I know another one of THESE topics, but I feel as though there is a very important factor everybody seems to be missing. It's THE biggest factor in why the Wii seemed so under powered, the resolution. The Wii only supported 480p and the PS3 supported 1080p. THIS was the MAIN reason the PS3/360 were such a big jump in comparison to the Wii. Don't believe me, just play a Wii game on an emulator. Some games, like Super Mario Galaxy, are much more easily comparable to PS3/360 when they are running in true 1080p.
It amazes me that everybody seems to be forgetting this huge factor. Even though the PS4/720's graphics are going to be better than the Wii U's, it won't matter nearly as much, simply because of the resolution. Both the PS4 and Wii U are mainly supporting 1080p (supposedly the PS4 could do a slightly higher resolution, but I doubt it will ever be used). This makes the difference way less noticeable. Slightly higher poly models and more dynamic lighting effects are going to matter very little when the resolution is identical.
Another thing is the Wii U's textures. Need for Speed Most Wanted U is going to support PC's textures. That means there is going to be very little if any difference between Wii U and PS4 texture-wise. This means even smaller of a difference between Wii U and PS4. Will lower poly models really be noticeable if the texture quality is the same? How about slightly more advanced lighting effects or even slightly bigger draw distances?
In the end, when both systems are side by side and both are running in 1080p with their best looking games, you're going to have to squint to see the graphical differences this time around. Where as with Wii to PS3/360, the resolution made it much easier to notice the graphical difference, the fact that the Wii U has good texture quality and runs in 1080p is going to make it 10x harder to tell the difference.
