Lines between Genre's getting blurred?

As technology advances, is it just me that the line between all genres is getting blurred?

Rpg's have been getting les and less 'complex' so as to appeal to a larger market (consoles for instance) and due to programming demands (i.e. the high costs invovled with the sexya nd shiny grafix heavy engine means there isn't much moolah left for content such as non-linearity, well written story, etc)


This is also true with strategy games. The latest C&C was all about spamming mammoth tanks. Warcraft 3 did not reliy on stuf like terrain or morale at all. Furthermore the emphaiss on singular units is increasing in strategy games as opposed to controlling armies/groups. They are becoming more like action/rpgs with strategy elements. Also, the limitations of graphics/dumbing down etc also apply here.

FPS's and 3rdPS's OTOH are getting 'smarter', relative to what they were before ofcourse. This is due to them ripping ideas off from rpg's, adventure games, etc and other genres. Furthermore, more andmore FPS's are actually action-rpgs. Examples include GTA3, among others.

Is it only me but in the future nearly every retail game will be one single genre, with only different trappings? (Space; Fantasy, Modern, Mythic, 20's, Goth, Pulp, etc) That is, the basic engines, GAMEPLAY, effects and animations iwll be the exact same, while only the 'SKIN' of the game will be different? (so in a Space game you play a guy with a lazer sword and blaster with psi powers; in fantasy you play a guy with a greatsword, crossbow and magic)

No wail.

I certainly hope not. I still remember the Seth Godin talk about the purple cow e.g. something new not seen before.

On a completely different, yet somewhat related note both my bank and my old place of work have two slogans I think is worth following: My bank's slogsn's is 'do what you do best - we do' and the place where I used has 'be yourself' as a slogan.

If we look at how well varius games have done in 2007, both Biioshock, Stalker, The Witcher as well as Mask of the Betrayer expansion have done pretty well, both critically and moneywise. All four games did have the uniqueness thing going for them as they did stand out from avarage rpg, fps or adventure game.

The whole let's make all games like the all other games trend or the trend to blend every game genre into one game better go away soon, I hope.
It is not that I don't appreciate that fps games have gotten better stories or that rpg games have gotten smoother better interfaces. I just think that
the developers and publishers have got to take a lesson from Seth Godin and start making more unique games...

The only problem with that is, the larger publishing houses demand AAA titles, which aren't going to be unique anytime soon.