[banned_man]

This has more to do with misinvestment of resources than any fundamental ceiling to demand for better technology. Scaling up existing capabilities to be slightly better reaches a limit at some point; increasing capabilities does not.

Consider games for an example of poorly invested resources. The graphics have improved dramatically in video games between the era of Chrono Trigger ('95) and now. The quality of the games has declined. These two trends are linked together. Now that the budget for a game is in the 7- and 8-digit range, business people have creative control over games, and games are more likely to be designed by committee. Thus, they end up sucking. Improving the graphics will not solve this problem, but there's still demand for high-quality games that is not being met through traditional channels.

[EvilTrout]

I think people tend to look at the SNES days with rose coloured glasses. There were plenty of crap games available then, too.

Remember when every game was trying to push an adorable cartoon mascot? Do you think the business people weren't behind that too?

While good graphics are certainly no substitute for good gameplay, there are certainly far more AAA titles available now than there ever has been.

Some come from large studios: Left for Dead, Bioshock, Fallout. Others are coming from the emerging indie scene like World of Goo and Braid.