You know, maybe I’m just getting old, but every generation of video games blows my mind. The level of realism just keeps getting better and better. Here are three examples I’ve encountered in the past few days. First, check out the excerpt from a preview of Call of Duty 3:
The foliage in this mission was very realistic. Light bloom streamed through the open canopy of the larger tree cover. Tree branches, leaves, flowers, and grass swayed in the breeze. No longer can you simply spot your enemy by movement, as everything in the scene is moving. In fact, individual blades of grass can be crushed down by stepping on them, with large sections being crushed when a player enters the prone position.
Did you catch that? ‘Individual blades of grass can be crushed’. For a guy who started with a game like Rogue (not to mention Infocom’s text-only affairs), that’s nuts. You can watch trailers for the game here.
Next, Waxy pointed to this remarkable side-by-side comparison of Flight Simulator X and a real landing.
Finally, this is a different kind of realism. Starting October 11th, the prices you pay for the guns in Counter Strike: Source will match the real world market prices for those guns. How’s that for art imitating life?
I’ve always been a PC gamer, but I’m watching the quality of console games exceeding their PC equivalents by a wider and wider margin. I may have to switch.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Small clarification, the Counter Strike guns prices aren’t based on “real world” market prices for the guns (though their use of the word “global” is confusing enough on that page).
In the game you are given a set amount of starting money with which you “buy” a gun at the beginning of the round.
They’re now tracking all those in-game purchases and shifting the prices on a weekly basis as an interesting balance mechanism.
I’m also impressed by video game evolution, in realism yes, but more in their sheer playability. One of the best developments is that games teach you to play them internally, recognizing that the manual is either missing or just not as fun to look at as something you can control. Most impressive is the feel of games, the playability that happens just below the level you perceive when it’s done right, and notice right away when it’s wrong. Console games consistently get the feel right, in my experience.