@Max

The Wii didn't come close to having the major 3rd party support the PS1 and PS2 had and it is still going to be in the 100+ million club. Moreover the Wii was relatively underpowered for its generation by a big margin. Just goes to show how appealing innovative ways to play games is to the mass market.

Check the sales chart. The Wii outsold the 360 and PS3 by tens of millions. I don't get it when you say people rather have a PS3 or 360.
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@NotUs

All those hooks you listed the mass market could care less for. The mass market is not going to throw down $350+ just for that. If that is all Sony and Microsoft is going to offer for in their next consoles then I have no doubt Nintendo is going to make a killing in sales especially if they get most of the multiplats (which I think they will).

Well I'll be buying PS4, eventually, simply because the greater processing grunt than on PS3 will allow for not only better looking games but games that can do more. I do like Move as a control system for some types of games (prefer it to DS3 for InFamous 2, and I'm sure I'd like it more for FPS, if I liked FPS). But really I'm happy with DS3. If they do RTS on PS4 a bit more then I would want them to properly commit to KB+M as an input for those games, indeed they should make KB+M a control optoion for all FPS titles too.

Great games perhaps?

The wiiu doesn't really have a hook, just mario and a controller with a screen then a couple of third party.

When you say it does not have a hook, then go onto explain several aspects of the hook.......

It has a hook.

My whole point, they don't need a hook. Gameplay moves forward with better graphics, physics, interaction. Making the better game is the key, creating better worlds and experiences that better hardware allows is what entices gamers.

The hook you speak of targets the Wii crowd, they go for the gimmicks. PS4 and 720 will do fine without that market.

I think the only hook from a gadget perspective that may sway my decision between Sony or MS is if one of them decided to throw in the Oculus VR glasses for free. Again, a novelty, with  many limitations, and will provide fun factor for a while. The real key is who has more ram, faster processor, to output the best games and exclusives.  The hook is the games targetting gamers!

You're god damn right ;)

The PS3 and XBox 360 didn't sell 130 million consoles to "hardcore" gamers, they sold the vast majority of those systems to broader market gamers who wanted to play games like Call of Duty and these systems were their only option ... If the generation played out differently, and third party publishers produced a decent number of similar games for the Wii, a large portion of these gamers wouldn't have bought their HD console.

The typical gamer, regardless of whether they play "core" or "casual" games, doesn't really care that much about the processing power of their system; they care whether it provides new and interesting experiences.

Call of Duty gamers are a combo of hardcore & semi hardcore gamers. They are the ones that play 8 hours a day online. Many of them will also buy Battlefield, Halo, Killzone, MSG4 etc

If the Wii was a HD console as you say, and matched the processing power of the other 2, it would flop. The launch price by having similar spec hardware and the inclusion of the the hook that is the Wii remote would put it's  price above the PS3 and well above the 360. It would be a ridiculous flop, the hook wouldn't save it. Call of Duty players don't care about motion control!

Better hardware allows Call of Duty to run at the high fps it does, which is what entices people. The Wii can't match that, The Wii U certainlty won't match that next gen.  The WiiU remote is not a hook that will entice these players.

Better graphics, better framerates, better gameplay experiences will do that, so yes processing power is important. Many gamer's might not know the difference between PS4 of 720's processing power, but they will most certaintly know they can play their game of choice on these consoles because it is more powerful than the WiiU.

The Wii U will produce some great Nintendo style games for it's gamers, but I'm confident if you were to ask any gamer if they would prefer the Wii U to have more ram and processing power, and the trade off would be to drop the Wii U remote, bye bye remote.

Just to re-iterate my point. It's about the games, which stronger power makes possible. The gimmick won't entice these players.

Well i think if it was tough to sell HD over SD with the Wii, it'll be much harder to sell true HD over normal "HD" next gen. This is the point that OP is making.

I also think nobody has any idea what will ultimately win out next generation, apart from well known factors such as lower price and game library.

Was it motion controls? Was it online infrastructure? Was it price? Was it buying up exclusives? It was one of these, and all of these, at some point that gave Wii or the 360 an edge.