It's a bit of both, probably. Hard to say where the bottom line will settle.

For instance, with the PS4, developers have said the start up time to get a game going is much less than with the PS3. One developer said about 2 weeks instead of 4 weeks. Time is definitely money. Games are also going to be easier and faster to port from/to the PS4 from/to the PC and 720. That's more money saved.

I get the impression that for most projects, costs aren't going to rise all that much.

Don't forget that a lot of studios already produce assets at high resolution.  They just scaled them down for current gen consoles.  This is especially true for any studios who produce a PC version.

BS.

And yet, people laughed when Pachter said months ago that costs will rise at most 10-15%....

*Something about a broken clock...etc.

He might be wrong on many things, but he's quite well connected with major publishers. So on matters like this one, I would take his word for it.

You're probably right, but it's Pachter. The peer pressure to troll him is far too great.