You may be onto something here, but the leap is still significant. Looking at MGSV (bad idea to use that as an example, OP) and The Division in particular show that, yes, even games released later on can be soundly trounced.

PS2 launch

Truely a massive leap

No love for the Dreamcast?

there ya go

Putting small pics that are taken on emulator even is just silly. The difference between every generation since PS1 has been huge.

I recently played through the Tomb Raider Trilogy on ps3 and even though Legend and Anniversary looked better than on the ps2, Underworld made a HUGE difference in visuals.

Now I'm playing The Darkness (2008) on the ps3 and you can really tell that it's an early game of the generation - it looks like a cross between ps2 and ps3, with even lower resolution than games usually have on the ps3.

Rogue Squadron, one of the best looking N64 games:

Rogue Squadron II, Gamecube launch title:

Yes, truly a massive leap. Not SNES-N64 big, but a lot bigger than PS2-PS3/Xbox-360, and PS3-PS4/360-X1

I agree with the OP.

The 360 and PS3 boasted expensive GPU's and ditto CPU's whereas the PS4 and XBox One have got ultra-low power mobile cpu's and a mid range graphics card.
When the 360 and PS3 released they were capable of matching High-end PC's in performance. Now though, the PS4 and XBone are already behind current High-end PC's in performance. Even in tech-demo's like the one we saw of UE 4.

The upside though is that instead of 599,- we only have to pay 399,- for a playstation. That difference has to come from somewhere.

some really misleading pics. PS1 and N64 games never looked that good, the res is way too high and when you saw them in motion especially ps1 games they looked like crap.

I'm 30.  I lost my shit when I saw this back in the day, not even realizing until over a decade later that the cloud and bush were the same sprite.:



Then this came out and it was like "I bet we'll have flying cars soon."



I agree to a point.  I completely agree with the point that there is a law of diminishing returns in graphics.  That being said, it's not all just graphics.  We're at a point where the biggest leaps in each generation may not be how pretty the game looks, but how much we can do, and how fast we can do it.

Physics engines, particle effects, number of enemies on a screen, size of a multiplayer map...all of these things will continue to improve as the number of polygons we add yields diminishing returns.  The biggest leap in this generation is the amount of memory systems have, and for the PS4, the speed of that memory.  Immediacy.  Reduction of loading times.  Storing game sessions in memory in low power standby modes.  These are the things that define this generation.

For graphics, textures will get better, characters more detailed, environments more engaging, and less "cheating".  There will be less visual tricks to skirt around resource deficiencies.  Environments can have more detail with more things going on.  I remember in Uncharted the first time I moved Nathan Drake into water and he came out and his jeans were still wet and slowly dried.  It blew my mind at the time.  Think about all the little details in games today that weren't in the last generation.  Believable voice acting in games for example.  Realistic facial expressions evoking real emotions.  Destructable environments.  Things will continue to look better, but moreover, there will be more to look at and more to do.

Not really, people were calling the xbox 360, an xbox 1.5 at luanch. they were saying the samething your saying now, i for one see a huge difference.