If you actually look at the specs you'd see its more than the 7th gen. The console is a custom design.

Power wise its like 3-4 times as capable. performance wise its more.

Raw numbers and in given performance. NIntendo keeps making 60fps games no matter what.  ( except Pikmin 3)

people saying it is 7th gen have no Idea what the definition of generation means

it came after Wii which came after GC that was a 6th gen console making WiiU an 8th gen console end of story

They dont even know what they're talking about from the standpoint of the internal hardware.

Theres a smaller gap, but in terms of power the Wii U is akin to the 360 and PS3 much like the Wii was to the PS2 and Xbox. 

But its not dude.

Why does everyone think the WiiU's in a Wii to the PS3? Thats like a Genesis to the SNES.

If anything its more Dreamcast to the Gamecube.

Sure it is not as powerful as PS4 or XBONE, but I still think it is 8th gen.

I think its larger than that. I don't really think there really is an accurate description. Nintendo's consoles seem to be closely akin to the previous generations of their competitors.

technically I would say that it's 7th generation tech wise, Nintendo got away with holding back on graphics and such last gen because the Wii had innovative controls, the problem for them is that this time whilst the Wii U's tablet is innovation it's not as much as the Wii's motion controls where, which means that it's basically a last gen console trying to compete with current gen consoles, it's saving grace may well be it's price point which is far lower than it's rivals, ultimately I think whether or not it succeeds will come down to 2 things, the first is adoption of the current gen consoles, if people largely go for PS4/XBO then the Wii U could really flatline badly, the second is the games, if Nintendo can make great games to take advantage of the tablet and boost sales it can recover ground, it also needs them to really convince people to adopt it, some of the games coming out look promising in that respect.

myself I will probably get one eventually as I had a Wii, when will probably a while though as I want to get a PS4/XBO more right now, I am waiting/saving for those till (likely) late 2014 anyway though and instead in the short term I am focusing on PC gaming which is arguably better than current gen for some games anyway.

Those were CPU heavy devices though... And they dont have GCN's design sensibilities or the custom modifications this device has.

I mean featurewise it can do what the other consoles can

I think it's the system that has Smash, X, Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 on it. That's really all that matters to me.