I've heard it mentioned that the Wii U will be its generation's Dreamcast.

(the suggestion that it would do that badly is of course ludicrous, if that is what people are saying. The Dreamcast following on from the Saturn, the Wii U following on from what will end as one of the best selling consoles of all time).

The argument is this

The Dreamcast was half a generation ahead in power (well really 2/3 or so)

The Wii U 'will' be half a generation ahead (I'm not sure how they got a hold of PS4/720 specs)

The Dreamcast failed

Therefore the Wii will fail

First of all, I would like to point out that the dreamcast outsold its predecessor. I think Ninty will be happy with outselling the Wii.

Secondly, I would like you all to consider a different comparison.

The PS2 and the Xbox360

Both of which released 1-2 years before their competition (ignoring the Wii for a moment) and were thus slightly underpowered, but not in a way that made any difference. Infact, because the 360 had the higher install base, and devs had been working on it longer (and it's simpler architecture), almost all early 3rd party games looked better on 360 than on the PS3. Also note that the lack of power of the PS2 and 360 didn't stop them, consumers don't care. Not even core gamers. They will pick gameplay over minor graphical differences any day.

I'm sorry DreamCast and Wii or PS2 and 360 have nothing in common besides the time they were released.

lol Wii was going too be doomed, whats new with Wii U?

Indeed, I personally don't think that any of the comparisons will be particularly apt. But people are saying that because the Wii is releaseing too early it is guarenteed to fail, despite the fact that they don't know anything about the competition or even much about the Wii U

How the hell was the Dreamcast a half generation ahead of the PS2, GC and Xbox?

Half a generation ahead of the N64

dreamcast graphics are  FAR better than n64 i dont see how thats half a generation.