Is 1080p noticeable compared to 720p?  Yes it is.  But is it so much more noticeable that twice the amount of effects pushed into a 720p game wouldn't make it look better than the same 1080p game with less graphical effects? 

Take a look at Ryse.  When it was 1080p some things looked better, but overall they were able to make the game look a lot better by dropping resolution by a fourth.  Compare that to the retail release of Infamous Second Son.  The game still looks amazing, but the degredation in quality is a disappointment in my opinion.  I would rather have the quality of graphics they had back in E3 at 9i00p rather t han the current build they have now. 

At the end of the day, 1080p is noticeable over 720p, but it doesn't matter when it takes away from the performance and quality you could otherwise have at a lower resolution.

infamous wasn't downgraded though...

Thanks, bye.

Textures look worse there though.  Apart from the time of day and such.  Clothing textures actually look real on the E32013 version compared to the retail version in the images shown.

And as I said, Infamous Second Son still looks amazing, but what happens when performance starts to become an issue.  Are they going to let performance take a hit rather than just reduce resolution or are they going to downgrade the graphics.  We're going to reach a point where games are getting better and better looking and unless taking a hit on performance, they won't be able to look better.

In that lighting situation the details don't "pop" as much, because there is a lower contrast everwhere. Additionally the 2014 shot in that comparison might have been made in a way that further loses contrast, while the 2013 press shot is quite surely a framebuffer grab.

Why do people actually even compare a direct feed screenshot with a heavily compressed one from YouTube? Additionally the scene is totally different, so you can't compare for example lighting and shadows.

The lower the resolution, the more anti-alaiasing you need which also takes some performance while still having fist sized pixels and jaggies everywhere.

That's why maybe 900p instead of 1080p.  Don't get rid of all the benefits of a higher resolution, just don't push all the extra resources you have into double the resolution.  You'll still need AA, but a rather weak AA would do the trick.

No, jagged lines will look a lot difference between native 720p and native 1080p on my native Full-HD tv...

Ouch, lol. XB1 should stick to 720p/900p in my opinion. Sure fans on the internet will spaz but look at Titanfalls meta, look at Shdow Falls. I hate this line myself but at the end of the day "its the games that matter".