I would think that most people on Tom's would probably be computer centric/even though some may have consoles. So, for the most part, it's a bit of "preaching to the choir" about how computer graphics are superior. However, judging by DX11's possibilities, I think going forward, in the next 10 years or so (DX12/13), the laws of diminishing returns are going to start factoring in as photorealism is approached. How far can you push graphics compared to the human eye? Then, only larger playing fields and what not will be the only reason to have an expensive gaming rig in my view. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I feel that some kind of tablet or smaller system will eventually beat out the PC as only the most die hard purists will see any graphical improvement with an expensive system going forward into the next decade.
As far as the destructive environments, I agree with the other views that they are important to the realism. One of the problems, I think, is the relatively stagnant amount of RAM over the last few years. Debris in a gaming environment takes up a good amount of memory. Aside from the graphics cards, the systems themselves need to get away from the 32bit legacy and go completely to 64bit so that RAM amounts can start ramping up to 16/32/64GB and beyond and be able to handle immense amounts of information in local memory.
Just my two cents.