To Clear up confusion on what makes Next-Generation

[mjk45]

JayWood2010 said:

I honestly never knew this was up for debate or that people was confused on what Next-Generation meant.  I guess some people don't consider WiiU Next-Generation, i don't know.  Anyways with the recent thread asking what makes it next gen made by Mazty I'm going to go ahead and clear that up for you.  I also want to point out 7th generation just signifies how many gens games has been through since it has began while technically some consoles are only going on their 3rd generation like xbox.  XBOX entered the 6th generation of games but it was in it's first generation.  They are two different things and does not signify power or innovation. We are going into the 8th generation of games, not the 8th generation of a specific company's console.

Next generation is simply the next step in technology for that company.  For example PS1 to PS2, XBOX to X360, PSP to PSV, and now Wii to WiiU.  

Xbrawl also made this comment which will help further explain this subject.

This is true, and it was the same thing when the Wii launched. Nintendo could release something that was only marginally more powerful than the Wii, and if they intended to go head to head with the next Xbox and Play Station, it would still be next gen. It's their offering to the next generation of consoles. It doesn't matter how damned powerful the console is. What if the Nextbox is 2x as powerful as the WiiU, and the PS4 is 2x as powerful as the Nextbox. Are they all in 3 different generations? Then how do we categorize them? 

In short: A console's generation is determined solely on which consoles it is in primary competition with.
Gen3: NES, Master System, Atari 7800
Gen4: SNES, Genesis
Gen5: N64, Saturn, PS1
Gen6: GCN, Xbox, PS2
Gen7: Wii, X360, PS3
Gen8: WiiU, X720, PS4 

So yes WiiU is next generation.  Power and innovation has nothing to do with it.  Now let's read a definition of what Next-Generation means.

Next-Generation pertaining to the next generation in a family; also, pertaining to the next stage of 

development or version of a product, service, or technology

IT could be argued that this gen had split to two  markets with PS3 and the 360 being HD consoles and the Wii sub HD but with a unique interface that attracted a new audience to Nintendo's fold , so on one side we had the Wii differentiating itself from the other two in a way we hadn't seen before and on the other two consoles so similar that have been lumped together and referred to as the console twins , PS360 etc , This seemingly fragmentation of the market into Nintendo / SonyMS is why Next gen gets confusing , clouding it even further is Nintendo's approach with the WiiU looking at it from one angle it seems they are gunning for the so called "hardcore gamer " Gee I hate that word , with online network and HD graphics so moving back towards to the other two players , but then there is the other side with the feeling that they  didn't do enough to move forward power wise and with the inclusion of the Wii U tablet that they are in fact shooting for another Wii type situation again .So we seem to have a system that comes across as Nintendo couldn't make up their mind where to exactly sit the WiiU  and it might end up sitting where the Wii sat but with out the attraction of the Wii remote.