I'd say these examples, as well as others in the thread, show exactly why console devs might not prioritize AF, regardless of hardware restrictions. Frankly, there's just not enough difference that it would matter to most people. I mean, the loss of detail on a TV at an 8-10 foot viewing distance just isn't going to be noticed that often. And that's going from trilinear to 16x, when on consoles we're usually talking 4x as the base.
Personally, I totally agree that high AF is a big part of preserving the detail devs work so hard to generate. But I, and most of the folks here on GAF, care a lot more about that than average. Think about it this way: many people are fine playing 900p (or less) games on their 1080p displays, and lower resolution introduces blur everywhere on screen, not just on oblique surfaces. A little smudgy ground won't stop them from buying, any more than framerate dips do.