The trouble with linking wii u with xbox one and ps4 in generational terms is it makes the wii u seem like it may be similar in power. Yes clearly its the same generation by date of release but it also implies some sort of performance connection which is misleading. Ouya is the same generation but complete rubbish in performance terms.
This thing has only be recently released in China. I guess it's 8th generation too;
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/532047477/Newest_32bit_Camera_video_game_console.jpg
Just like the original xbox outperforms the Nintendo wii for many games so does the 360 and PS3 outperform wii u.
The original xbox had a gpu of about 20 gflops of performance, 360 about 300 gflops and now xbox one 1,300 gflops. You can see an increase in performance with each generation.
You look at Nintendo's history and you have the gamecube on 8 gflops (competitive), wii (12 gflops) and now wii u on 176-352 gflops (likely 176 gflops) so Nintendo have made a huge generation leap from the original wii but they are still one generation behind in performance terms compared to Microsoft and Sony because the wii was basically a slightly faster gamecube with a new controller.
To be fair to consumers consoles should be rated by their performance level not their release date. Yes games are the most critical thing but if people want to know the potential performance level of a console telling them the release date means absolutely nothing.
It seems to be a Nintendo fanboy thing where they are trying to link wii u to xbox one and ps4 but the reality is it should be seen as ps3/360 performance level.
I think with the comprehensive rejection of the wii u commercially most people already understand this. Not because they know the internals of the wii u but because they can see the very low performance level of the console.
