It's an interesting topic in that I remember just how much of a revolution the original Voodoo card was to gaming (for me anyway). These new cards didn't just enable slightly prettier graphics like a new card would today, they enabled entire new genres of game. If anything, the art quality actually took a step back for a while (some of those sprites were gorgeous), but the new 3D effects more than made up for it.

I imagine products like the Oculus Rift will hopefully have the same effect on gaming. New ideas that we could barely imagine before will now be within reach.