My PC and PS3 had recently been introduced to a gorgeous new widescreen monitor; HDMI for the PS3, VGA for the PC, and a leftover component input. After seeing how incredible the PS3 looked in HDMI, as well as my PC at 1920x1200 resolution, my mind immediately leapt to the possibility of bringing one of my last-gen consoles back to life on the crystal clear LCD monitor. I had yet to finish FFX and GTA: Vice City, and how could I live without playing the two more recent Final Fantasy and Xenosaga titles? A quick romp through Gamespot's PS2 section made it apparent that hit games like the Shin Megami Tensei series were still being released on the PS2. Sorry XBOX and Gamecube-- The PS2 had to come back first.

So I took a break from my COD:4 and Oblivion and Folklore. I was ready to conquer FFX. As I finished FFX, I started wondering what game would be the equivalent on the PS3. Next I started on GTA: Vice City. Since I began playing, I became engulfed in it and haven't played my PS3 since. Sure, the PS2 graphics couldn't compare to PS3 in HDMI, but that didn't bother me. It was the content of Vice City, the living, breathing world with so much to captivate me. And I started to wonder... do next-gen games spend more time looking pretty than being epic? Am I going to spend the rest of this year playing the PS2 titles I've missed, and then going back to Gamecube for the Resident Evil titles I missed? What next-gen game is going to compete?

Folklore... or Valkyrie Profile 2? FFXII? Resident Evil 4? Shadow of the Colossus? Could it be that the further we go back in technological prowess, we find more ambitious game developers? Although there are some epic offerings on the next-gen consoles, it seems to me that the current shape of most next-gen games is an obsession with how shiny and pretty things can look. But when are we going to get the next SNES FF3? I eagerly await the future of next-gen games... to see if developers will view the insane graphic and audio capabilites at their hands as a means to create even more incredible content, and not just a more incredible view.