Saying 3 cores really isn't saying much unless we know the technology that is being used within them. A dual core i5 can outperform a quad core AMD phenom.

The GPU specs seems far ahead of anything in a current gen console. The 360 had tessellation capability as all ATI gpus since 2004 have had but not an actual full featured modern tessellation unit. Technically, even the regular Wii should be capable of some degree of tessellation if someone is willing to put in the effort to code it into the TEV.

Its 3 times the amount of RAM at any current gen console. The specifications listed for the GPU seem capable of running any PC game on the market currently at max settings.

I more interesting in the CPU though. If nothing has changed then it should still be Power7 based. That would put it ahead of the Cell as power7 are documented as greatly exceeding its performance. This should be interesting when it arrives in the hands of a more technically capable developer.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Shin'en has in store for us.

Judging by the dev kit specs leaked, the Wii U should be able to handle current gen ports with ease mainly thanks to the ram and edram. I'm curious as to why they went with the 360 type tri-core CPU set up when quad core have been around for a number of years. Must be a cost thing.

I suspect Nintendo is satisfied with simply having similar yet superior graphics to current gen consoles. So wheras ACIII may feature slowdown and tearing on PS360, the Wii U version should be able to run at a rock solid 30fps and fully v-synced plus nicer textures due to more ram.

that's true

they look better than late-life Ps3/Xbox360 games, which means graphics difference will be more noticeable after 2-3 years

but i don't think it's a gen jump in graphics, something like Ps2 to Wii I guess, which is too risky for Ninty

also, u may call me crazy, but some stuff in Pikmin 3 looks so real, i can't imagine how they can possibly improve the strawberry/apple/cherry models in the trailer for example, looks almost real
maybe late life WiiU games will look almost real, and for sure, many Ps4/Xbox3 games will look real

What aspect of them both being 3 core points to similarity in power and capability?

That is kind of like saying that the NES has the same level of power as the PS2 since they are both single core. I'm confused.

I guess I'm out of the loop. I didn't know that core count became a static representation of power. I guess that is why the 4 core sandy bridges outperform the 6 core phenom 2s.

I guess the big change from PS360 to Wii U is the available RAM for developer... 1.5GB is way better to work than 512MB.

The tri-core PowerPC (the lastest release to date) is nothing so different than the PowerPC used by 360.

And GPU not surprise me yet (that's my bigest unknown).

lol

You have a point. Having to buy (or use) another device could be a sort of "psicological" barrier for former Wii users who are not accostumed to download demos and buy DLC. But to an internal HDD contributes to make the console more expansive, and if you're not a really "core" DLC user, using an external drive you may already own could be the most convenient option.

And I don't think you really need a 500GB hard drive, you generally don't keep stored dozens of demos at the same time, and you really have to download a lot of DLC to reach 500gb. Even if you add an hypotetical Gamecube virtual console you could store more than 300 games in 450GB Now I understand I'm not really accostumed into buying DLC but so far I've been fine with my 40GB Ps3 model.

First of all, if you don't like discussing speculation then why did you reply to something you thought was speculation? 

But okay. I will elaborate.

I think Durango/Orbis could have 6-core cpus. If we look back to 05/06, the norm for PC gaming was a dual core, PS360 pack tri-cores. 33.33% more cores. The norm for PC gaming nowadays is 4 cores, a 6-core cpu in Durango/Orbis would mean a 33.33% jump in amount of cores over the norm, the same as what we previously have seen. I use the word "could" instead of "probably" for example, because taking into consideration the current economic climate, sonys lack of well, money and the fact that many PC games don't really take advantage of 4 cores, let alone 6, a 6-core cpu in a console in 2013 seems unlikely. 

Onto the RAM. If we look at hardware cycles, the next generation has around at least 8 times as much ram as the previous. Usually more, rarely there is less than 8x. 512 (PS360s amount) multiplied by 8 gets us to 4096, or 4gb of RAM. This coupled in with developers asking for 8gb (DICE, Crytek) leads me to believe 4gb is probable for Durango and Orbis.

I think it's a crazy thought as the Wii U has sort of been hyped as/marketed as a console that Nintendo will use to win the core market back, but if it's going up against a Durango and Orbis boasting 2x the cores and 2x the RAM, (GPU divide must also be fairly large, unless one manufacturer screws up and reall over/underpowers areas of there console) it's gonna be hard for Nintendo to compete for the core audience. 

I'm not gonig to argue this with you. When you start resorting to personal attacks and hostile responses, there is nothing more to be discussed.

Not arguing, you asked me to elaborate, that's what I did. And you get what you give.