Short answer is, they don't. And they never have.

Uh, Gamecube and XBox both overpowered the PS2 by a lot. Look at Resident Evil 4 for a comparison.

And Wii didn't had GT3, MGS2 and GTA3 - but still dominated in sales. The thread was about why specs matter or not matter for sales. So what is your point regarding the Wii?

PS2 was still relatively on par visually. Sure the GCN/XBox were able to do some things better, but they're clearly all of the same generation. 

BTW too the best thing about the Wii U is the graphics leap from the Wii. It's sooooooooo freaking nice to see Nintendo games in HD *finally*, it's like a warm blanket being put on you in a cold room. That upgrade is 10x more satisifying than any silly controller gimmick the Wii U has (looking down at the screen to see your HUD is impressive for about 5 seconds). 

specs mean nothing. If suddenly Activision, Rockstar, EA went Ouya exclusive then that would be winning.

Here is the thing. Anyone who says specs matter would be a PC gamer.

Now any reason they use to justify not being a PC gamer, only proves that specs are not the most important thing. Whatever reason they use to justify not being a PC gamer, is obviously more important than specs.

You'd have to be an absolute mark to compare the disparity of the PS2 and GC to that of the Wii and PS3/360. And how many times am I gonna keep hearing RE4 for christ's sake? I've played nearly every version thoroughly. Look up the Splinter Cell games on the original Xbox and then compare them to the GC/PS2 versions. People didn't even need a comparison to see how monumental the difference was back then. That's an example of a system completely crushing the competition, so by your own terminology, the GC was equally lacking.

But my point was, the PS2's hardware capabilities did play a part in it's initial success. This (or the last, depending on how you want to look at it) generation is arguably the only one where hardware capabilities have had nothing to do with the way the market share turned out. Even if the PS4 wins the next generation, I think it's fair to say it'll be because of the brand power Sony have sustained over the years and righted all the wrongs that made a considerable chunk of the market bitter towards the PS3 at launch. It'll simply be a coincidence that it's the most powerful of the three.

Yeah.....because 360/PS3 games from 05'/06' looked like this!

Specs don't matter. In fact at this stage price, games, and pretty much anything else don't matter because everyone buying the systems are diehard fans. We don't really know the demand for 4Bone, and specs are irrelevant for the people buying the systems for...COD. Wii U is struggling but it's about brand image more than anything else.

It is about specs on handheld gaming systems. Have you not noticed how people always buy the new smartphones because of the higher specs?

Still the PS2 is underpowered against GCN and XBox and still the Wii won the last gen. So while power may be ONE factor, it clearly isn't the most important. WiiU looses because the whole proposition is not as good as the Wii was.OK, for some it is (including me), but that's true for the Dreamcast or the Vita too.