Back when video games first came into existance, they were simple in concept, mainly due to hardware restrictions of the time.
The Atari was a revolution in the industry, coming out with various consoles such as the 2600. There were also many other consoles that came into play, and eventually faded into obscurity. For example, the Intellivision and the Commodore.
The early to mid '80s brought the great gaming crash. Nothing came forward. Then Nintendo came and brought it back forward with the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Since then, games have evolved from the simple creations they were to greater advancements. A short while back, it was a war over better graphics. Since the Wii was released, directions have turned to motion-control. But, what game developers have missed is the concept of a good game. Back in the late '80s-early-to-late '90s, there were great games, albeit there were still terrible titles in that era, but regardless. Series such as Mario, Pokemon, and Sonic all set the bar for their respective series.
However, as the industry fought over better graphics, they forgot what made them so great. While some have stuck to the main elements, others lost their way. An example is Mega Man. The NES titles were fantastic, however, as the "Bit Wars" started, they started to lose their way, starting with spin-offs that simply lacked the shine that the originals had. It almost seemed as if the series was heading into obscurity. And for a time, it seemed as if it would. However, in recent years, Capcom went back to the basics with Mega Man 9 for the Xbox 360 Arcade. The title was in 8-bit, such as the classic titles in the series. It was a fantastic game, with added features to compliment the better hardware, along with a more developed storyline. Along with that, it also featured a "Classic Mode", with the "flicker" that would occur whenever several items/enemies were on screen. That was due in part to the NES processor. That revived the series, and fans along with new players came to it. Mega Man 10 continued along with the precedent of Mega Man 9. It also failed to disappoint.
That in mind, developers had began to somewhat go back to the basics while embracing the new. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Split into Episodes, the 1st is out, the other two aren't) went back to the basic sidescrolling action that the original had, while embracing newer graphics and some new additions.
Others, such as Pokemon, have occasionally released remakes of earlier titles in the franchise, the first set being FireRed and LeafGreen, remakes of Pokemon Red and Blue(Green in Japan, however, Blue was released as the third title) for the Gameboy Advance. However, whether or not it was meant to act as a way of sticking to the classic way of doing things or to make up for the lack of Gameboy <-> Gameboy Advance connectivity, preventing one from fully completing the Pokedex (although due to some event-only Pokemon, it still couldn't be done unless you had access to the Japanese events, such as Celebi)
As a final word, developers, rather than fight for better graphics/motion control/which one is more violent and into war, they should fight for the better game as a whole. And it isn't going to get that far if developers just release games like Call of Duty.
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