"The newest games consoles look underpowered and similar to PCs."
For narrow-minded people - yes, but who cares about them? They do not decide.

Everyone knows that most people wouldn't be able to afford a console that is a major leap in power and graphics, but these consoles are not a minor leap in graphics either. They are about as powerful as a high powered PC which means they will last three years before they truly get pushed. The great thing about consoles is you get to ease yourself into gaming and amass a unique library of published games from the east and west, whilst enjoying entertainment and online gaming with your friends. Not saying PC doesn't have these things, but its just not the same.

I have no problem with consoles being more like PCs, after that will mean that it wil be easier to port those games to PC .

In fact, my only concern (to call it something) is that developers more used to work with PCs will take full advantage of the consoles capabilities sooner than many think, maxing the hardware in 3 years or so. But then, they will have to rely on innovation, bringing new things to the gameplay to sell their games, not on prettier graphics, so it's not a problem.

Why do people keep saying that the consoles are equivalent to a high powered PC? They're not. It's a mix of Mid/low-range stuff.

Because some want to justify their decision. I don't understand it in any way. To me PC is no competitor to consoles as the other way round. Of course current pricey PCs are way more capable and powerful than consoles. We have a big leap between ps360 and 4bone instead.

Who cares that PCs are more advanced?

They say this every generation since the sixth generation.
But people keep buying consoles.
Console gaming is different than PC gaming. Fact.
Regardless whether PC grafix are better or not.

Current gen consoles are at low graphics, the Wii U is around that level and the coming consoles are around high. The developers of Battlefield 4 confirmed the ultra graphics is basically unique to the PC version of Battlefield. The PS4 and Xbox One versions will basically be the equivalent of high graphics on the PC, while finally allowing people to enjoy the full scalable experience with the same amount of characters that PC gamers are already used to. Current gen versions can barely hold the same amount of characters on the map, let alone the graphics. 

Yes, that's why the PC version has very moderate requirements. Of course multiplats don't use high end PCs by now because EA wants to keep the workload as small as possible. This doesn't mean PC are only capable of this, in fact they could produce way better graphics.

It's a fact that the gap between WiiU and PS4 is significantly smaller than the gap between PS4 and a modern gaming PC. But for some reason, WiiU is underpowered and PS4 is a powerhouse. While in reality, both consoles aren't even slightly impressive tech-wise, but both can be a lot of fun depending on the quality of the games.

Aren't most of the majorly published games that way to be focused on console development anyway?