Focus processing power on things such as physics, expanded capability with things such as multi GUI switching. (imagine a game where you have the ranged physics of a shooter, Skills/techniques/spells akin to RPGs, an engine for rapid transit with driving physics akin to a gran turismo and other game play mechanics. Sort of the little bit of everything type of game play exp available in a game such as GTA, but without having to sacrifice the level of depth to each style that a stand alone shooter/rpg/driving/platformer/etc can offer individually.
Beyond that, higher development into the artistic expression of games, be it from an art/audio/visual/narrative context.
Right now, What im seeing from gaming is the possibility of a "great downgrade" as it is. We now have all the graphical prowess we need to make fairly photorealistic graphics in games, But even though we have this ability were seeing a rise in popularity of casual games with inferior graphics, (plants vs zombies is pretty big, right?)Graphical Enhancement of older gameplay mechanics (Street fighter IV comes to mind) Or a greater emphasis on the game play mechanics (everything from Halos physics engine to a game like fat princess illustrates this well)
So, when we hit the graphical plateau, which honestly was needed in order to help expand games to a main stream acceptance, the industry will have to expand what games can do, and how they can immerse us deeper into their simulated worlds. Only logical way to expand would be to expand your level of freedom of what you can do and allow you to decide how you will entertain yourself.
OT: This just got me thinking of a notion of a shooter, where you have the geographical equivilent for one map of 200 real life acres and merge its capabilities with a game like minecraft where teams have the ability to not only fight, but to construct a wide variety of constructions for various different reasons. You could have your team build up one massive fortress to prepare yourself in siege warfare, or perhaps you can have your team go out and build smaller outposts and basically draw a line across the territory to defend and gradually extend your territorial posession.... ehh, im starting to ramble, sorry.
