Well I realized it now.. You can only have any one of them either technology or creativity. As an aspiring young game developer this to me is a pretty harsh realization. Let me explain.

When Crysis got released and after few minutes of playing it, I kept wondering what is wrong with this game. I tried to love the game as much as the other person but it just seemed very bland to me in terms of story and characters. There is no real excitement and the suit used to give me such a headache. I know that I like to play straight up action games like COD or GOW and I also know that the new suit opens up a wide array of gameplay possibilities. I played the game and didnt really find any great characters or set pieces that could make use of the suit capability. Although the technolgy behind the game is impressive, the game itself doesn't quite cut it creatively. I know that Crytek has its release date limitations with EA reps lying around the corner with a big hammer and that didnt help the game in any way. So in my opinion Crytek opted for technology with some little innovations like nano suit and openworld gameplay to make the game fun. I'll admit that they did one heck of a job in Crysis but still that game doesnt have anything memorable (characters, setpieces) to be remembered by future generations.

Now coming to the other extreme the companies that opted for Creativity/Near perfection are nowhere but closed down. From the top of my head I can pull out two companies, Interplay and 3d Realms. Those guys might know about this better than what I do. Interplay had a similiar experience with fallout which changed hands and finally finished by Bethesda. I have never played Fallout 3 but from the looks, it just seems like Oblivion with firearms. Bethesda might have done a lot of work to fill the oblivion maps with waste metal and scraps, and giving the NPC's guns instead of swords but it hardly is the direction that the original devs wanted to go in. Now with Duke Nukem Forever, it seems that 3d realms is run by a bunch of perfectionists that somehow thought that they only had one chance at making a game and wanted to do everything possible in that. If only they had lowered their bar we would all be playing Duke now enjoying the cussing. The new screenshots and the leaked demo reel shows that they are indeed working pretty hard on the game eventhough people are making jokes about their game all over the place. Its just very sad that Duke has to end this way. I hope some big company like EA or Take-Two itself will continue the development of game by recruiting some former 3d realms employees just like Fallout had. I dont care whether that turns out be mediocre or great, I will be happy to know that one of the greatest gaming characters is still there with its honest fan base.

One thing is sure that I'll remember the leaked demo reel of Duke Nukem Forever more than any part in Crysis.