Goddammit Faxanadu!

Chips and processors are not measured by the same generation scale as consoles - they're much higher. The generations of videogame consoles are determined by adding +1 to the next console released. This system of measurement was more or less determined when the Sega Mega Drive and SNES were released, and then retroactively applied to previous consoles, even when multiple generations of consoles were involved they were occasionally lumped into one generation (like the 2600 and 5200 into generation 2).

It's really a stupid system. In reality, Microsoft is on their 2nd generation hardware, Sony is on their 3rd, and Nintendo is on their 6th.

i think the better question would be was 360 and PS3 using 8th gen tech? hence the huge console price cost.

The more information I get from Wii U specs, the more I want to cancel my preorders. I am getting the feeling that the 2 week wait after NA launch will get the real specs out in open and with that, Wii U will not be as succesful as I thought it might be in Europe during its first holiday season.

Man, I will call and cancel my preorders right now.

You know, I've kind of been an advocate for doing away with generations altogether--at least in an across the board kind of way.  There were times when consoles released several years apart and were still considered part of the same gen.  Time isn't a consistent indicator and companies have used weaker tech followed by stronger tech and then back to weaker tech.  In the end, it just gets confusing.  Your last sentence makes more sense than anything I've ever seen regarding console generations.  If it works for iPod and Droid, it can work for gaming.

I agree.  You should.  Or sell them online.  Whichever works best for you.

My plan was to sell them online, but now I don't see it being profitable any more. I called and cancelled, now I have to tell the one guy who already preordered my preorder that he should just get his console from any retailer.  There goes my christmas bonus, but I guess I'll live.

Yeah.  Everybody was saying "It's 8th gen because it comes after the 7th gen" and, while that is definitely true, it wasn't what I was asking.  Nobody was reading the OP.  Instead, they were just responding to the thread title.

I spent some time with Wii U today, though I don't have one yet. It does some impressive things. So far it doesn't exactly scream "next gen," but in a lot of subtle ways it clearly is. The way I see it, saying Wii U doesn't "feel" next-gen is like saying you don't feel any older on your birthday. Of course you don't feel any older, you're only really a day older than you were yesterday. But your functional/legal age DID increase by one, whether you 'felt' it or not.

As for the actual tech, I don't really know or care whether people want to call it 7th gen or whatever. I'm pretty sure most or all of the Wii U's innards are post-2007 tech, which is to say, not the same stuff in the PS3 or 360. The Wii U can be using tech from 1999 for all I care though, what matters is what it does with it, and what it does is impressive -- the older the tech, the more impressive.

I don't know why people are arguing about gen, even when op said its a 8gen console, but with specs only as good as a 7gen console or slight above.
So yes for nintendo its a 8gen console. I think its hardware is faster then the ps360, but dont know for how much.

Can it keep up with other 8gen consoles ? only god/ms/sony knows that for now. But if we see the same jump as last gen it wont. But if the jump is not as big it has a chance to get many ps4/720 ports.

So the 8gen nintendo wont blow our minds (grapics wise) compared to the 7gen like the ps360 did with the 6gen.
But it might be enough for many people to be happy ... hd zelda im coming ;)