New power, new problems: what the videogames industry is learning about realism

Abstract

In the past, the videogame industry didn’t have to worry about “photorealism” – game platforms just didn’t have the power to deliver highly realistic imagery, so there was no practical need for that particular debate. Now, the debate is on – game platforms are more powerful, game imagery is narrowing the gap with pre-rendered imagery, and “photorealism” (or some version of it) is a possibility sometimes an appropriate possibility, sometimes merely seductive, but always a part of the discussion.