This is really killing me. Is it me, or are 360 games just using a higher contrast setting?

360 games generally seem to have brighter more unrealistic colors, whereas the ps3 screens seem to be more accurate.

A big problem I always see in 360 screens is that shadows end abruptly without much gradation.

Is this a technical issue on the consoles themselves, or can the settings be changed with the tv? It seems like comparison screens never take the contrast ratio into account when showing screenshots.

I'd guess this is personal preference as almost all multi-plat comparisons I've seen, I've preferred the look of the 360 version.  Of course, as I think you just own a PS3 and I until recently only had a 360 (for HD gaming) you could just guess our personal bias affected our views. 

I often wish they would HIDE which version each screen was from and let you choose which you like best, THEN tell you which screen you were looking at.  That would remove all bias from personal comparison shots.

At least he 360 HAS shadows!! Case in point Resident Evil 5 and Battlefield 1943

Probably mostly the TV, but could be console related. You should somehow find some pictures taken directly from the console, not from the tv displaying it and see the differences.

RE5 was a mixed bag, some colors look better on the PS3 but the 360 did much more self-shadowing, as that screenshot shows.

When I look at comparision pics I usually like the 360 version more because of the higher contrast.
PS3 always looks a bit washed out for me.
But I don't notice that at all when I play games....

Its all down to personal prefs.

Remember the first multi plats were really dark on the PS3.

Well now its gone the other way and the Xbox has a slight over the top vibrancy.

We could all bemoan one anothers console shortcomings

OR

We could just use the remote control and adjust the brilliance level.

It works for me

Yeah, that's the thing for me
A lot of times I really do like some of the shading on 360 games, but when I'm playing on the ps3, I think the shadows look really realistic.

It looks like a big difference is the contrast ratio. Does 360 have an auto-contrast feature? Or is it programmed to show as if the tv was set to "game mode" because a lot of the tvs nowadays have a game mode which dramatically increases the contrast.