The Wii is a gen 6 console (Hiroshi Yamauchi)

[Viper1]

happydolphin said:

^hehe

Conegamer said:
Well, maybe their initial intention was for it to be an add-on to the Gamecube, and not a next-gen console (which sounds possible, as it wasn't released until 3 years later), but eventually evolved into a next-gen console.

People seems to think 'next-gen' means 'better graphics'. This is not the case. Next-gen means doing something that couldn't be done on the previous generation of consoles, and thus a new one is needed. In this sense, the Wii with its motion controls, online capability, improved graphics and bigger disc-sizes is just as next-gen as any other console, and the same will be the case for the WiiU, regardless of what analysts or anonymous sources may say...

New game controls (motion control, peripherals) don't define a generation. Technology does (videogame history 101), and graphics fall into that category, peripherals don't. The reason why new consoles came out in the roots of VG history was due to technological advancements.

Also, the NES had a ton of peripherals ranging from attempted Motion Controls to 3D, to light-sensing guns. None of those made the NES jump from one gen to the next:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_accessories

Technically due to timing it would compete with gen 7 machines, but in essense it's a gen 6 console.

@theARTIST. I'm glad you also had the epiphany. You are now more enlightened.

Conegamer is actually correct.

The Wii was initially conceived as a series of peripherals for the GC but Iwata and moiyamoto understood that to truly make it work well they needed tolaunch a whole new console as well.   At that point, most of their R&D had gone into the controller and not a console so they quick GC hardware upgrade made it almost the opnly route they could take.   And it worked.

As for categorizing a console into generations, it is SOLELY based on the release period and the successor/predecessor relationship of flagship consoles.   I am in the media and that's the definition that we use; as well as all developers and publishers.  Peformance increases are merely a byproduct of being in a new generation but by no means are they the measuring stick.

For example: many people call the 3rd and 4th generation of consoles the 8 bit and 16 bit era respectively because of the relative power of 8 bit and 16 bit computer ships inside the consoles.  But the 5th generation of consoles had 32 and 64 bit consoles.   They were not 2 generations apart depsite the significant difference in bus width.  Further, the 6th generation of consoles contained 32, 64 and 128 consoels and hybrid consoles.   Not only are they vastly mixed but soem chips even went backwards in bus width.   The same for the 7th generaiton and will be for the 8th generation.  My point of this illustration is to show that there does not exist a metric for which to measure a console's generational placement.  

Is the performance of the Wii more in line with consoles from the 6th generation?  Absolutely.  But it's not more the same generation of consoles as you are the same generation as your parents.