Yes, we did hear this last gen.
You're the one rewriting history.
In terms of graphics, yes, and it is always true. Games are always designed with consoles as the baseline. When they get a bump, everyone gets a bump. PC games can push graphics with innovative hardware, but games will never be made with them as the targets until consoles also move up.
The GTX 1060 didn't just become the popular card out of nowhere. It's the popular card because it runs console games at 1080p60 at high settings, meaning those things which are easily scalable. Back last generation, the same thing happened, the most popular cards were the ones that could run that generations console games at 1080p30 or 1080p60.
8GB or 16GB didn't become by far the most prevelant RAM amounts out of thin air. Last generation it was 4-8. This generation it's 8-16. That shift happened due to games that all shifted upwards when the new consoles came out.
This is just the reality of game development. And any dev will tell you so. A dev basically just said this, in fewer words, in another thread. "Games will always be designed around a console baseline" or something to that effect.
Also, consoles absolutely HAVE been raked over the coals ever since the beginning of last gen. I was very much around, basically daily on GAF, and basically everywhere else that talked about next gen consoles. Anyone who knew about the CPUs basically said hey so these are bad. And they were. They're awful netbook CPUs from like 2011. They were bad long before they came out.
Consoles simultaneously push things forward and hold them back. In general, graphics leaps forward when consoles do. As long as consoles are a major part of gaming, this will always be true.
We hear this every gen because it is literally true. As I said, any developer will tell you this. Graphics are not linearly scalable, and if you are designing around consoles, fundamental design is made with them in mind, so when they get a bump, games in general get a bump. There are only so many things, like resolution, fps, and some extra visual effects that are easily scalable. That is primarily what extra PC power is relegated to with pretty rare exceptions. Models, AI, physics, encounters, environment size, in some senses environmental detail, polygon count, etc. are all always beholden to consoles, not PC.
PCs have had SSDs for a while now. It'd be nice to finally have games designed with them in mind.
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