Topic: current gen or next gen

<--- Spits drink.

This is just getting funny now. The "Wii U isn't next gen" people are just getting more and more ridiculous while the other side keeps pushing out more and more logical reasoning. Can we please close this thread?

Even Wii was WAY more capable than Xbox, which was the most powerful console of the 6th gen. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say Nintendo consoles are always better than the last gen consoles. They tend to be just as more graphically capable than last gen as less capable as other consoles in its respective gen.
Wii U will have a bigger market in the long run, with better than PS3 graphics.
I would speculate Wii U is 40-65%(maybe even more) stronger than PS3. PS4 is 80-90%. Xbox∞ is 100%
Obviously other next gen consoles will be more powerful. It's just part of releasing a console a year ahead of the others. Even so, the capabilities of the final version of the Wii U OS will actually determine what people can do what the console, not 2 years before its release while it was still partially a prototype. People started complaining about Wii U as far back as E3 2011.
The Wii U is literally still in development while being available to consumers.
As far as I'm concerned, a year hardly ever makes a difference in quality of machine. Wii U is still relevant, and will be relevant.
Even Dreamcast came out 2 years before PS2, when Sega had no idea how the market would play out. That's why it died.

BTW, 2GB of RAM can do plenty if it's focused on 1-3 programs, while 8 GB of RAM might not even make a difference if they separate their software more accordingly, which they'll probably do.
If Xbox or PS run 6 programs with 8 GB of RAM, instead of 1 or 2, the RAM won't even matter.
All Nintendo literally has to do, is allow the Gamepad to act separately than what's on screen, and s***s even again.
The second screen makes better use of the RAM, instead of being cluttered on one screen.

I wish you knew what you were talking about. Just once.

Why?

The PS4 is most certianly more than twice as the Wii U, and most definititely not less than twice as powerful. The idea that there could be a 20% power difference between Xbox 720 and PS4 is pretty far out too.

Let's make this definition even simpler. The "next-gen" appears in a console development process where the ideas of the one set of consoles influence the ideas in the generation of consoles after. When that process is finished we're in the "current gen" and they start all over again.

The Wii U is blatantly of the generation after the PS3/360/Wii U/DS. They looked at the mistakes they made with online and fixed them by implementing online in their own style. They created an account system, killed friend codes and made it so you only need one ID to play any game with someone. They took what they had done with the DS and brought it to their home console. Some people/devs didn't like the non-traditional controls so they put traditional controls in the box. They also saw what was happening with social media and decided to make their own version of it.

That's all it needs to be the generation after the last generation.

This is the best definition I've seen thus far for the Wii U.

All I got to say is, I'm gonna say I told you so when there's hardly a difference in graphics between Wii U and PS4, plus we get the GamePad on top of that.
Seriously, even 2GB of RAM makes a pretty big difference spread across 2 screens vs. 1.

................

ok then

Go ahead, it will be a while. A long while.

Really, a console doesn't need much RAM to run a game, and the RAM Wii U does have, will work wonders with the GamePad. Wii U chat while in game is basically what U Stream on PS4 is, right? The Wii U can do that, it just hasn't yet.
You can already save a screen shot from any game and post to Miiverse, and they added dual ext. HDD use. That opens up more possibilities by having one HDD tied to the console permanently, and possibly using an SD card or another ext. HDD to import media or whatever else. Why else would you need two HDDs?
The Wii U is FAR from showing what it can actually do until they finalize the OS and features.
The summer update is supposedly going to be more awesome than the spring one, so that's something to look forward to IMO.
Wii U is current gen. It was next gen before it was released. Xbox 360 and PS3 are last gen.

You mean by the time the PS4 comes out? Ya, that is a while... good call.

Actually I can vouch with Scar on this one. Graphics become superficial after a certain point. I mean, yes, there will be more polygons, better resolution, and better effects, but who's really going to notice that much?

I like to think of the graphics improvement like a log curve (see: http://schneider.ncifcrf.gov/paper/primer/html/Timg51.gif ). At first, we really notice the change in graphics (NES -> SNES -> N64 -> Gamecube), hence the steep curve on the left, but as the graphics improve, we notice less difference (Gamecube -> Wii -> Wii U -> PS4), hence the flattened out curve on the right.

Specs or not, the Wii U, PS4, and the Xbox will still belong to the same generation.

Now that's funny.

@LZQuacker
A rough estimate on my part would be:
Xbox 360 and PS3 = point 4 approximately
Wii U = between point 4-5 just above the median
PS4 and Xbox∞ = closer to point 5 EDIT:(Xbox possibly above 5 slightly)

Has anyone ever rounded a number from 5 or above to the nearest 1/10? The only difference will most likely be the lack of 4K and possibly 9.1 or 2 surround sound, which would theoretically take 4x the processing power, but the content is the same otherwise.

Deep Down. Color me impressed.

Well at least we were all able to convince each other and everything.

Another job well done.

Math's my second top subject behind science. I like to think about things from a logical standpoint.

Anywho, why does this bother so many people?