I just realised if 720p is so horrible, how did we survive

[Arkaign]

Until 14nm and midrange GPUs are capable of 4K with good visual detail (2017-2018), there won't be the possibility of a beyond-1080p console. I have no doubts that the next-gen consoles WILL be 4K ready though.

720p vs. 1080p is ~1 million pixels, or 2 to 1 in detail. I have a gaming HTPC hooked up to a 60" Plasma 1080p set. At ~8' back, I can tell an absolutely immense difference between 1280x720 and 1920x1080 in last-gen games like Deus Ex : HR and Skyrim. Maybe some people have bad vision, but I don't think so. I run the PC at 1280x720 for an old remote app I have to use from time to time to support some obscure oil & gas equipment (it just doesn't look right at 1080). I left it at 720 one time, GF fired up Skyrim and immediately wanted to know if there was something wrong with the computer.

The problem that XB1 faces is that large TVs are getting cheap, and people dropping $400-$500 on a next-gen console are very likely to have a 50"+ 1080p display. It's just a fact that 1080 looks better than 720 all other things being equal.

If you have a garbage 1366x768 TV that they sell as 'HD', then it makes no difference whatsoever. And to be fair, there are a fair number of those out there sold over the past 6-7 years. They will be dying off and handed down constantly though. When you can get a decent LED 50" 1080p display for $499 at WalMart, it's hard to justify 720p existing.

XB1's big problem is that the GPU/memory speed gap lines up perfectly with the ability to run a game with as good a visuals as the XB1 can manage at 720p, and that same game with the same visuals will look better at PS4 at 900p or 1080p. CPU-limited games will be less noticeable, as the PS4 and XB1 both are saddled with fairly weak CPUs. GPU-limited games will simply look better on PS4, end of story. The better the display, the easier it is to tell.

Denial does nobody any good. BF4 and Ghosts both look dramatically better on PS4. Watch Dogs, Destiny, GTAV-HD, etc, it's going to be the same thing over_and_over_and_over.

DX12 is laughable as well, as the big gains are bringing draw calls to a lower level, skipping the CPU bottleneck that happens with the PC DX11 and older APIs. The problem is that the XB1 out of the box already had low-level draw calls enabled. DX12 will help PC, and help ports, but will not give the XB1 even a 5% GPU improvement in efficiency (and that's being exceptionally generous).

Bring on 4K @ 120hz. I love being able to play at 2560x1440 @ 120hz on PC, but am okay with 1080p on the living room TV for some games.