Oddly, that's exactly what I was thinking to myself, Ledge, but didn't realise there was a "name" or a hypothesis for it.
The PS3 will certainly have the ability to generate such detailed and life-like scenarios completely in realtime, literally lifting coders previous limitations and restrictions cleanly away. Ironically now the restrictions will be placed on them, the coders, and their knowledge and algorithms in an attempt to try and pull off convincing humanoids or whatever. I guess few developers might initially have the experience or knowledge to pull off the reality stuff convincingly just yet, so it might be a bit of a curse at first.
... That first boxer doesn't look too bad imho, in a semi-cartoony kinda way, but that second one... is just plain vacant, and it's like the head and body are completely separate, like it's been stuffed on as an afterthought. His neck is also unusally displaced, lol. Like the "Uncanny Valley" thing, people will pick up nuances that might be repulsive in the same way. I think a disconcerting thing about the Tiger Woods pic is that they cropped and placed him on a stark monochrome background where there should be some sort of texture or grain to make it look more natural and give it depth (it kinda looks like a cardboard cutout). Not sure if the real Tiger Woods is cross-eyed, either, lol?
It's always the eyes and their surrounding area. They're vacant, and just stare piercingly in a weird way.
I guess a few years down the track, enough time + money will have been pumped into this sort of stuff to pull off ultra-realistic humanoids and expressions.
The anime stuff (Final Fantasy) will be huge, though, as it's not attempting to be ultra realistic anyway but more cartoony, and the 3D graphics have been known and used for years already.
Simulator and 3D and other non-humanoid games will be shit hot.
