I've had a ps3 from quite close to launch and I don't think I've seen any console so massively improve. Certainly the 360 improved at a slower rate but started from a higher position. Still today when you see a ps3 game fully optimised to use the cell like the last of us it is very impressive. You can't get around completely the slightly weaker gpu than 360 but it does some clever stuff.
For me the wii u has been generally disappointing, clearly most multi-format games are designed for the more cpu focused 360 and PS3 and have often disappointed on wii u. I personally don't think this is lazy development on wii u because it effects all developers almost without exception but instead its the shortfall in cpu resources in the wii u.
On many of Nintendo's games you can see they are exploiting graphic features in the gpu that simply don't exist in 360 and PS3 gpus and this is great to see.
Xenoblade chronicles X clearly rewrites what the wii u is capable of just like the original xenoblades does for wii. You can see a lot of compromises in order to achieve their open world game but the end result is still hugely impressive. Sadly I wasn't the greatest fan of the playability of the original xenoblades and got bored of it quickly but was still hugely impressed with it on a technical level. Again I won't be able to resist a purchase of this new wii u game though and will hope I get more drawn into the game. What encourages me most of all is that perhaps the Monolith engine will form a huge part of the new Zelda game which are games I find very playable.
Overall all though looking at my wii u collection of about 20 games and comparing it to 360 and PS3 I still find the best of those 2 consoles technically beats wii u which is disappointing.
I'm playing skyrim on 360 at the moment and the game still looks and plays incredibly on that console with a hugely detailed world with a lot happening. Yes I know its better on pc but the 360 still achieves a huge amount. Sometimes I just look up and watch the clouds hugging the mountain tops and wonder how many cpu cycles that takes or look down at a tree stump and wonder how much processing it takes to generate those ants moving across its surface. While ps4 and xbox one have gone up hugely in gpu power and memory they haven't really done as much in cpu terms that allows for these fine details.
That's why the wii u is often disappointing in that its triple 1.25ghz processor doesn't even get close to matching the performance of 360 or PS3 in cpu terms and so many games on wii u are simplified or run at inferior frame rates. Games like Xenoblade may look good but their virtual world is not as complex. The AI of creatures may be less, the physics engine more basic and the fine detail in the world that makes games immersive is more limited.
