Isn't the new trailer for Assassin's Creed amazing?

If anything to me; for perfection it looks to be Hitman set in the crusades, though being developed by Ubisoft Montreal; creators of Splinter Cell I am worried slightly at how it will play, but for the moment I'm going to try and forget about as much of it as possible, and await it's 2007 *fingers crossed* release. Though seeing as Ubi have promised a demo at E3 (July) we can possibly hope for a fall-ish release?

From the video the combat looks amazing, as do the animations and general overall graphics of the piece. The levels look fantastic, and it’s all very beautiful, but then it got me thinking about the coined 'Next Gen' phase of gaming.

Next gen is a term thrown around quite a bit; understandably we are currently on new consoles that I suppose are next-gen in proportion, (it can be debated whether or not we have left the sixth generation as PS2 still takes sales, though seventh is definitely out there) but does it really make the games any different.

Truth be told, I loved it when the generations of consoles were easily pegged by era's, the 8-bit all the way up to 128-bit period was awesome, but now everything is technical and specs are run off akin to a computer; nothing is as fun anymore. Everything is becoming more advanced, more realistic, but luckily the games are getting appreciated more.

So what exactly is a next generation game? (I've looked to the most obvious places yet) I am unable to find a definition, the termage ‘next generation consoles’ makes perfect sense (the next step in consoles), but next generation games are something that gets thrown around in discussion on boards and forums and the like, without any clear definition.

Granted, that most of the time, the next-gen-ness of a game is weighted on the quality of it's graphics; but is this because gameplay does not seem to be evolving at all, or because a lot of gamers just don't really care about the substance of a game, and just want the style... of course I don't blame games developers, after all it's much easier to use the stuff that sells, or that’s what I think they must be telling themselves.

But then that's not really next gen is it? Shouldn't next gen be a new experience, a new way of playing?
Personally I feel that to be next gen is defined by something 'special', it describes something that you may have never been able to do in a game before, it is trying to split the line between videogames and interactivity. I'll try and give an example.

I'll give you a few good and bad examples of next-gen games, please correct me if I'm wrong on any of them, but I feel they are good sentiments;

Good Example

Condemned Criminal Origins (Monolith, 2005) - So perhaps this isn't the most innovative of games; but it's a cross between survival horror and an FPS on a grand scale.
To me, it was a game that really broke the boundary between just 'watching' while you play a game, and actually playing a game, with condemned criminal origins (as long as you have a good 5.1 system) you can become so engrossed in the game you are on edge for the slightest sound. I must admit though, that it really shocks me that it took so long for a game to go so far to immerse a player.

Bad Example

Gears of War (Epic, 2006) - I do not even want to count how many GOTY awards this piece of crap won, it's a third person action game; apparently it's really good. Ha!
There is close to no innovation in the game; other than using a war camera -which was already used in GRAW- and a nice easy control system the game has nothing to offer 'fore a very cheap story, some flashy graphics and a lot of brown colours. I'm sorry but in my opinion there is nothing going for this game that makes it at all next gen, in what way at all is it innovative?

"Gears of War," a third-person shooter by Epic Games, delivers the first true next-generation experience. -MSNBC.COM

So why does it seem that the games that are completely abusing the next-gen title are getting all the recognition? I can tell you that you will not read about how much of a next-gen experience Condemned is published magazines or regarded websites, apart from casual comments from gamers who recognise the phenomenal experience the game achieved.

Let’s just examine a few of the games that I have in my room on the 360 (by rights, all next gen titles)

Dead Rising- The ability to fully decapitate zombies in an pretty good interactive environment, a good attempt at a possible next gen game.

Oblivion- Morrowind with souped up graphics

Lost Planet- Don't get me started! :P

Saints Row- Some nice features, but otherwise just an improved GTA sandbox game.

GRAW- An amazing tactical shooter with great graphics, but that's about it.

Rainbow Six Vegas- Amazing graphics and an improvement on the tactical shooter, but nothing amazingly different from its peers.

Hitman Blood Money- Hitman improved by miles, a great experience, with lovely graphics, but nothing completely original.

So, sorry, maybe I am wrong, and correct me if you believe that I am, but for the moment the state of next-gen gaming seems a little weak; but perhaps with titles like Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, GTA IV and best of all Fable 2 hitting our shores all around this and the beginning of next year perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I know for a fact some of the amazing features Fable should be giving us and just as equally GTA IV seems to be promising a level of interactivity which so far has not been fulfilled in any game to date. (Except for maybe Shenmue; which was undoubtedly ahead of it's time, though not in the same aspect of environment activity which next gen promises)

Mass Effect promises character development like no other, but as far as I am concerned, we have yet to have been given a truly next generation experience in a game, and so I cannot wait for the flood of innovative games that await release.

Not to mention what is in store in Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill 5 and Double Fine's new game!!!