Oh goody, another one of these highly interesting and original threads...

I doesn't, especially when Nintendos own games often outclass the competition in art style.

Finally playing Donkey Kong Country Returns (on 3DS) and I love it sooooooo much. I'm constantly saying "wow" as I play it. I can imagine how I would fee if I were playing it on the Wii. I'm sure the PS3 and 360 pulled off better looking games than this Wii title but it's still amazing. I'm one of those guys that can be wowed when a dev pulls off their unique vision. Using that "infinite" power of a new console to make a leaf on a tree look better? What a waste. How about a little creativity?

A lot of people would consider AC black flag, BF4, Killzone SF, Ryse, Forza 5, COD ghosts to be more fun than the games the OP mentioned, its opinion vs opinion.

Just because you admit they look better, it doesnt give you greater credibility when you state the gameplay and fun factor isnt as good.

Another common mistake you made is assuming graphics and gameplay are not linked.

With the better graphics cards, PS4 and Xbone will be able to handle many more characters and animations on screen at once than the wii will.
if dead rising 3 was on wii U the decision for the developer would be to either have 2 zombies on screen at once or make it run at 2 frames per second....or make it look like mario which would kill the whole purpose of the game.
And dont you remember those black screens on COD reflex edition on wii? or how limited and pale the action in GTA chinatown wars on DS was compared to vice city stories/liberty city stories on PSP?

Just because a few developers managed to make a good game using limited power, its not a reason to state that they would not have benefited from a more powerful system, and that everyone else should downgrade their expectations on power.

Graphics are the new standard for quality. You can't talk about a high quality game if you don't bring to the table the amount of RAM, and processing power it went into creating the game. If the standard isn't met then it is a subpar game.

Gameplay is already at it's maximum peak so the only thing left to argue about is the quality of the graphics. The amount of pixels and resolution is where it's at. And Wii U clearly shows a lack of techonology, horse power and vision when you compare it with it's competition.

It's so doomed.

This, Nintendo games are good but not as otherwordly as some people would like to beleive. I was primarily a budget PC gamer (1GB 5670HD) last gen. I got a 7870hd around WiiU launch for some breathing room, and the system was too expensive then. I got a Wii U cause I fell for the Nintendo crowds OMG quality, OMG good games, OMG gameplay,  OMG graphics dont matter hype after missing out on the Wii. The games are good, no doubt, but dont blow my mind. They dont move Heaven and Earth. Truth be told Id be perfectly fine without them, moreso now after experiencing them. However, If I only played games on Nintendo and none of my PC excluysives or 3rd parties, THAT would be a real tragedy. Im going to be extremely skeptical of whatever home console they release next

Oh no not this again....
Nobody is arguing that graphics is all that matters or that worse looking games are less fun to play.

It's just about possibilities and comparison. Does SM3DW look and play great? Yes! Would it hurt to have better graphics on it? No!
Nobody is arguing about stuff like SM3DW or LoZWW because their art style doesn't need anything sophisticated from the graphics department. They look gorgeous no matter how many pixels you throw at it.

Now look at stuff that actually depends on good graphics and effects and will have a bigger impact on the consumer with more stunning visuals. Case in point Bayonetta 2.
Bayonetta was a visual spectacle. It needs graphics power to convey its art style. Was it fun to play? Yes! Would it have been better with sharper textures, AA and without frame drops? Double yes!

There are games that rely on a realistic art style and those need the power of the system to create their spectacle. We can't have all games just come with comic style or art styles that don't rely on much graphical effects. To say that certain games on the WiiU look great and there is no need for realistic graphics is as much ignorant bullshit as to say that all games on the WiiU are for kids because they aren't realistic enough.

So please look at both sides of this argument. We can't have just Nintendo games or just Uncharted games. We need both to satisfy as much gamers as possible. And it is undeniable fact that the Sony/MS side is more capable on delivering the second than Nintendo.

Is this thread still going on ?

Why not buy a sinclair spectrum then ?

You can play games, the graphics arent very good though

I honestly believe most consumers, like most of us, operate in a healthy middle ground when it comes to this subject. We like games to be fun, we like games to be pretty, and we like games to perform well. Most of the controversy surrounding technology in games comes from fans of the more powerful system over-inflating the importance of more horsepower and fans of the "weaker" systems dismissing the importance of more horsepower. If these fans truly worshipped advanced graphics, physics, textures, lighting, etc., they'd be busy building an expensive PC . If these other fans cared nothing about advances in technology they'd boot up their vintage systems and forget about this forum altogether.

The majority of us just follow the games we like, on whatever system will support them, regardless of specs.

gameplay is at it`s maximum peak? what te hell are u smoking? the lat gen gameplay was SHIT. most games didnt felt good, controlls were just bad, wrong use of cutscenes, wrong use of quicktime events...