Higher resolution will always trump lower res/AA for me. Especially when viewing from a small monitor up close. When you put native res with no AA, against something running on a lower res plus AA.. The former usually wins out with a crisper IQ, with the other having a softer image - which imo is much worse off than a few jaggies and shimmering edges.

As with all upscaled images.. a lower resolution displayed than what the monitor/TV can handle, images will stretched out and details will get lost. For consoles, its less of an issue as you are sitting a couple of feet away and viewing on a larger display so aliasing is not as noticeable.

What I really want devs to do this (upcoming) gen is aim for 1080p for most, (if not all) consoles releases in the future as its pretty much a common place for HDTV's now. Even if they had to make small compromises like adding black borders or scaling down visual effects if performance is an issue. Just no more blurriness and I'd be happy with IQ. A bit of AA would be the icing on the cake.

I'd rather have 1080p with AA !

I don't how it works behind my monitor/TV but when the PS3 output in 720p the monitor/TV changes it resolution to 720p... and there an option to upscale (if I turn it on the monitor/TV shows the 720p signal in 1080p).

Maybe there are some upscale but I don't know... I have a PLASMA.

This isn't needed in any way. Neither your post exaggerating nor Nsanity's.

Soooo... As the thread has to do something with me :)
Ok, first of all we are talking about console-gaming here. This means you usually play on TV instead of a monitor like PC guys usually do. Which also means the view-distance is greater (yes, the screens are also bigger) so you lose some details automatically.
I said I prefer 720p with *decent* AA over 1080p without AA. Native resolution still results in jaggy image without AA. My point actually in the other thread was that with 900p and *decent* AA the difference between 1080pNOAA and 900pAA will be that the 900pAA will look better *although* it is not rendered at the native TV resolution.
Still I have to thank ethomaz for this thread as it is a nice topic to discuss about, has nothing to do with console wars (at least I hope so) and I am not offended by this thread in any way!

I agree, downsampling IMO leads to better IQ than using AA at a lower resolution. No proof from me though, all I have is a NeoGAF thread with 4k pictures downsampled to 1080p :P

Also nice thread title! IQ is already "Quality". And tech free talk could mean tech-free talk or tech free-talk :D

Something more to add to the topic:

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/28/forza-5-anti-aliasing-still-an-issue-unless-developing-at-4k-says-turn-10/

Please guys, keep calm. Yes, it is from a Forza dev. Please take it as a random dev talking about AA. Please. No console war, no shitting on him, no cloud reference. Are you able to do so?

IMO higher native resolution is always better than a filter to mask the aliasing , mainly, created by the low resolution.
viewing in the optimal distance and in native screen resolution, aliasing is only barely noticeable in high contrast edges. IMO 1080p with no AA > 720p with xAA

"you don't need CGI, he doesn't do direct screen grabs, just theoreticals"

This is definitely not exactly what I said and meant :)