Yes, I can see that this makes sense, the problem, however, is, that nearly ALL games nowadays seem to contain only such "muted colours" !
I disagree. One of the top arguments going around these days is the colour palette of Diablo 3, which was changed from the dark gray, brown, blacks of the previous installments to the much more vibrant colours of the upcoming release. The argument being, if you are unfamiliar, that they should have stayed with the darker tones. Personally, I like vibrant and varied colours in my games and will prefer that over "muted colours" any day. One of my complaints about Fallout 3 was that the landscape, by design, was so monotonous. There's only so much tan/brown/gray I can take before I want to see something more. Sure, it fit with the post-nuclear theme, but they didn't focus on what impact that would have on the player at all. Once I tried playing the game a second time (because I enjoyed it), I decided I just didn't want to slog through the same tan/brown/gray all over again. But, while colours are important, variety in environments is even more so. If they can use the same muted shades yet make the environments feel very different from one another, then perhaps it'd work.
Regardless, I think it may be the type of games you are playing that hint at the "muted colours". Unless it happens to fit the genre and or setting of the game (wartime, for instance), most games are going the opposite direction.
