What's the power of PS3 or 360 for -- except for graphics?

[gentian]

I'm really interested to know what the added power of PS3 and 360 is for.    Apart from graphics that is. 

What I mean is, what kind of games are hard/impossible on a less powered console?   Or maybe, what kind of gameplay.

This is prompted by a number of observations.

First off, when I see a PS3 or 360, I am amazed by the graphics.   (I have a Wii).   Sometimes amazement is tempered, e.g. amazing cityscapes in a racing game and jaggies on a car.  But yes, they look great.    But nothing much seems to be going on in the gameplay which exploits the graphics.    E.g. a standard racing game or arcade fighter.   So it makes me think, what's the point of the power of the machine apart from eye candy?

Second, something like folding@home shows that the PS3 really does have serious computational power.  

Third, you don't often get an examination of what cpu power allows apart from better graphics.    Just once in a while, something comes up.  For example I recently read about SimCity DS, that it is based on Sim City 3000 but they had to find workarounds for some of the simulation aspects the DS can't handle.

Yes, sometimes I see comments on these forums about the amazing things that PS3 or 360 will allow in game AI or Physics.  So what are they?   

Put it this way.  You could easily put Motorstorm or Gears of War on a Wii except they wouldn't look nearly as good (correct me if I'm wrong.)   What could be a killer game which just couldn't go on a Wii even if you put up with rubbish graphics?   Feel free to range over existing, future, or games you'd just like to see.