I dont know. I remember the games of the 80's which had hugely varied styles (though they sucked obviously compared to todays offerings technologically). Even still, the games had lots of *variety*. Something that seems to be narrowing further lately.
Maybe I'm just ignoring the titles that do something different at the moment? If I am, please correct me with some names.
It does seem like a brighter future for gamers in the next couple of years though. This, Spore which is totally wacked and some other titles introduced recently seem to be breathing fresh air into pc gaming once again. Fingers crossed.