You have played the games on the 360 and PS3 right?
360 only, so far. In 1080i.
There is quite a difference in graphics quality between the latest systems and the previous. Gears of War is a prime example, no xbox game looked remotely like it. Resistance, while only a launch a simple launch title already looks way better than any previous PS2 games.
Obviously there is an improvement in graphics quality. Gears of War does look nice, but it hardly made my jaw drop. I've already seen nice shaders, great normal maps, and realistic skin textures. Those things were already here.
No one is arguing that next gen games don't look better. I never said that. But "next-gen" to me should mean something new. It should literally mean the NEXT GENERATION. Except we're still using shaders, normal maps and billboarded polygons for smoke effects, same as last gen. They're just sharper this time. That doesn't scream NEXT GENERATION to me. It's last generation.