For me, the upgrade is clear. For pretty much the last three years, I've been noticing jaggies, greyed out colours, limited resolution, etc of PS3 games. They still looked great in many ways, don't get me wrong, but I'd got used to the graphical level and I could see the flaws. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a nice looking game. But it's so obviously below the level of something like GT5 - just being in 720p (and prob upscaled to that) made it look worse in comparison. Even last gen I could see a clear difference between 720p titles and 1080p ones. My favourite games for graphics were GT5, WipEout HD and Katamari Forever - all in crisp 1080p native. No third-party retail games could match these titles. Hell, I even noticed graphical limits in The Last Of Us. Great looking game, sure - but the colours are limited, the models of enemies a little aliased and limited. Environments are big, but not overly textured and there's a lot of texture and model repetition.

Now, Need For Speed: Rivals runs in 1080p and it's beautiful. As does FIFA. Colours are much more impressive on both and there's so little aliasing, and lighting, shadows and particles rock. I can't begin to imagine what first party games like Uncharted 4 will look like.

I don't want to sound a snob about this, but I also think the people who say they can't see much of an upgrade may be playing on smaller or lower quality TVs. If you have a 42" top-end Samsung (or better), believe me the difference is obvious. Not so much if you're on a 26" bedroom telly or PC monitor.

The only time I was really amazed by 3D grafix was when Unreal was released in 1998. Ironically it hasn't aged well but no other game has come even close to that effect.

I agree. Sometimes I suspect that they know this and it would account for why so often the advertisements for games don't actually show any gameplay footage in them.

I agree with you. The DirectX 9.0c feature set was revolutionary for me - I remember how much better the lighting looked in games from 6th to 7th gen. The latest improvements in graphics fidelity seems to be more focussed on particle effects and making surfaces look more realistic - but as nice as it is, it just does not have the same wow factor for me.

Edit: And having multiple reflections seem to be important now. I really struggle to understand how the ability to spot the lice on the back of my team mates head via the shiny cup in the corner of the room is going to improve the game quality, but there it is.

I'm no longer impressed by graphics per se, but some stuff like lots of characters on screen, draw distance, huge scenarios, art direction etc. is more than enough for me, and there's still room for a lot of improvement on those fields.

I'm still impressed and love good graphics but I don't have this "older games look horrible" feeling I had in the past. 

when I see something like this

I'm impressed but I can still play an older game without thinking all the time "man is this ugly". Something i thought very fast about PS, Xbox, N64 or whatever games when a new gen arrived. 

The Witcher 2 looked awesome on my PC and so did other games and games in the next years will look much better but I really believe that I could still play Halo 4 online in 3 years without really having the "ugly" feeling. I just won't think that such a game looks good then.

I don't think many are saying they can't see the upgrade.  I think it's more that they realized that those upgrades without gameplay still make for a shitty game, just like last gen.

I think it would be MORE shocking to people to play this gen for 1 or 2 years, then be forced to go back to last gen... it will look a little muddy. 

This thread is not about graphic whoring. 

You can have your opinion about graphics and gameplay, but don't think your opinion is fact. For some, resolution is more impressive.

Bad graphics have a crippling effect on a game, much life bad gameplay. Good graphics immerse you, bad graphics do the opposite. 

And no, realistic graphics, gore, and violence are not the only things being made. Playstaiton and Microsoft have a lot of genres, and damn good games. To say that is such a generalization. 

I still get impressed by graphics a bit, but nowhere near as much as I used to. It went from "HOLY SHIT this is like.. a completely new experience!" to "hmmm.. those lighting effects look pretty cool.."

While certainly not SD to HD, the graphical difference between PS3 and PS4 is massive and the first thing I noticed when firing it up on opening day, and this is just brand new starting launch.. No PS3 game looks anywhere near as good as any PS4 game. I think your own expectations may have caused problems for you because there certainly is a major noticeable jump...Do you own the next gen's? Also you need to playing them on the right calibrated TV. If you are using some 37" 10 year old 60 hz early gen LCD TV, than yeah, you're doing it wrong.  TV tech drastically changes frequently (since the early '00s) just like console tech does.  The 1080i rear projection that was all the rage in 2004, or 4 inch thick first gen 1080p LCD that never really was able to display true black colors is not going to cut it for brand new console tech.  Not directing this at you just saying in general.  TV's used to be good for 3o years...LOL now the tech gets updated every 2 years.