Photorealism Understanding the Argument

It has been pointed out to me by a few lecturers that but launching a "fight" against photorealism requires a deeper know and and understanding of the reasons for photorealism.

Firstly you would thin that making photo realistic visuals would take a very long time , making game development longer and games shorter. In final fantasy 13 they admitted that they spent so much money on the visuals , making it look pretty that they ran out of budget for better or more writers.

But on the flip side of this there is games like borderlands which swapped art style 3 years into the 4 year development due to cos of making photo real art. In borderlands case this new art style was a  new selling point for the game. So cutting costs actually added to the marketability. 

Saying  that photorealism takes longer isn't always the case though. Games such as Journey and the Unfinished swan both took 4 years of development. 

Which when compared to the amount of content and game play hour is no where near the amount of a game like final fantasy 13.

A quick Google into photorealism and there is a current even which has cause some controvisy.

Christoph Hartmann, the boss of 2k has stated he thinks that games need to be photo-realistic in order to get emotional reactions from the player as they could empathise more with a realistic character. 

it has been pointed out on numerous sites that Pixar springs to mind. Whos films are well known for making the viewer feel an emotional response  and if anything he soft visuals only heighten the experience as every element is designed with colour mood and other theories in mind.

This opinion is backed up by the point , If there was not the push for photo realistic visuals in real-time game engines the techniques used in game like windwaker, Journy and Okami would not be possible if the time and resorses had not been put into creating the underlying technology, designed for photo-realistic visuals. 

This is true But the fact that the technology wouldn't have been here dose not change the fact that it is here now. We shouldn't not make something look a certain way because its not in his eyes a step forward.

He goes on to say that we cant move past photorealism until we have truly achieved it .

The final point witch must be taking into consideration is the titles of late from 2k, inculding , bioshok infanite and borderlands 2. Both very stylised games. Mabie her was merely speculation on his view of future 2k titles and perhaps hinting at the power of the new xbox and playstation.

Further reading here:
2K Games says photorealism is needed for innovation - Destructoid
2K's Christoph Hartmann- Why Consoles Will Always Matter - GamesIndustry International
Editorial- Photo-realistic Graphics are Holding Gaming Back - The Controller Online
Gamasutra- Aleksander Adamkiewicz's Blog - Photorealism In Video Games - A Worthy Goal
Games must achieve photorealism in order to open up new genres says 2K - GamesIndustry International
Op-ed- why photorealism isn’t the key to emotional gaming experiences - Ars Technica
Photo-Realistic Games to be the standard Within Ten Years-

Sorry if this post has been a little boring , just thought i should get this out here.