Part of the reason for all those Xbox 360 games you've been playing being so pretty is Microsoft's standards, or Technical Certification Requirements (TCRs) for game developers. Traditionally, the platform maker has always asked for a 1280x720 resolution (in laymen's terms: better graphics) for all titles (with the exception of Halo, which, oddly enough  was waived at 1152x640), however according to a new column by Black Rock Studios' technical director David Jeffries, this is no longer the case.

Jeffries notes the new lax policy -- adopted for various technical reasons -- offers more flexibility for developers like himself, meaning they can stick with a lower resolution if they like so as to bump up other graphical options like anti-aliasing -- or vice versa -- when a game calls for it. The potential downside, however, is this provides a means by which developers could cut corners, putting out lower quality games, like say, Ghostbusters on PS3.

In any case, keep a look out in the next year or two -- if you notice a significant overall drop or increase in quality, you'll know what happened.