Which console will be the most powerful next gen?

[Zappykins]

I think the Next Box will be the most powerful. The, year older, Xbox was about twice as powerful as the PS2. And the year older Xbox 360 is within about 5% of the PS3's power (sorry, did the math). For comparison the difference between 720P and 1080P could be argued as 44%. Microsoft is a Software company, and they need really good hardware to do all the things they want it to do. Especially with the new Kinect, they will heavy processing power to handle it all.

The Next Xbox will be more of a ubiquitous device - phone conferencing, social connections, and (perhaps even take dictation for Work/Email) and stuff we don't even know yet. It will be much more than just gaming.  Also, I think the price will reflect that, and it will be the most expensive of the three.

I'm a little surprised that the WiiU doesn't use state of the art DirectX 11, but instead uses the older 10.1. I hope this doesn't mean Microsoft is saving DirectX 11 for the Next Box.  While great, I don't want to  be limited to DX 11 or DX 11.1 as we will be locked into already several year old tech for another bunch of years. (Please innovate with DirectX 12 or more!)

Due to the current troubles Sony is in, I think they will go for a lower priced console and try to take over the mass market they lost with the PS2. It will still do all the PS3 does and more, but at a lower price point and a 'core gaming' focus.  I think it will be a year or two later and a bit more powerful than the WiiU, but sell for a similar price.