I recently sold my Wii U and agree with your observations. I hoped that the Wii U would be similar to the DreamCast or PSOne based on what was promised at its reveal. Clearly I was wrong and I was very dissapointed. They had a good show at E3 and things could get better but as it stands I've completely lost patience and faith in the platform. As for the XBoxOne I do feel it would have been my preferred console if Microsoft had used the cost of a bundled Kinect to strengthen the system in other areas. I love its controller (so sexay) and have no doubt that MS will fix its UI and refine its features further. As it stands its a good console but I don't think purchasing multiplatform games on it makes sense unless its your only machine. To be honest I dont think the PS4 does anything special, it just has the best price to performance ratio. As far as exclusives go I'd currently give a nod to Microsoft, however there's no guarantee that they'll support the One as well as Sony will throughout the generation. They seemed to let the 360 ride on multiplats is the second half of last gen and that wont work this time.

Good reviews but I hope recommending to play ps4 through the XB1 HDMI input was a joke :) Unless you want to play with extra lag and gamma adjusted picture.

The DS4 battery life is the only drawback to ps4. You pretty much need two so you can always charge one while playing with the other. I can deplete the battery in one Driveclub session. It's only marginally better than the WiiU gamepad and that has a whole screen to power.

Loving the ps4 so far. Quick start up, fast loading, fast menus. Easy to move between my setups and it recognizes what device it was connected too. For my living room tv it's set to auto for limited rgb, while I set it to full RGB for my projector that supports both modes. No more switching the settings like I had to do with ps3.

And the WiiU? Currently it's main use is as a tablet, the kids watch youtube on it. Waiting for the next great co-op platformer.

First, I'd like to congratulate you for your awesome thread, you make really good points while not being biased towards any side,with that said now my opinion.
I'd like to point out that I have no opinions about UI, while I do agree that ease of use and a pretty UI is really important for some people, and that it also could attract more casuals gamers, my opinion will solely be about the games for the consoles being discussed.
The first next gen console that i bought was a PS4, which I got at day one, personally I'm not much of an online gamer so I can't comment about online capabilities either, the games that I got were Killzone SF, knack and AC4,
Killzone delivered a different experience for me since I had never played a Killzone game before I thought it was above average, but maybe that is because I was new to the game, knack I didn't even finish so I can't say much of it, AC4 I only got it because I wait at least for the first update to be released on any Ubisoft game for PC before I get it, surprisingly the game looked great on the console, I couldn't find jaggies or anything that bothered me so I ended up playing the game on the PS4, at this point I was really content since I believed that most games would have this level of anti-aliasing on next gen consoles, but my joy was short lived since I haven't found any other game with that level of aa on the consoles, so far I've enjoyed the console, it's got great games specially TLOU which I had never played before provided pretty visuals and an epic storyline.
The Wii U I got shortly after PS4, like any other console I only get because of it's exclusives, but this applies more to the Wii U.Its games have not been the best if you compare them to past gens, but they are enjoyable none the less, I loved HW and Bayonetta 2, patiently waiting for Smash.
My Xbox One I traded it for my first PS4 not long after getting the Destiny bundle, got me Forza and Ryse, Forza I loved since I'm a fan of racing games, Ryse i thought it was good but didn't finish it, plan to finish it on PC later,I was not going to get an X1 until Scalebound got realeased, so right now it's not doing much will sell it after I import a Halo MCC bundle hopefully I'll make more use of that one.
Overall I personally don't feel like any console has delivered a real next gen feeling but I'm still loving them all.
My only complaint would be the jaggies and screen tearing, which I thought would be fixed this gen, wished they could use the almighty sgssaa for a crystal clear picture that i'ts just me though, I hope you excuse my long comment but I just wanted to provide my honest opinion about these consoles.

I don't know what you guys are on about ripping on the WiiU. Out of the 3 consoles it has by far the most "gamers" games. Now with Bayonetta 2 out and awesome, its not even close how packed this console is with games that focus on gameplay. All it needs is a good Zelda title and it will easily be the best Nintendo console since N64.

I have the Xbox One as well and with the constant updates, it has become a jack of all trades but a master of none. I like where its going but its taking its sweet time to get there. Halo is on the way and thats all that matters.

Only thing that will convince me to get a PS4 are games and I haven't seen a reason to get a PS4 so far.

At first I was kind of offended by you analysis of the Wii U but in the end, I guess I agree with you. Lucky for me, I fall into the camp that loves Nintendo games so I'm pretty happy with it.

Anyway, I'm also the owner of all three big consoles. It's all opinions but my experience has been the opposite of yours. The Wii U gets the most use. Xbox One comes in secondand iI actually live the interface. PS4 hasn't gotten much use in my home. Of course that's likely to change when the big games start to hit.

The key is making a more controversial title for your thread. People don't read the OP (not even those TL;DR) but they do read the title.

Now unto my personal attacks:

-The Wii U is indeed a poor choice of a console if you aren't a Nintendo fan (lucky for me, I'm one of those weirdos). And even then it's kinda disappointing as the releases are far from one another. As of right now my Wii U is collecting dust until Super Smash Bros Wii U releases.

-I can't comment on the Xbox One I don't own one and it's unlikely that the situation is going to change. The exclusives don't interest me at all.

-I own a PS4 and I agree that it's defintely the best choice. But I feel that the library of games is unappealing currently. Great games are coming in 2015 but... not this year. Still it's the best option at the moment.

-A funny comment about the next generation. I think I spent more time playing King's Field on my PC than playing the PS4. And I definitely played more games on my PS3 than on my Wii U this year.

All in all it was a boring year in the next generation.

-End of Personal Attacks.

I'm also surprised by the Wii U comments by people who actually owned the system. I find a lot of people who bought the system at launch have lost patience with the system. And rightfully so, there were major droughts in games. That said, by the end of this year it's pretty clear that Nintendo's console will have the most impressive overall lineup. Big flagship titles, indies, retro (virtual console) and even quite a bit o' 2nd/3rd party.

I'll spare everyone from listing the popular games that Nintendo fans inevitably list in every thread and instead mention that the 3rd party games that actually made it onto the system provide a great experience...

Batman Arkham Origins / AC IV for example were excellent on Wii U. Having the map and menu displayed on your game pad without having to pause the game to sift through menus makes the experience far more immersible and enjoyable. Playing through Rayman Legends, it's obvious the game pad was a major design consideration making other versions a bit inferior. Deux Ex Directors Cut incorporated the game pad.

I bring these games up because often times these versions are seen as inferior for the mere fact that they are on Wii U. People appear to be more concerned with how the game looks ( which is really not all that bad in comparison ) then the convenience the game pad provides.

I play Wii U almost every day where I find that my PS4 is surprisingly collecting dust.

I would not mind a 3DS-Player (similar to Game Boy Player) to play 3DS games on the TV or the gamepad. Especially Professor Layton, Animal Crossing, Tomadochi, Fire Emblem and other games not reliant on graphics.

they all suck to be honest.
Wii U just has the best games.

I agree with OP's assessment ...