It remains to be seen how wasteful their actions will be. Your words up there show a contradiction of absolutes and uncertainty, which shows that even you don't know what will happen, but you are hopeful of what you want to happen.

PS3 has a much faster memory set up than 360, something 360 hides with the 10MB of eDRAM. PS3 also has a HDD in every system, allowing for massive amounts of virtual RAM. When optimized for PS3's memory tech is more capable. Cell is much more powerful than Xenon in every faset. The only aspect 360 has the advantage in is the GPU. The 10MB of eDRAM, and the unified pipelines give it a major advantage in flexability. However, PS3's GPU is very comparable, as 360's gpu has to be balanced in real world apps, so its extreams are not attainable. Basically, it comes down to whether Cell or the 10MB of eDRAM is more effective. Evidance GoW, KZ, Uncharted, Infamous 2, GT5, and more show PS3 is more capable when developed for directly. That is not to say Forza, GeoW, Halo, and Alan Wake don't loof very good, just not quite PS3 quality.

OT:

As for WiiU. The stronger GPU and more RAM will help it out, but the fact that it has to run two displays will hold it back. I would expect games that look asteticly more pleasing than PS3/360 later on, but they will fall short when it comes to liveliness due to the weaker CPU.

One thing I could see happening that will make massive improvments to astetics is games barely utilizing the second screen. This would allow all the GPU power to have one focus, and most of the alotted memory to be utilized for one goal. In this case, you would see major improvments in textures, and detail to the world, and also possibly a chance of the GPU picking up for the weaker CPU. 

All of this crap about WiiU is already old. It is stronger than the Gen 8 HD consoles. It is not better in every way, but it is better were it comes to graphics. Is the difference ever going to blow them away? No, but it will be more than enough to run a smooth 720p, and in some cases 1080p game with better textures, and better aa. It is not the generational increase we would see from nes to n64, or PS2 to PS3, we get it. So take it for whta it is and enjoy it.

Don't get me wrong, but lets face it the Wii U is going to be praised for its exclusives. When the other consoles next gen begins the majority of the third parties will be siding with them, because you can push the limits of the new engines and everything will be more powerful and fluid. You're right most of the multiplats will be on the PS3 and 360, but the 360 is pretty much spent when you look at first party and we havent heard a peep from Microsofts new studios. The PS4 is sounding like its pretty much half way there and almost ready to come out of the oven at this same time next year. Nintendo needs to get people behind what the Wii U truly stands for and a launch full of current gen multiplats will not get people ready for that. For those on the fence because they already have a current gen console, that will keep them on the fence. As I said the majority of the people buying the Wii U will be Nintendo fanatics, so its smart for Nintendo to keep the console count limited to keep demand up. 

People expected the PS3 to sell very, very slowly after they heard about its price, but it outsold the 360's first year didnt it? Yes, it did. The PS4 and 720 will be expected to smoothly run the new engines that we've seen tech demos for. They know the consoles are expected to be high in power but we also know they will also have to accept launching at a loss and eventually break even after a couple of years. Again, the Wii U will need to be sold off of exclusives, because as everyone knows Nintendos first party is always king when it comes to their consoles, not third parties. On the other consoles, its always free reign, first party or third. When Cliff Bleszinski spoke about the next gen consoles running the new engines he never uttered a word about the Wii U because he knew it wouldnt be powerful enough, his words were meant solely for the PS4 and 720.

Ubisoft, themselves even admitted that making casual games for the Wii helped them afford developing more powerful games for the PS3 and 360. That should tell you something. When Nintendo heard that they definitely must've felt it.

I have no doubt the Wii U is capable of more than what can be pulled from the PS3/360. The question is, will multi-platform games take advantage of that and fully optimize those releases for the Wii U? And no, I'm not talking about the naive "lazy dev" comments, but about real-world budget and deadline constraints. Will Wii U optimization require more overhead than publishers are willing to allow? I think that's going to be the big question.

I'm not sure how it's going to shake down, exactly. It probably depends on how third-party sales go. If core games don't move many units on the Wii U then it's possible that publishers will worry less about giving it the best possible version. On the other hand, if the Wii U builds a large enough installed base with a high attach rate then I could see it being the lead platform when the 360/PS4 are released, which would keep it from being phased out. Impossible to know, really, though I would suggest Nintendo fans not "boycott" third-party titles early in the Wii U's life-cycle simply because they aren't the best version. Publishers will be watching sell-through closely.

Only in the case of PS1 and PS2, they often had better looking games than their peers, due to the best developers and dev teams working exclusivly on those platforms.

what does this have to do with anything? Maybe you forgot already, but alot of people gave Ninty their money this gen. Didnt really affect what games it got did it?

I've been playing blops2 for the last 3 hours and I can confirm that it is the definitive version. It blows declassified out of the water. The vita is looking very last gen in the handheld space now. The wii u is delivering true console gaming experience in the palm of your hand.

Posted from my wii u game pad.

Yeah, I suppose Ninty is doomed because all these people gave their money to Ninty once already.

Graphics is not what makes blops the definitive version, just the prettiest. The online system is what will truly play the part with a game like that. Hopefully some of them moved onto core games and Nintendo can satisfy what they missed this gen. Nintendo will need that new audience that tagged onto gaming.

Nintendo is going for a totally different crowd with the Wii U. The casuals gave them their money. Nintendo will need the new audience that tagged along with its brand of gaming. Hopefully the wii served a purpose besides to be casual.