I am sure everyone remembers seeing the PS3 reveal how stunning and visually mind-blowing it was the environment the textures the lighting the animations it all looked awesome you truly knew the next gen consoles were here
Now at compare those games launch games from then to now ...
I remember watching the Microsoft and Sony conferences the games looks good and latest metal gear solid look ossim pussim but It did not blow mind mind away like the first time I watched the PS3 E3 conference all those years ago and so take a look lots of these Xbone and PS4 launch titles don't looks that different than anything you can find on a PS3 or Xbox 360 maybe Killzone shadow fall but that's it even Forsa motorsports 5 is having a run for its money with current gen I think so why do these new games no blow us away like they current generation did the answer is simple .....
HD
HD was not around or at least proper HD at the times of the Xbox and PS2 so when you first played the PS3 with HD it was mind blowing the difference between HD and not having it is big try removing you're HD lead from you're TV I tried it a while back and the game visually was much different everything looked more blurry textures didn't look as good ETC
so as you can see that's the reason why these games don't blow us away it is because HD quality has not jumped up much in the past few years but I am sure it will with 4K on horizon.