Same for me really. The graphics from the get-go just blew me away.

Mine was with Endless Ocean right in the first lagoon when a Manta Ray swam by me. That game has a weird way of making you feel vulnerable and awestruck at the same time.

Eye Spider:
I think mine was when I'd just upgraded my PC and the first thing I played to test it was an FPS like Doom3 or FEAR, cranking all the settings to max, and it was like a whole new game.

Yeah mine was similar, but with the orange box as my benchmarks.

Yeah it's pretty much what Eye Spider said.

I'd like to add all the ways I could kill zombies in Dead Rising, but that was pretty much the only good thing about the game. >_>

Crysis was pretty.

Probably Halo 3. I know, I know. It's common knowledge that Halo 3 doesn't have very good graphics (although I'm not sure why people say this). Anyway, it was second game I played on my 360, Oblivion being the first. I was staring at all the pretty visuals (or not so pretty, whatever) when I noticed how good the marines looked. Yes, those annoying meatshields at least act as eye candy in the final installment. Anyway, it was as I was admiring the graphics, the meatshield in question told me to stop staring. Hilarity ensued.

But what I want to know is, how ca they tell Master Chief is staring, what with the helmet and all?

I tend to avoid gamer message boards (I have a severe allergy to fanboys; seriously, my tongue swells up), so when I picked up Assassin's Creed, I just knew that it had gotten decent reviews. I wasn't aware that the call had already gone out that everyone had decided to hate it. It was the second game I'd played on my 360, and so it was that when I first started exploring and jumping and looking at enor-fuck-mous vistas and seemingly endless line of sight and dear-god-this-is-the-best-lighting-I've-ever-seen, my mouth dried up since it stayed agape for so long.

Ever since the 8-bit Nintendo days, my friends and I would talk about "Wouldn't it be so great if the game looked like the cinema scenes?" And with AC, it's come as close to that 20-year-old dream as I've yet seen it.

Sure, the game itself was kind of yawn, but damn, it were pretty.

Noticing that Frank West's facial expressions changed in real time and that you could actually see the detailing on his clothing at any time.

The first game I played on my 360 (which RRoDed this past weekend damn you) was BioShock.

Plyaing it in HD and seeing the visuals that crisp, clear, and detailed blew me away. The splicer trying to get in the sphere didn't do to much for my nerves, though.

MichaelH:
I tend to avoid gamer message boards (I have a severe allergy to fanboys; seriously, my tongue swells up), so when I picked up Assassin's Creed, I just knew that it had gotten decent reviews. I wasn't aware that the call had already gone out that everyone had decided to hate it. It was the second game I'd played on my 360, and so it was that when I first started exploring and jumping and looking at enor-fuck-mous vistas and seemingly endless line of sight and dear-god-this-is-the-best-lighting-I've-ever-seen, my mouth dried up since it stayed agape for so long.

Ever since the 8-bit Nintendo days, my friends and I would talk about "Wouldn't it be so great if the game looked like the cinema scenes?" And with AC, it's come as close to that 20-year-old dream as I've yet seen it.

Sure, the game itself was kind of yawn, but damn, it were pretty.

Yeah... I always got shivers when I performed a leap of faith from a really tall building in that game.

In reality mine came while playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. When I really got immersed in the game I found myself doing all these gestures to interact with the puzzles and environments, aiming with the wii remote, swinging the nunchuck to use the grapple beam, etc., and I just could'nt help but realize that never before have I physically interacted with a game like this (adventure game I mean), that's when it struck me.

Honestly, haven't had one yet.

Whilst the graphics have improved as expected, the rest of the games are still catching up. It's still the same 1st/3rd person shoot em ups, driving, sports and platforming games, but with a higher polygon count.

So far nothing on the current consoles has delivered a Mario 64 or Metroid Prime moment.

Frosk:
The first game I played on my 360 (which RRoDed this past weekend damn you) was BioShock.

Plyaing it in HD and seeing the visuals that crisp, clear, and detailed blew me away. The splicer trying to get in the sphere didn't do to much for my nerves, though.

Same here, mate. Bioshock absolutely floored me.

Oblivion?...next gen?...its been out for quite awhile on the PC before the next gen consoly stuff started being touted about, for me the best next gen WOW experiance for me was Crysis, the Graphics even on medium were fantastic and draw distance left me amazed so that is mine even if it did end up shittin all over itself towards the end (like Far Cry)

My first WOW was when i never realized just how pissed off i could get until i played COD2 on Veteran.

Mines when I went to my friends house and got to walk through a grave yard in Oblivion. Mind you I've beaten Morrowind, Bloodmoon, and Tribunal.

I just felt so great!

For me it would have to be Hitman: Blood Money, that gleam off Agent 47's chromedome looked awesome.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, top of the tower in Kakariko Village. I damn near got vertigo as I stared out across the landscape, after climbing for what seemed like forever...

Ohhh. You meant CURRENT gen? Probably the Ace Combat 6 demo I downloaded.

Gears of War. that or Excite Truck

MPD51:

Frosk:
The first game I played on my 360 (which RRoDed this past weekend damn you) was BioShock.

Plyaing it in HD and seeing the visuals that crisp, clear, and detailed blew me away. The splicer trying to get in the sphere didn't do to much for my nerves, though.

Same here, mate. Bioshock absolutely floored me.

You guys should play the PC version, you'll crap yourself if Bioshock floored you on 360.

Don't look at comparison videos too, you won't see the beauty unless it's on an HDTV or HD monitor.

Either the COD2 sequence when your riding in the truck to the village and all of the planes are crashing around you, or the part in Gears of War when the King Raven crashes into a building.

the first time out of ye olde linear dungeon in oblivion, it was the very definition of epic (looking)

Crysis. The whole thing.

Virtua Fighter Five though Heavenly Sword rather easily eclipsed it off of the facial expressions. The only game that comes close to Heavenly Sword's facial expressions that I have played is Half Life 2.

It had to be when I was playing Naruto: Ninja Revolution on the Wii. I had just launched my opponent from one arena to the next and was just moving my hand around while I waited.
That was when I found out that you can fight while in transit from one arena to another.

That made me say wow...
Yes I know it may not be that big of a deal but that is when the level of player action causing Wii in game re-action really hit home for me.

SPOILER...

When the two scarabs came down from the sky on The Covenant in Halo 3. My jaw just dropped.

Looking at the graphics of Gran Tursimo 5 was impressive to say in the least.

Bioshock (PC version) and Crysis easily win my "WOW" moment so far.

Also the smoothness of GTA IV on my PS3 gets a nod.

Um, ya Bioshock for the PC when I cranked up the settings and watched the opening my jaw was open the whole time. I mean cmon the water on the lens thing that movies do now a days just floored me because it looked so good.

I hate to say it but Doom 3 maxed out just made my eyes bleed and in a good way. Until the gameplay (is it really gameplay) got in the way. Still very pretty on maxed out settings.

I love good graphics but I really do wish they came with great gameplay more often.

Oh well ya can't have everything now can you.

I'm a bit surprised when people mention Halo 3, no not because it's over-rated or blah blah, it's just, I figured somewhere in the next gen (or "this gen") you would have been impressed earlier, hell, when people bring up Crysis I'm also surprised.

Is this "first" wow moment or "biggest" wow moment?

(Also, why do we still call this the 'next' gen.? I don't want to get TOO off topic here but I had to ask -_- )

My first was gears of war I mean COD2 dead rising and all that looked good but also plastic gears was the first for me that didn't use Barbie and Ken dolls for character models.

The first time I accidentally felled a palm tree in Crysis with some errant bullets. Now I can't stop mowing them down. It's so much fun even tho I'm an eco-warrior at heart. :P