I think it's safe to say the PS3 is the definitive graphics king for this gen

[NightDragon83]

Michael-5 said:

NightDragon83 said:

Sal.Paradise said:

NightDragon83 said:
I think it's safe to say that being the definitive graphics king during a generation doesn't mean jack in the grand scheme of things since all the graphics kings of every console gen ended up in 2nd or 3rd place at the end in total sales.

Because I appreciate a game more when the platform I'm  playing it on sells a few more million than the other platform...

(?)

Not my point... it's nearly the end of the generation, and people are still arguing over which system has the best graphics as if it actually matters at this point.  Of course, the people doing most of the arguing are the Sony fans, because it's the only victory they can point to this gen since they went from 1st to 3rd in market share and no longer have bragging rights in that department.  PS Vita also has the best graphics ever by far for any dedicated handheld gaming device... how's that working out for them these days?

But I digress... because everyone knows you appreciate a game more because it has a slightly higher poly count, or better lighting, or slightly more detailed textures over its competitor's version, the differences of which are almost negligible when viewed on any 720p or 1080p HDTV from more than 5 feet away...  right?

Ouch...Yea, I always wondered why hardcore Sony fans really wanted to drive this point. If it weren't for Uncharted 3, PS3 would have no clear best looking game, and this debate would be meaningless as everyone would have their own "best looking" game.

For your original point, graphics don't make the game. Also the hardcore audience is small compared to the more casual audience (e.g. XenoBlade selling 500k, Mario Party 8 selling 8 million......yep, casuals define the market)

That's true in the case of the Wii of course, but of the broader gaming market, especially the HD twins, not so much.  It's easy point to a niche game in a niche RPG series on a console whose userbase is about 95% casual at this point and say that casuals define the market... but when you look at Sony and Microsoft, it sure as hell ain't the "casuals" that are driving sales and who got them to where they are.

Call of Duty is a much better comparison... it's a "core" series whose lates iteration released just a few months ago alone has sold over 26 million units across all platforms, beating out most of the mega-hit "casual" titles that have been out since the first year or two that the Wii was on the market.   Gears of War 3, another "core" title exclusive to one system has sold over 5 million units WW in just 6 months, while MP 8 as you noted has sold just under 8 mil LTD to the casual audience, and it's been out on the market for 5 years now.

Just as Nintendo is learning now, you dismiss the "core" audience as small or insignificant at your own risk.  There might be more casual than core gamers out there overall, but the casuals aren't the ones picking up copies of games or new hardware on day 1, nor do they buy at least 1-2 games a month... more like 1-2 games a year.