Thanks for confirming something we already knew, EA!

If my children aren't smarter than me, I'm going to flame them for not being next-gen.

Like others said, next gen means the next in line, the successor, it´s not all about 'power'.With that said, I know when people have doubts about the Wii U being 'next gen', they´re wondering if the system will clearly display much better graphics than the 360/PS3.

Personally, what I´m most curious about is seeing the gap in power between the Wii U and the next Xbox/PS4, not between the Wii U and 360/PS3.

Given the direction of the Wii U ('core' first, 'casuals' later) and all these doubts, I imagine it´s in Nintendo´s interest to prove once and for all, at E3, that Wii U games do look better than their 360/PS3 counterparts.

I'm pretty sure I know at least one person on these forums who genuinely believed it- it's insane

Well, since all Wii U games will be HD, a 3D Mario in glorious HD, like you say, will happen, no doubt about that haha.We all know the Wii U will be Nintendo´s first HD console, what I really mean is, it´s not about showing Mario and company in HD with graphics compared to, let´s say, God of War 3/Gears of War 3/Uncharted 3, etc..it´s about showing Wii U games that are clearly superior to those three games I just mentioned.One month from now, at E3, show graphics that absolutely can´t be rendered by the 360 and PS3.

This can be done by 2 means.  The most obvious of which is that neither the PS3 controlle ror X360 controller can render anything.   So you have an automatic win there.

The other is via the standard TV output.  The problem isn't so much that the Wii U can't render beyond the PS3 and X360 but rather that we are reaching a point of diminishing awe.  By that I mean it's becoming more and more difficult to achieve a graphics horsepower capable enough to really stand out above a previous generation.   Next generation (not even PS4 and Next X) will 'look' like a generation ahead in the same way the PS3 and X360 'looked' a generation ahead of the PS2 and Xbox.  PS3 and X360 made it obvious their games could not be run on the PS2 and Xbox.   It won't be as obvious next generation.

The only reason why someone would say the Wii U isn't a next generation console would be either because they are attempting to deceive the ignorant with a lie, or are themselves ignorant.

The Wii U is indeed 100% a next generation console by the very definition of "generation".

That seems like a very healthy relationship.

well actully for the rumors i read up on the wii u will have radeon HD4000 its old but if u look on what crysis on pc needed for the game to run it needed Radeon HD 3850 , i know 360 and ps3 run the first crysis but not as good as the pc one so i guese it will look a bit better then current hardware, it will be a bit ahead of current hardware but behind 720 and ps4 since 720 might use radeon HD7000 ,i dont know by how much this will make 720 and ps4 more powerfull though

First, the rumors are more made up than factual. 

Second, just because a GPU is from a certain generation doesn't mean it's a better or worse GPU.  For instance, The Wii U could be based on the HD 4890 while the PS4 could be based on the HD 7650.  That would still mean the Wii U has a more powerful GPU.

But as I said, the rumors are about as accurate as Stevie Wonder playing darts.   Just wait for E3.