A lot of people tend not to understand the reasons why Playstation and PS2 games improved so much ...

Before the Playstation was released the vast majority of videogame developers were focused on producing 2D games involving sprites, and very few had any experience with 3D rendering. For the most part the algorithms and datastructures that are used to efficiently produce 3D graphics in real-time were either unknown or (at least) not well known and it took several years before developers had the understanding and experience to take advantage of the hardware.

The PS2 improvement is based (primarily) on the increase in quality and availability of middleware and tools. When the PS2 was initially released its tools were awful and there were few middleware companies that really produced high quality solutions. Within a couple of years almost all developers were taking advantage of tools that were developed by experts to take full advantage of the PS2.

The PS3 and XBox 360 started off with the best engine and tool developers in the world focusing on them, attempting to get maximum performance out of these systems, and (by now) they have had over 3 years (and possibly hundreds of man years) to get the most performance out of both systesms. Although further effort will produce improved results it will be nothing like what happened in previous generations.

I thought graphics would never get better than Virtua Racing, in the arcades. I've been wrong for almost two decades, now. Despite that fact, I can say without a doubt that graphics will NEVER get any better than they are, right now! ( I stick to my guns. }

I think the "competition" Nintendo have demonstrated that huge production values aren't the only thing that sells games. Given that the PS3 still hasn't demonstrated it's full potential and games at the end of it's ten year cycle will look much better than it's current games, I don't think Sony will see the need to double their next consoles power.

The lessons learned this generation will have a far greater impact on the next generation than just putting the biggest engine under the hood.

i think they arent peaked yet,next gen they will be a bit better then crysis at very high

HappySqurriel
I think we will have to agree to disagree when it comes to the PS3, as for the 360, as i said i think in the next couple of years their next machine will be ready and who knows what it will Herold. Lets just hope they learn from the mistakes made this round

The graphics will improve, but it will be more subtle. At this point, we can see scars and sweat, heat radiation blur, etc. With faster gpus and faster processing and more memory, you'll get smoother details to a degree, but you'll have to really look at the detail to notice. Framerates will improve. It won't be an "OMG" factor like going from N64 to GameCube or PS1 to PS2.

I think graphics will continue to improve but the publisher/developer mindset of needing to have the best graphics will wane.

Nintendo HAS shown that you no longer need graphics to sell games. In fact high-end graphics now limit - no increase - your audience. Cutting edge graphics sell a game as a game for 'gamers'. When Joe or Jill Blow see those graphics they immediately think - that's not for me that's for Joe Jr.

The other big problem is PC. Sure it offers the highest of high end graphics but only maybe 1-10% of PC users have that. The other 90+% have graphics cards that would struggle to even play some Xbox games let alone 360.

The other factor - seemingly lost on Sony - is that the most graphically powerful console has never won a console war. PS2 was the least powerful of the 3 of last gen. Wii is the least powerful this gen. Both dominated.

Cost is the other big factor BUT not THAT big a factor as middleware providers will always be there to provide solutions to make maximizing high-end graphics more affordable.

So I expect next-gen consoles to be more powerful but not dramatically more powerful.

With MGS4 looking the way it does, quite possibly, though chances are there's still room for improvement, i personally just don't see it though.

they'll have a good sized leap from this generation to next but not as big as last to now.

NO, and the next Nintendo console will most likely be just as powerful as the other consoles next gen. The reason why Nintendo consoles are so cheap is that they are ONLY game consoles. Every other console maker is heading the media route while Nintendo is heading the game route. So this console will be cheap, and have the same graphical capabilities a its competitors. Also note they have to put alot of money in their new controllers, while Nintendo could just improve upon theirs, so you could even see the next Nintendo console more powerful. Anyway once graphics reach a peak then consoles will still be more powerful to support things such as physics, Ai, and larger worlds. So it won't be anytime soon when this happens.