The sound will be better in R2 also, the surround in R1 was better than Gears1, and this time around they have plenty of space for 7.1 :P (if they bother). Pretty accurate synopsis I'd say. 

BTW I care!!!! In a game with shooting your guns better sound badass >< 

Now the jokes have been taken care of, here is what will really happen:

Graphics: Gears 2=Resistance 2

Sales: Gears 2>Resistance 2

Rating: Gears 2>Resistance 2

Sound: Resistance>Gears 2

Graphically the two consoles are around equal in power. The PS3 will show a slight graphical edge towards the end of the generation. Sales wise Gears 2 will thrash Resistance 2 as it was far more popular in standalone sales, and still more popular when the liberal Resistance bundles are taken into account.

There is no reason to think that Resistance 2 will score as well as Gears 2, given that Gears one has a score between 7-8 points stronger than Resistance based on TWICE the reviews on Gamerankings. Epic is a highly competent developer that released a AAA Gears of War. Insomniac has never released a AAA shooter to my knowledge, and hasn't released a single game that attained AAA status this generation (as good as R&C was).

On the sound side of things, I only say Resistance 2 will beat Gears of War 2 because the former will probably support 7.1, which all but a few will be unable to enjoy. For all intensive purposes, they will be equal.

I think Epic will take Gears of War 2's success very personally. They only have two current franchises, and the other one seems to be dying.

@Starcraft: Correct, sir!

They only have 2 franchises right now, and UTIII sold/is selling terribly. Gears of War is at nearly 5 million sold on the 360 version alone. Therefore, they will be giving this one their absolute all. Therefore, I believe Gears 2 will be a better game, all things considered.

If Ratchet is a good indicator, then I expect Resistance 2 to have really nice graphics. Better than Gears 2? Jury still is out, and I wouldn't be surprised if Insomniac gets the nod.

Two things that made Gears of War stick out from Resistance, which did hinder Resistance's overall score: Graphics and co-op.

One has already been rectified, so I think they are on the right course.

 Euhm, whats wrong with resistance co-op? i found that to be the most funin the game :D  

I do apologize, it does have co-op, except the problem is that there is no online co-op.

I replayed Gears over the weekend. It's still amazing. I figure two years later, Epic may have learned a few more tricks. I'm going with Gears 2.

Both games should be amazing for different reasons. I think that we're fast approaching a point where even the best graphics are going to impress less and less. The real question isn't which will look better. Which one is going to be a better game?

What I think of what will happen :

Sales : G2 > R2
userbase is everything
GFX : G2 > R2
closed environnement compared to large open environnement
rating : R2 > G2
gameplay update > gfx update

Resistance 2 is the only PS3 exclusive that interests me at the moment, and judging from the screenshots it really looks good.

The graphics of Gears of War were over-rated IMO, and probably will be with Gears 2 also. Other Unreal3-engine games looked better, such as Bioshock and R6 Vegas.