NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Holy Grail in the battle for dominance of the graphics world has always been cinematic-quality performance. If you can get a game that's as graphically complex as "Shrek" or "Toy Story" to run smoothly on a PC, the theory goes, you'll open up the gaming industry to a vastly larger audience.

For years, nVidia and ATI have claimed to hit that milestone every time they have a new chip coming out – though that has generally been more PR bluster than fact. They're making the boast again about their latest releases. And while the skepticism is still thick, even critics are acknowledging that the gap between in-game and on-screen graphics is quickly shrinking.

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Anticipating a surge of interest as more casual gamers become aware of this, ATI and nVidia are cutting the price of their high-end chips. The result? Bleeding edge graphics are finally becoming affordable.

nVidia (NVDA: Research, Estimates) kicked things off last week, cutting suggested retail prices on mainstream video cards featuring its most-advanced chip to as low as $99. ATI's mainstream boards go for as low as $199 these days, but those prices will probably drop in April when new products hit store shelves. (High end cards, for hardcore gamers, will continue to offer a few more features, but will also continue to retail for $400 or so.)

Here's the catch: While the graphics technology is more advanced than it has ever been, there aren't currently any games on the market that can take advantage of it. ("Dawn", the scantily clad, come-hither fairy nVidia has been using to promote its GeForceFX line doesn't count, since she's nothing more than a tech demo at present.) That should change this year, though, with high-profile titles such as "Doom 3" and "EverQuest 2" slated to hit the streets before the holiday season.

Meanwhile, not content to limit their battle for supremacy to the desktop, ATI (ATYT: Research, Estimates) and nVidia both announced new offerings for notebook PCs on Thursday. In the past, 3D products for mobile devices utilized the previous generation's technology. This time, though, both companies are rolling out state-of-the-art graphics chips for laptop users.

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The announcements came this morning at the CeBIT technology trade show in Germany. ATI debuted its new Mobility Radeon 9600 chip, while nVidia introduced GeForce FX Go series. Both are portable versions of their companies' top-line models. And both claim to help conserve laptop battery power by ramping their energy demands up and down as needed. You'll also need to buy a new laptop if you want either of them.

Each chip has something to certain bragging points. nVidia has signed a deal with Electronic Arts (ERTS: Research, Estimates), in which the gaming software giant has agreed to test future games exclusively on nVidia's mobile chips to ensure the titles can be played on portable computers. nVidia has also nabbed the right to bundle certain hit EA titles with its notebooks featuring the GeForce FX Go.

ATI, meanwhile, is touting the future flexibility of the Mobility Radeon. Right now, when mobile users want to upgrade their laptop's graphics capability, it's a relatively easy, but expensive technique: They throw away their laptop and buy a new one. Using a new technology called FlexFit, ATI said it is giving notebook manufacturers the ability to offer consumers upgradable graphics.

If notebook manufacturers decide to take advantage of this capability, it will be a boon for consumers, particularly gamers on the go. So far, though, none have committed to it.

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Of course, the graphical advances and lower price points have uses well beyond the world of gaming. Look for more Power Point presentations to utilize 3D graphics in the months to come and CAD users will undoubtedly see some benefits as well.

But they won't be having near as much fun as those of us killing lifelike zombies and ogling 'Dawn' while she dances around.  

Morris is Director of Content Development for CNN/Money. Click here to send him an email.