Slashdot also has a link to this, but I wanted to say a little more about Next Gen’s analysis:
They spend more time on their general theory of the evolution of games than they do on the death of any franchises. On the franchise predictions: sure movie franchises will sink once the movie’s have been on DVD for a year or so, and yes GTA and Tony Hawk are getting stale, this is obvious stuff…
On their general theory – I disagree with both of their premises – firstly that the evolution of gaming is a march towards realism – it has been since the “next generation” consoles – but wasn’t to start with (pac man and space invaders had nothing to do with realism) – and won’t be forever -
Graphics will progress to photo realism, surely, but then what? The market may snap up cinematic games with photo-realistic graphics just like they scarf blockbuster movies all summer – but surely developers can do more with this medium than choose-your-own-adventure movies.
On the progression to online – not all games are good online games. That doesn’t make them bad games. Gaming isn’t a sport (or shouldn’t only be) – it’s also an artform – and like a good novel, some forms of it will always be best enjoyed individually, or at least non-competitively.
