This is here because of this thread, this question and this post what made my mind move again:)
Without going into the details here, it’s kinda safe to say that i had quite a lot of ideas about this subject in the past, and I just want to share some of my gfx related thoughts without hijacking the thread with my "meaningless gibberish" blabla

-

So the question: “what is exactly that [I] want”, when I said that it could be done with idtech5 to make a whole game to look like that footage?

id was working hard on this technology for years and they did a great job imo, and the next step is obviously should be something built on the foundation of that infrastructure, what can take advantage of the pros and avoid the cons. When it comes to visuals, idtech5 has only one real limit, which is memory and storage (well it has other limitations ofc (eg.:dynamic lights, etc), but those things can be compensated with clever game design, and probably also can be “eased” as the technology advances). What I propose is that the best visual approach with idtech5 is going photorealistic style all the way.

Considering how fast memory and storage size increases in our systems , it's safe to say that you can aim for a pretty high-res Megatexture if you start planning something now. I want them to make an insanely photorealistic world for the first time (!= using real photos!). I want them to make the players feel that "whooaaaa" again, what we felt with Doom..

That RL footage looks good to people (again don't get me wrong, it's well done), but it's well behind it's time CGI wise. It’s a known fact that the difference between what you can do real-time and what you can pre-create is night and day. The new XBOX and nextgen PCs will probably have graphics what we only saw in the movies a few years ago, but it will be still nowhere compared to what can be done when you rendering things for months(!), because our perception skills are also getting better and better over time. I think there is a time window here, and this is the right time to make a game with such visuals.

It would be possible to create a very realistic (CGI rendered) world what would look pretty real for the mainstream users for years, and what would blow the mind of everybody, and again, „without” sacrificing performance. Finally, like with idtech1, idtech5 is a game engine doing tricks on the large scale to achieve the desired look. That's important because photorealism is mostly about the quality and the resolution of the diffuse maps and when it’s about textures (and since we don’t have the tech to use procedural textures, I mean images here), no other engines (renderers) are more efficient atm than idtech5. You could also "pre-bake" that backyard scene in tip-top fullHD with the CryEngine3 or with the Frostbite2 engines ofc, but idtech5 could do a whole huge map like that without kneeing the hardware, while those other two couldn’t.

The key factor here is to understand that as the scene gets more and more realistic and complex, the real-time rendering approach used in other engines will become less and less useful realism wise, and that’s when idtech5 can begin to really shine! The limitation of the static world against the real-time solutions will begin to show at every other aspect, so I think it’s a no-brainer to use this advantage of the engine.

Games changed a lot in the last ten years, and people want the game to burst action into their face as much as possible. When it comes to game design, it’s gold to have an engine like this because it leaves you processing power to focus on the gameplay and to add happenings into the scene, while delivering next generation visuals to keep up with the competition. I know graphics is just one factor and “can’t make” a game, and yes, id needs to hire somebody who understands gamers, but I think this would be most efficient way to use the engine, and it would be a mistake going with some other graphics style again.

id makes the best engines, the best weapons and the best controls, period (I still can't believe how awesome the weps are, and how good the control -on foot- feels in RAGE again). What we need now (besides gameplay ofc) is a realistic, bloody, and mind blowing graphics running on everything instead of MW:Whatever, just like how Doom was running everywhere.

I want the best for id and for us, nothing more:)