short answer - no
long answer - nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-etc.
Take minecraft for an example. Blox. That's it just blocks. Even the monsters look like blocks. does it matter? no. You know what the creeper is and what its going to do. Does it need high-def realistic looking slime tentacles to ruin your day? no. You can tell what it is and what it's there for. That's all you need really. I can get games getting more realistic over time but at a point it just becomes redundant. Look at the game Twilight Princess. On the gamecube, on the wii, noticable difference? no. not at all. Graphics can only make a game to a certain point. I hear games praised for graphics all the time and after the third game i make it a mental note that the source of said praise is most likely retarded. If a game doesn't have good gameplay, people will still buy it, sadly, same with story. Are these people stupid, brought in by the something sparkly on the box or wherever? probably. But all the great games of time, old and new, from super mario, donkey kong, and duck hunt, to the newer epics like Team fortress 2, left 4 dead, disgaea, modern warfare, portal, all have something greater than simply being shiny. Now ask a common graphics urchin drooling over the newest generic graphics engine wank what disgaea is, they'll say 'gezunteit?', team fortress will just get a blank stare, Ocarina of Time will just net a 'something about nintendo?'. They'll insist that said picture-wank is way waaaaaaay better than those other titles by merit of graphics and that they'd never heard of them(god damn it this is longer than i wanted it to be). (waaaaaay longer)So why has gaming taken this route? it isn't the generic termed 'casual gamers' who are happy with things from popcap, not known for dark gritty hd graphics, its the actual 'casual gamers' who play games an hour a night because it's 'cool' and 'hardcore' and only play 360 because wii is for kids and grandmas and 'casuals'(like they have any right to use that word)and the ps3 is for 'fags' and all that stuff they think make s them awesome. Is this ever going away? no. like owning your own car gaming will remain cool forever.
How do we fix this retarded mess? There are more gamers worldwide than there are of them. We just need to act out more. Not just angry emails to the company. Publicly burning copys of games if we have to. Actively talking to people about the finer points of gaming, going to stores and talking openly about how bad the titles are. Getting together publicly and showing what gaming is(was(is losing quite rapidly)) and what gaming is not, should not be, and will be if we don't.
Rise my brothers and sisters, take to the streets about this nonsensical bullshit that's being spoon fed to the slack-jawed jocks of the world and being shoved down our throats, before we lose gaming forever.
Hell, using the now popular minecraft as an example, if this were put on tv for the masses it would be slammed as worthless and stupid, and yet its popularity is proof that there are not just some of us left, but many of us, enough of us, all of us. We have the numbers, we have the influence and it's time to make a stand. Even if my post means nothing, at least, even if you didn't enjoy minecraft(i didn't) specifically, to go out there. it doesn't matter how scared or shy or 'apathetic' or uncharismatic you are. You can change things. Get together with friends, or just people in your city, make a stand, start speaking out.
Gaming is dying. That's all there is to it. Like the first child of a middleclass family, neglected and abused as the new baby comes in, beaten, stabbed, and starved. He is going to die because everyone saw it happening and no one spoke out.
Everyone, rally a cry. If you take nothing else from me, take that small spark that it doesn't matter how shy or quiet or nerdy you are, you are the voice of gaming as it lays dying. The only one who can save it.
This post has been general but now I'm directing it at you. Yes you. There is no one else here who will take my words and use them. they will listen, they will understand, they will agree, but they will not do. That task is yours and yours alone. and with your voice, the others will follow. With your words, others will act, with your actions, others will rise. You are the leader of this revolution. Not me, not them, you and only you can do this. Save what you love, what we all love. Be the hero he, and all the rest of us, need. Not then, when it's dead, it doesn't need a revival. Now, when it needs its salvation and be known forever more if as nothing else than the first voice to speak to save everything you and we hold dear. Rise, stand, scream if you have to, but this is all on you now, and you are the one to save us.