Of course it won't be because the closer we get to more realistic graphics, the harder it is to exponentially raise the level of graphics. Therelies the problem of defining the exponential difference though. To me, PS360 games already have very poor graphics overall. No, it doesn't mean that I can't play them. I certainly can, but I won't buy a single multi-platform title on PS360 if I can get that same game on the PC. And that's the key point -- once PS4/720 come out, who is going to be buying 3rd party games on the Wii U when nearly all of them will look worse, run slower and have lower resolution art assets than on competing consoles? It's not as if Wii U has a $200 price advantage either. A console can only do so much with its 1st party support. How do you guys keep ignoring this? 3rd party developers will outright refuse to port games to the Wii U since they'll expect these blockbuster titles to sell millions of units instead of mere thousands. With Wii U already losing some key exclusives like Rayman Legends, it's obvious the developers are seeing all the signs of another Nintendo console with failed 3rd party support. I hope things change but they aren't looking strong right now.

Further, you say the jump from Wii U to PS4/720 won't be as large as from Wii to PS360. Yes, that is true but it still means paying $300-350 for a console with graphics that may barely improve from PS360 levels. Unless you MUST have Nintendo's 1st party games, if you are a budget gamer why wouldn't you just get a $200 PS360 consoles? And if you are looking to spend $350 on a console with no mechanical hard drive (that's another $50-60), might as well spend $400-450 for a PS4/720. The Wii U fits nowhere right now. It's too expensive to compete properly with PS360 consoles and not next generation enough to seem attractive against what is rumored to be coming this year from its competitors. This much pretty guarantees Nintendo will have to cut the price of the Wii U by end of 2013 because their current pricing structure makes no sense in light of its market competitors.

To exacerbate the situation, the price of PS360 consoles will drop even more once PS4/720 launch. With their vast gaming library and a lot more exclusives, the Wii U will continue to trail last gen consoles for budget gamers even if Nintendo drops the price to $299 for the  Deluxe. You guys are also assuming the younger generation of gamers (late Gen Ys and early Millenials) even care to play the types of games we loved as kids. Guess what, it's not necessarily true. Tastes and preferences change from 1 generation of humans to the other. Based on the popularity of 3rd and 1st person shooters, mature 3rd person action-adventure titles and so on, the popularity of Nintendo's games is no longer what it used to be when I was growing up as a kid. Back then it was a choice between Super Mario and Donkey Kong and some half-ass failed game. Now, the games are such high quality, that things like Zelda or Super Mario are no longer complex enough in their game formula to stand-out from everything else. They are just merely great games, not AMAZING games they used to be compared to everything else in the 80s and 90s. Once younger gen of gamers see COD, Gears of War, Halo, Uncharted, God of War in Full HD with next generation DX11 graphics, they'll be tripping over themselves to buy PS4/720 consoles. That's the big difference.

The hype behind Nintendo's next gen console has evaporated completely. When I was growing up and a new Nintendo console came out, it was a huge event in the gaming industry. Most of my friends in their 30s don't give a hoot about the Wii U. Clearly Nintendo has failed to nurture the relationship it developed with younger gamers and transitioned them to their next consoles. All they do is feed off younger generation of kids and then when those kids grow up, they have no mature Nintendo console for them. So what do they do? Get a PC, PS4 or 720. It's that simple.

Then there is the hype train. If PS4 is unveiled this month and Xbox 720 by June, then most people will forget Wii U even existed. It won't be on their radar with 2 true next gen consoles ready to launch this fall. Nintendo's key chance was to jump-start the generation, blow everyone away and get 10+ million installed userbase of Wii U consoles before PS4/720 even drop. Thus far there isn't a single killer game worth buying the Wii U for at $300-350 for most gamers and nothing even remotely exciting on the horizon for most of this year. Wonderful 101 or Pikmin 3 are not system sellers. What will happen is most people will just keep waiting until Wii U gets some titles that get their attention. The problem with this argument is that by the time this happens, PS4/720 will have been launched and their games will blow Wii U's away graphically on every level. It's going to be a repeat of Wii vs. PS360 all over again unless Nintendo drops the price ASAP on the Wii U and gets the install base to 10 million before Sony's/MS's console drop. Then 3rd parties might actually take the Wii U more seriously.

The days when a console could survive only on its 1st party games are coming to an end. All those people such as myself who grew up playing NES, SNES and N64 no longer want a Nintendo console with just 1st party games when it costs $300-350. That's way too much $ for a handful of titles we would play over the course of 4-5 years. In that case, I could just pick up the Wii U at the end of its life for $149 and play those 5-6 key 1st party games. Nintendo's strategy so far is a complete failure. The Wii U does little to excite new gamers about gaming, it fails to to attract hardcore gamers away from not considering buying PS4/720, it fails in attracting casuals because the controller is too large/too complicated and is gimped by just a 5 hour battery life, and it fails in terms of delivering what Nintendo is known for - strong 1st party games. Where are they?

The only people buying Wii U right now are the most hardcore Nintendo gamers on the planet and people who have kids ages 6-12. 

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Side note - you guys know when you are quoting a comment with so many pictures, you can just quote 1 pic or put < snip > or something along those lines. It's fairly self-explanatory that you are replying to those pictures; which negates the need to quote 8-10 images all over again on another page.

...in your utterly unsubstantiated and illogical opinion. Why do I say this? Polygon count. It is that simple. Super Mario Galaxy looks dire, games such as WoW look dire. Style only masks poor graphics for so long, then they will end up looking bad. When subsurface scattering, tessellation, and other features become more common place, no level of style will be able to hide shody character models, poor textures, and crappy lighting. If what you said had an ounce of truth in it, then why is the gpu market worth so much?

Yep, finally got it to work. My comment box was going insane (when I deleted a picture, it was deleting everything in the post, then not letting me type anything else), had to clear my browser cache to get it working right again.

Ah, I missed the memo that being able to enjoy technically less impressive games is illogical. Duly noted.

Thanks! I just noticed a lot of people would quote these massive posts. I even felt bad posting all those pictures but I did it because I figured most people wouldn't bother clicking on those individual links. I guess I am most disappointed in Nintendo's strategy right now because it's clearly not working. I am disappointed because in my mind I saw that if Nintendo launched a $400-450 powerhouse console with traditional controls, dropped the BS barriers and crazy rules they have with 3rd party games regarding mature titles, they would have had the most desirable console of all next round. People say they tried this with the  Gamecube but it's not true. The Gamecube's design and controller colors even looked kiddish. And Nintendo's strict rules and regulations for 3rd parties were fully in effect in Gamecube's era. Nintendo hasn't designed a proper console with strong 1st and 3rd party support since SNES. I would even say the N64 was their last swan song for a great gaming console. Everything since then has been a catastrophic collapse in the eyes of people who grew up with them in the 80s and 90s like me. Really after getting a Genesis, I was no longer brain-washed by the Nintendo brand as I started to enjoy a wider variety of games. Since then I realized that Nintendo has to do more, a lot more, to attract future generation of gamers. Since N64 (and even then it already slacked in 3rd party support) every new console they released has been a major disappointment. At least N64 had such high value exclusives that it made up for it in the long-term for the most part. Not so with Gamecube or Wii. And now Wii U is just a repeat of the same I fear.

Even if the jump won't be as large graphically, if developers have to significantly cut corners to get 3rd party multi-platform games to even run on the Wii U, or worse, some of those games in 2017-2018 will be so advanced they wouldn't even be able to run on the Wii U, then the console would be in trouble. I think BF4 is launching on the Wii U this fall which sounds promising. It'll be interesting to compare how that game looks. If BF4 on the Wii U doesn't completely blow away BF3 on PS360 consoles by end of this year, Wii U is in serious trouble in the eyes of 3rd parties since if a major developer can't even get a game like BF4 to look next gen on the Wii U, who else is going to spend even more $$ to attempt doing so? And if 3rd party games can't come pretty close to polish and level of graphics of PS4/720's versions, most people will just not buy them for the Wii U.

What the?

You haven't yet realized most people don't care about any of that stuff? The best selling games never relied on graphics. Look at the biggest games on the PC today, Minecraft and League of Legends. How do you explain that?

By 2017, the WiiU's fate will have been sealed for better or worse.  Either it underperforms in the market and squeaks by due to Nintendo's first party games and cheaper price or it amasses a nice install base and does very well for them. 

In any case, we can almost surely expect two things:  First, people will support the majority of 3rd party multiplats on the other consoles anyway, and second, Nintendo will be readying their next console by those dates, so the above bolded is irrelevant.

Where to begin....

Firstly, less graphical power will mean less power to have advanced engines meaning the game will be more basic. Where next gen, high end games will have fully destructive and interactive environments, simple ones have nothing. So sure, go keep your paddle and ball, but just know I'll  be upgrading to the next gen of games.

Also, seeing that this is a thread about graphics, it is pivitol to the debate.

You see the problem with relying on things like graphics, AI, larger game worlds etc, doesn't necessarily mean you get an improved game and I cannot stress that enough.

I can only speak for myself but I rather play a 16-bit gameplay masterpiece than a CGI looking game that plays like a turd, and from what I saw in the 7th gen the more emphasis that is placed on graphics the more gameplay suffers. To be honest most of the so called HD AAA titles I would not even give a second look given the chance, but with this gen I had to resort to playing them as they were the default.

I have yet to gain interest in the wiiU but i have faith nintendo would probably deliver in terms of gameplay, but if MS, Sony , 3rd parties continue to deliver those underwhelming games they can count me out. I guess I would have to stick to the 3ds for this upcoming gen if everyone fails to deliver, which I have no problem with so far, and guess how much powerful the 3ds is compared to those systems.