Look, lets not make it more complicated then it has to be and try to define the definition of a core gamer. Are mario 3D and Mario kart great games? Yes they are, but core gamers just aren't into that genre. Nintendo's iconic franchises are mostly targetted toward the younger audience and parent buy a Nintendo console for their kids because they don't want them to cut aliens in two with a chainsaw or do other violant stuff because of their age. More mature gamers do want to do those sort of things and get their fix from "core" gaming platforms like the ps3 and 360. Those sort of "core" gamers do care about graphics and expect to be doing their gruesome killing with the most realistic graphics that are available today. This is the reason why party/ cartoony platform games perform so well on the Wii but never sold well on the other consoles (for example Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper).

And no I am not covering my ass. I allready said Sony will probably end up having a 70% marketshare of the core gaming market. I am talking about games running on next gen engines that can't run on current consoles because those "core" gamers want to do their fragging with the best possible graphics. In that market Nintendo is not even entering the race because the hardware isn't up to it. Not my opinion, it's the developers who say such things. Frostbite3, UET4, Manta Ray, Ignite, Luminous engine are all engines that will be the foundation of the wave of next gen games and none of them support the Wii U. So how the hell can the Wii U even start this next gen console race? You think watered down versions are really going to boost sales for Nintendo when core gamers care about so much about graphics? Off course it won't, but that doesn't mean the Wii U can't succeed. As a non violant, family friendly platform, Nintendo still has by far the best image and franchises to lure in that casual audience. But, unfortunatly, the Wii U isn't screwed because it can't run next gen engines, it's screwed because the casual gamers aren't buying it. It's not rocketscience, the tablet controller just didn't catch on like the Wii remote did. 

The only thing that can save Nintendo now are casual games that deliver a totally fresh gaming experience because of the tablet controller, get featured on Ophrah, and grab the attention of people who normally aren't into gaming. But dude please stop expecting to see a huge boost in sales when watered down version of next gen games come out, or expect core gamers not to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p. Even my half blind grandmother can tell the difference, let alone core gamers who visit sites like Digitalfoundry to see if the ps3 or 360 version is the one to buy. Even if they do come out, nobody will care, just like nobody cared for MW2 on the Wii.

by your logic, only ignite and frostbite support the xone since the others weren't announced. it's also very sad trying to prove the console is weak by saying the engines that are scalable down to tablets aren't supporting it. all of those engines can and will run on wii u, except maybe the EA ones if they keep their lack of professionalism.

Dude.. the Wii U just isn't considered a next gen console, in the sense some develelopers have invisioned their next gen games to be like. Don't shoot the messenger this is what they said, not me. As i said a gazillion times, the Wii U needs to draw in the casuals again. Competing with the ps4 for the core gaming audience is just ridicilous when you look at the hardware. 

by "they" you mean like, two or three developers? why can't you simply stop this doom and gloom until E3 to avoid embarassing yourself even more?

Two or three developers whose engines will power around 90% of the AAA titles. For example: EA will use Frostbite 3 for all of it's next gen games, including: all EA Sports games, the Need For Speed series, Battlefield 4, Mass Effect 4 etc. It's a pretty big deal when so many franchises aren't coming to the Wii U and that is just 1 engine. Whether you believe it or not, UET4 will very likely be the most commonly used engine for next gen multiplatform titles, and it isn't supporting the Wii U, just like it isn't supporting ps3/360.

Anyway, there must be 20 developers who simply don't consider the wii U next gen and it's pointless to keep arguing about some kind of secret sauce that not even the developers know off. Maybe one day they will discover it, next to a pot of leprechaun gold. When that happens I am sure that all these developers will reconsider it to be a true next gen console that deserves to be the lead platform for all multiplatform titles in the coming 7 years. But untill that happens the general concensus among developers will still be that the Wii U isn't a next gen console. 

Developers beliefs and opinions count for nothing. It's publishers who hold the purse strings, and shareholders and investors who have major influence on what titles are coming to what platform.

As things currently stand, going by the Nerd-Rage on various forums all over the place, the One is looking like it's going to flop. Hard.

If you were a major shareholder of a publisher would you want your company to ignore a console with a far superior installed userbase and concentrate on supporting two consoles with a ZERO installed userbase that are going to be considerably more expensive..? After 3D Mario and Mario Kart 8 boost sales even further..?

I'm telling you, Sony and Microsoft will be lucky to sell over 1.5m units each this year, and now Nerd-Rage is in full swing the One might not even do half that unless Microsoft backtrack like mental.

The thing with any game engine is that it's just a tool that needs to be pushed by hardware. If Epic wanted to, they could already build the Unreal 8 engine, designed to run pixar like processing effect, 20xAA and real time raytracing. However it's useless because the hardware isn't around to run such things yet. The UET4 is totally useless for current gen consoles as it's designed and optimized around the added processing power of next gen hardware, which allows them to do things that are not possible on current gen consoles.  

So when Epic says UET4 won't be coming to the Wii U, it simply means the hardware can't take advantage of the new next gen features that sets it apart from their current gen UET3. Going by your logic UET4 should also be coming to the ps3/ 360 since Epic would be ignoring a 150m installbase. It won't though because it's called a next-gen engine for a reason. Now off course you can send them an email where you explain to them that there is secret sauce in the Wii U that they don't know about, but as of now Epic believes UET4 is not ment to run on the Wii U without setting it on fire.

And yes, publishers decide whether or not a game, that runs on UET4 on ps4/ Xone, will also come to the Wii U (and ps3/360). But as Epic already stated, they will run on UET3. Not because they want to bully Nintendo, but because it probably looks and runs better that way. 

It'll be pointless bringing UE4 to the PS3 and 360 because the GPUs don't have a modern enough feature set, RSX and Xenos have DX9-equivalent feature sets. Latte has a DX11-equivalent feature set, same as Liverpool and the One's GPU, so it WILL take advantage of 'next gen' features such as tessellation.

Once the Wii U's sales explode due to either a price cut and/or the releases of 3D Mario and Mario Kart 8 before Christmas you'll see publishers requesting Wii U support for UE4 because they'll want to take advantage of the extra horsepower than the Wii U has over the previous gen consoles. UE3 won't cut it.

You'll also see developers porting between the Wii U/PS4/One rather than the Wii U/PS3/360 due to all 3 current gen consoles having a similar architecture. It will make no sense for developers to port from the PS4 or One using UE4 to the Wii U using UE3, and would be a nightmare to port between the PS3/360 using UE3 to the Wii U using UE3. We've already started to see developers using the PC as the lead platform and porting to the Wii U/PS4/One and having the PS3 and 360 SKUs developed independently with Watch Dogs.

People seem to be judging a console's power on launch titles, people do it every generation. Remember the flak that the 360 got at launch..? It wasn't until Gears of War was released that people began to realise that it was a step up from the PS2. The same thing is going to happen when 3D Mario is released and we see what Retro have been working on. The Wii U is a 'next gen' machine with a GPU that can handle 'next gen' games, just with less bells and whistles compared to the PS4 and One. You'll see this at E3, although I guarantee you that plenty of people will be in denial even after seeing it with their own eyes. Remember the 2011 E3 'sizzle reel'..? lol

developers know what the wii u can do, but you don't so I advise you to keep quiet and wait.

so that's why weaker than ps360 tablets are getting a UE 4 version? the wii u is a good leap above ps360, not only on raw power but modern architeture too. it will run the 8th gen engines.