I'd just like to address this one here.
I often hear complaints regarding "retro" graphics. (that is to say, simple art or pixel-based art) I realize the poster, Vinny, is not necessarily complaining, but simply commenting on the seeming proliferation of these graphical styles.
Obviously, there are far more actual retro games than there are retro-styled modern games. We have some twenty years of gaming history to draw on for examples, and that adds up to a sizable number of releases. It may sometimes seem like there is less of a disparity, but this is usually due to a lack of exposure and knowledge of older titles, as opposed to an over-abundance of modern retro graphic titles. The internet has plenty of tools for record keeping, but the on-line community has a surprisingly short memory. And video games are a notorious medium for having troubles with historical record-keeping, and preserving older works. A lot of the past gets forgotten, and even less seems to stick in the public consciousness as represented by on-line communities.
And at the same time, it is true that there are plenty of modern retro-themed titles. I'm not going to deny that. But I also don't have a problem with this. I have a bit of experience working on graphics, and even some experience dappling in in-game graphics. And one thing I can say for certain is that producing those graphics takes a lot of freaking time. Like, A LOT of time. In terms of man-hours, it is incredibly costly. And this is just a base-line. It isn't even taking the quality of the art or the natural talents of the artist into consideration. Even a highly talented and naturally efficient artist would still be putting a lot of time and effort into creating game graphics. And the more sophisticated and detailed the art assets are, the more time they take to produce. Modern high-quality, normal-mapped, high-fidelity art assets are insanely expensive to produce.
Most indie developers use retro-themed art as a necessity, not as an aesthetic choice. Simpler art is less costly to produce, and less costly to animate. (animation is a HUGE time-sink) Small teams or individuals simply don't have the budget to produce Call-of-Duty levels of detailed graphics. Many of them are driven to such art styles out of desperation, as opposed to active choice.
