformers in games like super meat boy titles like this are not simple retro remix however they bring with them a more modern sense of game design and sometimes a

twist of modern mechanics the time warping effects in braid for instance or the dimensional geometry bending seen in fez there are plenty of indie games with realistic graphics but a freer license to explore aesthetic without expectation has seen some games forge a unique identity through their appearance the blocky terrain and low resolution textures of minecraft are one of the game's most distinctive features the simple style plays into a retro cool but the expansive worlds social multiplayer and limitless potential for creativity are very much based on modern innovations it's the perfect junction between old and new

and as a result with impressively broad appeal when you consider its success minecraft serves as very strong support for the argument that graphics don't matter however those enamored with photo realism fret not despite all this indie nonsense we have made some progress in the seven years since crisis if there's one thing the fixed hardware of consoles is good for its optimization the xbox 360 and ps3 have had every drop of potential squeezed out of them over their lifespan the culmination of a generation led to games like the last of us for the ps3 with graphics

far beyond anything from the first half of the system's existence similarly the open world of grand theft auto 5 is hugely impressive in scope considering the limited resources available titles like these stretch the modest abilities of eight-year-old hardware to its limit but on the other hand pcs boast unrestrained power and such potential shines in games designed to take advantage of top-tier hardware after all why bother having a gaming pc if all you're going to play are console ports purebred pc games like armor can indulge in detailed graphics and expansive open worlds safe in the knowledge

that the game won't have to endure any compromise the later crisis sequels did make their way onto the consoles but the game remains at home on the hardware that best does it justice the power of the pc is a much touted thing and while the average spec is more modest than some might admit for the enthusiast steer a world of blistering graphics awaits and if the base standard of commercial offerings fails to impress well there's always the option of mods with the recent arrival of a new console generation there has been a long needed jump

in the visual standard of mainstream games most of these early gen titles are nothing more than cross-gen ports but there are some unifying trends emerging in those that embrace raised performance caps like brown and bloom before game developers love for cinematic effects knows no bounds and so we're enduring a fashion for some new showy effects most seem intent to replicate the flaws inherent in lenses and cameras and to disguise the otherwise clean digital nature of computer graphics cinematic realism is alive and well chromatic aberration is a recent addition to some games simulating the divergence of

different light wavelengths towards the perimeter of the screen it's entirely deliberate and entirely artificial simulating depth of field is another effect lifted straight from photography selectively blurring a scene based on focal distance casting a sharp plane in a sea of soft blur this is normally reserved for cut scenes or in select cases such as aiming down a weapons sight it's difficult to implement convincingly without tracking the player's eyes precisely motion blur is an artifact of continuous movement captured in discrete frames a simulation of exposure time with blurred streaks left in the wake of rapid movement

it is no substitute for a higher frame rate but it can help smooth the appearance of motion no matter the refresh rate it will provide some interstitial information and otherwise enhance the sensation of speed if you thought bloom was bad then you won't care much for the next gen equivalent improbably massive light flares and the illumination of dust and grease on a filter plane like a layer of filth no cleaning can shift throwing stuff at the screen is a popular way to convey a sense of a scene's environment all of these effects are designed to

sell the illusion of reality and while the human eye isn't a camera these imperfections can add a sheen of authenticity such techniques are relatively new and will go ever used as a result but with time they should become subtler and join an ever increasing palette of visual tricks graphics are absolutely important they are an essential part of video games a window into another world and a prime indicator of the technology that powers it however the true value of visuals is not in their realism a game's aesthetic does far more to establish its character than its

polygon count a cohesive style is all you need and it's often better to stick to proven technique than it is to attempt something cutting edge we still need pioneers to light the way but for most there's no harm in sticking to safer waters a development span of half a century means that graphics can lean on an ever ever-richer heritage we have come a long way so what does the future of graphics hold perhaps one day video games will transcend our perception of reality exceeding the natural acuity of the eye to make an utterly convincing scene

in the meantime technology inches ever further frustratingly slow for the impatient today but nonetheless with an irresistible inertia [Music] thank you very much for watching and until next time farewell you