Graphics do look better on next gen but it's more subtle things in the games that seem to be better. Like the lighting in Infamous Second Son is just amazing and it's too early to say when most next gen games are ports of current gen games

Same as every jump, launch game vs late gen game

ps2 launch game


ps1 late gen


Yes I'm cherry picking, but you can't say at launch that we're on the path of diminishing returns.

What does have diminishing returns is trying to compare compressed screenshots in a web browser, or video footage through YouTube.

I always just laugh and shake my head at the people that deny the existence or reality of diminishing returns.

It is pretty clear we are slowing down advancement from gen to gen.  These are all launch titles.

I personally expect the industry to hit its limit on what they can produce on a graphical level. More to do with developer ability and funds than hardware ability though.

Fixed for native screensand all first part exclusives on the most powerful console of each gen

Thanks for helping to prove the point.

I don't know, in my technical minded eyes the gap is pretty big from 7th to 8th gen.

I agree it's similar to current PC tech, but the same could be said when PS3/360 launched. PC GPUs were already ahead of PS3 when it launched.

However console developers took that 2005 GPU tech further than PC did.  Show me any PC game in 2005 on GeForce 7 series that looks as good as the best looking PS3 games now.

For fair comparison, compare launch PS3 games with launch PS4, like Resistance to Killzone Shadowfall.

We are still to see how far the current gen games will improve. Kilzone is 1080p. texture are very clean, effects everywhere, it's colorfull, there is no clipping.

Diminishing return is not a philosophical discussion, it's a fact. This generation mostly add a lot of memory that solve the problem of blurry textures and limitations  in map sizes. What can be done behond that ?

i cant help but feel disappointed when i see ps4 and xone graphics.

I mean just look at Crysis which is 7 f****** years old! The most notable thing that differenciates The current gen (everyone still saying NEXT gen has some issues...) from Crysis is fancy new effects and lighting that also made Battlefield3 look better than Bad Company2 etc.

Those effects simply didnt exist in 2007. And yet Crysis is still one of the most impressive games in terms of size, textures etc. also polycount of objects etc.

Differences are still big from 2005 to today, and from today to 2020 I think the realism jump will be noticeable.

This is where we've come in 10 years.  I was blown away by Alyx in HL2 at the time.

(make sure to enlarge to full size).

Of course, the Beyond 2 Souls image on Gen 7 is only possible in a restricted environment and lower rez.  Gen 7 is scratching at this surface, but imagine characters like this, only not restricted to small environment games like Beyond 2 Souls.  Imagine many characters like this on screen, in detailed open environments, in higher definition at higher framerates, across a broader spectrum of games.  I think we have yet to see that, but I don't expect anything less in the liftetime of PS4.