every time people say the same thing yet once it's all said and done the gap is huge

Meh, I grew up playing games on the 2600, NES and SNES. The leap to N64/PS1 era graphics was a big one but PS1-PS2 was meh. PS2-Last gen was pretty big with HD visuals and I would consider it a larger leap than PS1-PS2 but after a certain point it's like comparing how shiny one sports car is next to another one.

I'll put it this way I have watch all the gameplay footage for games like BF4, Ryse, Killzone4, InfamousSS, etc. They look great but I really don't see much different than their predecessors. To be clear I can tell the difference and that they look a little better but it's nothing special in my opinion. People can tell me about teh alaising and the tearing, etc. all they want, they can zoom in and show the differences, etc. but if you have to explain it then I think your just proving my point that it's not that big of a difference.

My hope is that the industry realizes the diminishing returns that going for high graphical fidelity cause and instead focus the additional power the new consoles allow for things that actually affect gameplay (like the size/complexity of the worlds, AI, etc.)

Technologically the rate of CPU/GPU advancement is slowing and is only showing progress due to throwing more cores at the problem. Since most applications are not parallel processing friendly this can only help so much. We are nearing the end of the potential for silicon transistors to shrink and have nothing new coming in the near future.

Couple that with the massive increase in power required to go from 1080p to 4k gaming and I think that expectations of the next great leap forward are unrealistic at best. Not to mention the ridiculous increase in development costs of a 4k gaming world... are you ready for $100 games?

The PS4/XB1 are decent mid range PC performance... slightly better than the WiiU but far from a top notch PC so don't expect a huge leap this time. The WiiU looks great, better than the PS3/360, but not that much better so if you wan't a big leap prepare to shell out for a good PC gaming rig.

so much truth spoken here!

Yes, but it will be less noticable at first. Within a year or 2 will be seeing games which completely blow current gen away.

Games like Infamous and Ryse make for a good starting point.

Go back and compare early Xbox 360 games like Call of Duty 2 or Pefect Dark Zero to late PS2 games like Metal Gear Solid 3 or God of War 2. The graphical differences between console generations will always be at it's absolute lowest during the console transition, so it's natural to feel like next gen consoles aren't offering up that much. When developers have more time to learn how the systems work, the graphics will be even more impressive than they already are.

I still think Gears of War from 2006 looks really good, and do think the first batch of games in this new generation: Killzone, Infamous, Ryse and Forza, really show quite a leap from the current generation. I am just hoping for movie-like quality in a few years :).

Actually I made a huge mistake. That no should be a yes, going off the title question.

Graphics? Don't really care. All the other things that come with improved hardware are much more important, in my opinion. Look at KZ:S--not only does it look incredible but they're able to improve other facets of the game, such as having much more open levels and interactive environments. The end of last gen was basically about what developers have to give up in order to do something else, like removing NPC and making levels smaller and more linear to bring performance up to par.

Yes and this is just the beginning of a long haul.

Realistic Facial Features



FPS Scifi more Immersive than ever


Artistic Graphics and Water Physics



Open World Crystal Clear


More realistic Driving than Before



Couldnt find a Final Fantasy XV picture but Fantasy worlds are also beautiful as well