Meant to publish this one over the weekend but forgot, most likely due to daydreaming about the day Maarten arrives here. (Wednesday!). At any rate, here's a bit on the New York Times discussing the unending quest of game technology developers to simulate "reality".

During the last year or so technological realism has claimed its greatest triumph yet, as three major game systems made their debuts. Lives there an 8 to 18-year-old or an adult guiltily aspiring to that state of mind who has not yet heard about the technological accomplishments of Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube? Elaborate textures and sounds make earlier games seem like playthings. The humble controller that once maneuvered a diminutive and plump plumber named Mario across a television screen, allowing him to jump, bop and run, has now been pumped up like Lara Croft's bodice; the bloated Xbox controller has eight buttons, two triggers, three toggling switches and untapped possibilities. And the promise and threat of these systems caused sales of video game systems and games to jump 42 percent last year to $9.4 billion

Seems to me the cycle is pretty predictable. New wizbang pretty technology comes out, first guys outa the gate make something really pretty but not all that fun, the fun patch comes out later. There are exceptions of course, but I'm making generalizations here, work with me people.