Is there any deeper meaning to the phrase "next-gen" than "MOAR PRETTINESS"? Who knows? In these final dwindling days of the current gaming generation, God uttered, "Let there be real-time global illumination!" and then Geomerics put out a video showcasing its video game lighting technology in such next-gen titles as Dragon Age 3 and Battlefield 4, and it was good.

Geomerics' dynamic-lighting technology, the punnily named Enlighten, is already in use in games like Mirror's Edge, but today's video shows off some of the next-gen games to be Enlightened. Feel the realistically rendered eye-searing glare of the desert heat in BF4. Experience the scorch of a fireball in Dragon Age 3. Admire the oh-so-photogenic lens flare that delicately embraces a shuffling zombie hoard in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. I've gotta admit that even EVE Online does not look its 10 years of age.

This is some super-pretty stuff, guys. My personal favorite? Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. I've never seen a propeller-driven garlic bulb cast such crisp shadows upon its sinister sunflower allies.