Errorpwns do you remember when PS3 launched? Developers said the hardware was more powerful then they could take advantage of. Konami spent tens of millions of dollars and used their best team to make MetalGearSolid 4 and they still couldn't Max out the PS3. Sure some 3k PC's could outperform PS3 or if you were smart could custom build a PC that would only cost 1,500$ or so to come in the range of PS3. Yet PS3 was no where near 1,500$. My PC bought for 1,300$ in 2005 couldn't run many of the multiplat games as well as my PS3. In fact a few years into the cycle when developers started saying they used the full power of the PS3. My 1,300$ PC couldn't even play the multiplat games. My 1,300$ tower was not capable of playing Total War or StarCraft it became a piece of shit it couldn't even run CoD or Assassins creed II.

Yet all those 300-400$ consoles at the time could play the latest games almost as well as the more expensive PC's.

The difference is over head and also the game consoles are built just for games. They aren't built to run new office software. They aren't made to do anything but game (Nintendo at least). So Nintendo can make the system cheaper then a PC manufacturer.

Also think back to N64, PC's had a very difficult time beating N64 for a few years. Same goes for GameCube and Xbox. If Nintendo produces a current console capable of playing the new top of the line PC games at the current 1080p standard resolution and 60fps. They will win over alot of people and it won't be ridiculously expensive.

PS, PS3 can already handle 1080p and I think a game even had it going at 60fps. Can't remember which title. They just had to make cuts to the software to get it running at that. But WiiU should be able to run the game at that without cuts. BF3 at 1080p and 60fps sounds like the right standard for WiiU. Nintendo doesn't need any higher resolution than 1080p nor do they need a higher frame rate then 60fps. But any less would be putting them in a difficult position.

Also about the upgradable chip. I believe it has already been stated Nintendo is making the WiiU an upgradable system like GameCube and N64 were. Leaving ports and such for future hardware expansions. I could really see Nintendo releasing a graphic upgrade card in 2014/15 and including the upgrade in a new model the following year. Much like Nintendo added Motion Plus first as an add on later in the hardware.

Only thing Nintendo must worry about is making consumers feel ripped off. If a graphical upgrade occurs only core software should utilize it. Any casual driven game should not, this means the pick up and play don't care about graphics people would not be effected. Also most games should be playable in scaled down on the regular WiiU to make sure customers are not alienated or feel forced to upgrade! In other words only a small amount of super power content requiring the upgrade should be released much like it was with N64!

I completely agree with the OP, the performance of the Wii U will be somewhere between the Dreamcast and the Wii.

Except you're not addressing the core point of the original post ...

It could be argued that the PS2 was 150% to 200% the processing power of the Dreamcast, the Gamecube was 150% to 200% the power of the PS2, and the Wii is 150% to 200% the power of the Gamecube. The net result is the Wii was in the range of 4 to 8 times the processing power of the Dreamcast.

The entire point is that if Nintendo followed the Wii strategy the Wii U would be 4 to 8 times the power of the XBox 360, and a system that was only 50% more powerful than the XBox 360 would represent hardware that was substantially less advanced than the Wii was upon release.

Personally, I have doubts that Sony or Microsoft will follow the same route with their hardware that they did this generation being that I don't think they want to face those hardware losses, can't afford the development costs, and it didn't make them the most popular or profitable companies.

In my opinion, the net result of Nintendo following the Wii Strategy would be releasing the Wii U and it being 4 to 8 times the performance of the XBox 360, Sony and Microsoft releasing a system that was (at best) 2 to 4 times the processing power of the Wii U, and the vast majority of games being released for the Wii U at 720p@30fps and being upgraded to (at best) 1080p@60fps for Microsoft or Sony's consoles.

Sony I think would want out of that race. I think they want to get more sensible, because they can't afford it anymore.

Microsoft? Ehhhh ... I wouldn't be so sure. Microsoft doesn't give a sh-t about profit from the game industry whatever profit the XBox division makes is peanuts compared to their main business. It's their Baltic Avenue, their OS division is Park Place.

And really the 360 model worked out quite well for MS ... the system did incur heavy losses the first few years, but now is turning a nice steady profit and is selling quite well relative to their competetiors now.

XBox for Microsoft is more about owning the living room. Something I think they want even more badly now because they have gotten slapped hard by Apple and Google in the smartphone/tablet/portable media player markets. If MS can "win" the living room ... they can show their stockholders that and at least point to area of clear success beyond just PC OS.

I will eat my hat if the Wii U is anywhere close to 8x the XBox 360. I think it's going to be more like Wii U is 1.5x the XBox 360, the 720/Orbis will be 8-10x leaps. It'll be about the same thing as last gen. Wii U is likely a $250-$300 machine with a very expensive controller that Nintendo is unlikely to take a loss on (3DS bail out was a one time thing they had to do as an emergency measure, I don't think they're keen to ever do that again)

...you got to be kidding. There will be a huge difference. Night and Day. Wii to 360 all over again.

To be honest, the Wii U will be lucky to run a port of the Xbox 360 version of  Crysis 2.(I would guess it would take a few months of work)
There's no way it would be able to run the PC version of Crysis 2 at 720p 30FPS, not without huge modifications, which brings me back to the 360 version.

I'd have been quite thrilled if the Wii U actually was a modern equivalent to a Dreamcast.

The first time I played games like Soul Calibur and NFL 2K it totally blew me away and you could tell instantly this was a huge step above the N64 and especially the PSOne.

But I don't that's the case. Wii U sounds like a modest jump at best, much like the first Wii over the GC/XBox.

It sounds like if you want specs, specs, specs, go with a XBox 720.

It appears both Microsoft and Sony have not learnt from their mistakes either. The recent leaked specs for 3NextBox are simply far to powerful and expensive. Throwing in the Kinect 2.0 your going to have a system more expensive then PS3 was. PS4 could be built cheaper and be more powerful thanks to no Kinect 2.0. But Sony will have to retail at 450$-499$ at lowest they will likely take a loss on every unit. Microsoft will take a loss at 599$. Nintendo should launch a 5x the power of 360 console with state of the art tablet for 299$-399$.

I am beggining to think that Microsoft and Sony are purposely trying to make it impossible for Nintendo to receive ports.

As for the 720p at 30fps that is horrific. No next generation games should perform that poorly. The majority of consumers today have HD TVs and most of those are now 1080p. People want the best their TV can run. Nintendo will have a difficult time porting games to WiiU if the console is only 2.5x the power at 5x it would be plausible but considering the NextBox is now rumored to be more then 10x and PS4 even more powerful then NextBox. Ports will be difficult in a few years multi plats might work till 2015 but then the games on NextBox will simply be too powerful.

Though I must say this is suicide for Sony and bad business practice for Microsoft. Software development costs will Benares too high. The global economy is not where it was when PS3 launched, the games industry was growing far faster.

Now is not the time to launch a high powered super expensive devices. Nintendo will be better off

No doubt if there were such an add-on only "core" games would use it.

The Wii Fits/Just Dance/etc. obviously don't need it. So the consumer who's just interested in playing some Mario Kart/Wii Sports/NSMB/Just Dance/Rayman Raving Rabbids or something now and again ... it could go largely unnoticed by them. 

I think it'd be a scalable thing for sure.

Again it's just an *option*. But I don't think it's a bad one. At least put the Expansion Slot there so you have an option, making that one tiny tweak to the Wii U hardware today could save Nintendo a lot of grief in 2-3 years from now.

I think Nintendo will be balanced this gen, what I mean by that is that the wii u will surely have better graphics than the ps3 and xbox 360, but I don't think it will be a huge difference, mostly because Nintendo usually keeps its prices low (excluding 3DS), they don't want to lose all casual gamers they gained for the wii (although most of them are now playing with there ipads rather than the wii) but they also want to recover the "hardcore" gamers they lost this gen. 

There's also the fact that both Sony and Microsoft want some of the casual gamers market (a.k.a ps move and kinect) so I personally think that both companies will also play it balanced this gen, not making a huge leap in graphics and focus more on the casual market (especially Microsoft)