Ever since, video games were limited by two decisive factors: the hardware potential in each time period and the capabilities of the developers in solving these limitations and maxing out the hardware. This allowed the introduction of astonishing games which, from a technical point of view, seemed to be impossible at the time and which also facilitated a sustainable evolution that has brought us to a point at which photorealism is about a stone throw away.
In this sense, video consoles have also played a key role. Although many of us prefer playing games on PC, video consoles have been the driving force of the industry, especially since they are far more relevant today as the monopoly on development cycles ended. In the past, it took several years to create exclusive PC games which really exploited the hardware of the platform, while today all is focussed on the big consoles of each generation and this has clear implications.
Video consoles have had extremely positive effects on the world of video games, although there were also some negative effects. The live cycles have become tremendously longer which together with exclusive console developments ended barriers for the exploitation of the latest PC hardware generation and slowed down the evolution of a wider range of video games.