[Maxson]

Something I got off of Kipple's post reminded me of Pongism- which I think of as the idea that the core of gaming is the constantly shifting interaction between the player and the game. Narrative, as Koji said, is important but secondary.

If so, the unique thing games do is interactivity- and playing with this interactivity produces one of many messianic games. I agree with Koji, there are a series of games that adjust the genre- mainly by showing us new ways to interact with the medium. This new interactivity is instantly aped by your usual uninspired games, but by doing so, the overall interactivity of the genre gets a boost. Like how Mario 64 or Doom changed how we interact with a 3D environment- now everyone does it that way. And we're all a little better off because of it, but we're sick of it and looking for the next messianic game now.

If so, the designer of the next messianic game will redefine interactivity yet again- often by using current hardware boundaries in new ways that will seem obvious in retrospect. It could be something small, like letting you move the camera during cinematics in Half-Life. It could also be hardware, since hardware itself strongly defines gaming- which could explain why everyone's so stoked about the DS/Wii. I'm betting it will be something blindingly obvious in retrospect, like always.