RAW POWER wont matter nextgen. Next gen will be more about art style, than "real graphics", because the PC, the 720 and the PS4 will be able to feature those kind of graphics, so in order to distinguish themselves they will need the art-style to stand out.

So far the engine showing great real stuff, and great art style is the Luminous Engine.

Also for something a bit different

How about the FOx Engine.

Fox Engine should be next gen ready but Ground Zeroes loses a bit of it's shine without the blurring of the youtube video, open up the pics in a new tab and you can see the dithering that really shows the sacrifices they had to make for current gen consoles even in a scripted cutscene (the one gameplay shot looks pretty average in comparison). Lighting, rain effects, and character models are great tho.

The Jungle demo they showed a couple years ago looked better IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjFWLEBFlOc

i think luminous kills it agni video was literally the best

Well, I was talking about what would matter the most in graphics nextgen.

UE4 one looks the best, most likely though because the demo itself is the coolest. Plus, the dark colors help hide flaws.

Communicative features is not something that can be applied to the graphics department, I think.

Spec wise the 720 and the PS4 will be able to showcase "realistic graphics" so, I think it would be very boring to have all the games look the same, that is why I think why art style (character design, environments, colors, etc) will matter the most.  If every game just look "real" without any major artistic stuff, I think I would quit gaming, because in my life there are already graphics more "real" lulz.

Obviously, in other non-graphical stuff, I think that a console with more communicative features will gather most of the gamers.   If the console allows people to record footage and upload it (to youtube or other media social site), take screens, and even maybe live stream while playing without any major technical mumbo jumbo, and without requiring other equipment aside of the console and the TV, it will sell better.  Also the ability of multitasking while playing, without compromising the gameplay experience will be a major factor.  I dont care about any of these stuff, but considering that is how tech is going now, people will adopt that.

What I want for my console are amazing graphics (technically and artistically amazing), a nice main user interface, and great games (with great story).

engines don't offer art style, artists offer art style

Some more PC DX11 demos