Looking at the pics I think those are cross-hairs.  So yeah you are right these are super zoomed in.

Or maybe a 720p TV so your 720p games will look very nice.

Here is a comparison of 720p upscaled vs 1080p with SMAA on both in Deus Ex: Human Revolution DC. No, zooming only cropped. With motion it becomes more apparent. Sitting closer makes the difference larger, and I'm not here to convince what a "big" difference is. I think 900p games on xbox one will be fine. But you'll be able to tell.

A link below is the original image for anyone that doubts the screenshot.  You can check  the resolution in windows 7 by...

right click>>view image info... It should say Dimensions 1920px x 1080px, if it says "(scaled to 1,676px × 943px)" or something other than 1920px x 1080px you're not looking at the image correctly.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5157/ggyp.jpg

Problem is, you only see the kind of detail those pictures show if you sit with your nose pressed against a screen, or play on an ginormous screen.

For the vast majority of consumers, 1080p to 720p is not a big difference.

Well the average screen size has been increasing steadily for the last 10 years and the difference is quite easy to see on a 40" screen from 2-3 metres. So for a good number of consumers the difference will already be apparent and that number will only increase as time goes by.

Also, I find the difference more obvious when in motion.

I once got into a debate with a guy that said he could tell the difference between the non-compressed audio in Metal Gear Solid 4 and other games. He swore it sounded so much crisper and clearer due to the non-compression techniques used in that game. In the end, I decided that what goes on in his head was his business. He believed he was getting a far superior experience so "good for him".

Well, many people still buy DVDs over Blu Ray, so I'm not sure the public is really all that hung up on it. I mean, us internet gamers care, but we need to remember we're a vocal minority who care far more about these things than your average consumer does.

The only relevant comparison is one which is fullscreen, demonstrating the actual difference when playing a game. Its just like those cropped 1080p vs 4k comparisons which are wholly detached from the real viewing experience most people are likely to have.

I'm completely impartial TBH, although I am getting the ps4. I just think this focus on pretty vs slightly more pretty is getting a tad trivial. Ultimately the exprience both next gen consoles offer cannot be distilled to a frame rate or resolution. Both will in time demonstrate huge leaps over what we currently have in regard to consoles, although I think its now universally acknowledged that the ps4 is beefier. I guess what really matters is that 3rd parties aren't afraid to utilise that additional power.

People still buy optical media?

Haha, good point. I must have been having flashbacks to my misspent youth... :p