You guys should try SweetFX

It's a post-process effect injector so you can turn it off or on in-game, mainly used for its specialized AA function called SMAA but it supports both HDR (not real, it mimics it but very good depending on the game and strength) and Bloom.

Unfortunately it only support for DX9, DX10 and DX11 games.

Can't use it for Descent 1? Awww :(

I can't stand DoF. Yeah, obscuring half the game's visuals with a senseless blurring effect is a great idea!

I actually like motion blur and bloom, though :P

My issue with bloom and HDR are that they're criminally overused. Things like the sun, moon, and floodlights are all valid targets for snazzy bloomed-lighting effects. Things like candles and 40-watt light bulbs simply aren't... they don't produce enough light for that. Even a spotlight or other highly directional light won't bloom unless you're actually standing in its path. When I saw a desk lamp in Doom 3 BFG edition with a bloom effect on it, I nearly cried. IT'S A GAME ABOUT DARKNESS, YOU ASSHOLES!

My issue with motion blur is that it always seems to give me motion sickness. I'd MUCH rather have a few choppy frames here an there than nausea.

Motion blur is supposed to be for fluidity of visuals. The reason movies feel smooth at 24fps but games do not is blur - the theory goes that motion blur makes motion look smoother and makes lower framerates more acceptable. However, the vast majority of games only use motion blur on camera movement. If you stand completely still the images in front of you could be flying about at the speed of sound and not have blur applied.

Of course, one of the reasons it doesn't work so well is that it's technically a frame or two behind itself. You obviously can't apply filter effects to what hasn't yet been rendered (at least, not easily).

The vast majority of camera effects like blur, DoF, bloom, lens flare etc are designed to mimic a camera anyway, rather than the human eye. They're cinematic, not realistic, effects.

You may find the piss poor, real time approximations annoying but I doubt you are naturally experiencing them in any realistic sense. You may refocus your attention with where you are looking, but its not like you are refocusing for distance. Its more of an attention blur as its harder to digest details the farther they slide into the outskirts of your vision. That said I don't think people really experience depth of field in the sexy dramatic way camera lenses do, and if we do it pretty hard to appreciate. But in the end you are probably right, it doesn't belong in too many games. Unless it can bring some genuine function to the game play, or is wholly unobtrusive, just leave it out and save the frames it costs. In a fast action game I could see it getting in the way. How exactly is the game supposed to know what you want to look at?

As for motion blur I suppose one could experience it if the game were running at a fast enough frame rate, but 60 isn't even close and I'm not sure 120 is ether,(I'm guessing 1000.) I actually find it kind of annoying in fighting games not having it or I am at least curious what it would look like with it. As it is I keep seeing each crisp slice of time and there are too few animations in fast strikes to convey what just happened to my satisfaction. If I were actually watching a strike in real life there would be blur telling me all of what happened in those quick moments. There is a lot of useful information for the brain in motion blur. I assume though, it must be done right and I'm not sure thats possible in real time.

To that motion blur is not all that useful artistically , and what I've seen of it so far is that performs poorly causing more trouble than its worth. However, I am interested in its potential to create a more authentic environment. I hate to dismiss the effect because we haven't quite figured out a good way to implement it yet. Both of these effects in non-realtime rendering appear to be wildly expensive. It may take awhile to do them any justice in a video game.

I'm not sure what use HDR is in the context of a game. The monitor is still limited by a single range of contrast, and things in a 3D environment are defined in such a way that I would think HDR as you are defining it in the photographic sense, is made irrelevant. With a camera the effort is to overcome a large span in lighting that can't be conveyed in one contrast range, like the sun vs a candle lit room. But in games we can control the sun and all the other lights to ensure desired balance. It seems like in the past when people said HDR they were actually talking about bloom which is not remotely the same thing.

I know what HDRI concerning images is, but I guess I'm not real sure what the technical specifics are when talking about HDR in games is, though I would be curious.

I really liked the depth of field effect in this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaCkwjgBXDc#t=110s

I think that the main issue with these is when they are overused. When used with a gentle touch (a light burring effect for an example), then they can make things look quite good, but in particular when these things were becoming common, they would just end up looking like a mess. Luckily (some) game developers are beginning to learn how to work with their tools, and don't overuse it to nearly the same degree.

Sadly this is not a new trend in game making though. Whenever developers gets a new toy to play with, they tend to abuse it. Anyone remember when coloured lighting became the "big thing", and we got games like Forsaken tried to "make the most out of it"? Yea, Forsaken could really look stupid at points due to it.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. These two are usually shut off before I even start messing with Vsync and resolution. It always irks me when they are on and there is no option to shut them off, as well.

Motion blur can go fart in a phonebooth. It's ugly as hell. Makes my brain want to explode.
DoF is almost always sucky. One exception for me was STALKER CoP.
On the other hand... Call me crazy, but I like bloom (most of the time). I dunno why. Just my preference.
On my third hand... Film grain can stay on in the L4D games only, the rest of my games - please stay the hell out.
/opinions

Try not looking at your hand. Just stand up and start spinning. If you don't see it you are probably stopping t look at things(counteracting the movement with your eyes/head)

It depends how intense the effect is. The HDR and Bloom in Empire Total War I remember was blinding so I turned it off.

I usually always turn motion blur off though, gives me a headache.

In real life it's a good effect. It lets you focus on a specific depth and get more details from it. If all depths are clear the image will be more confusing. I think that this can be applied well to games, like obscurelyric suggested.