I disagree completely with that. The Wii was no competition for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the same will apply to the Wii U compared to the PS4 and Xbox 360 successor. Nintendo hasn't lead the gaming industry since the SNES except in the portable console space with the DS and 3DS. By hardware I mean the raw power under the hood and in that respect the Wii U is underpowered compared to the PS4 and likely the same compared to the next MIcrosoft console. Sony and MS have never considered Nintendo to be direct competition. Yes they both came up with motion based control systems to try and capture the casual market because they saw the success Nintendo had regards that with the Wii U.
Unfortunately its plain to see that neither the gaming media nor the gaming industry considers the Wii U as a next gen console in the same league as the PS4 and next Microsoft console. Even in development terms its always the Wii U/Xbox 360/PS3 compared to the PC/PS4/Next Microsoft console in development terms. Some may think I'm being a Nintendo hater or a fanboy of the other consoles when I say this but I'm not. Its just looking at the situation realistically and not with eyes closed or the head in the sand. I like Nintendo and have been a Nintendo fan since the beginning with the NES but I can also see that Nintendo while it has improved with the launch of the Wii U its still not in a position to compete on a level playing field with the other two console manufacturers.
Hardware design refers to both the internal components of the system, its efficiencies and inefficiencies, as well as the method of interaction with the console itself. Nintendo has led in hardware interaction every single generation, everything we do to control videogames on home consoles can be directly traced back to a Nintendo innovation.
As far as "Raw power under the hood" Nintendo was the first system capable of creating three dimensional environments through mode 7. Everything since has been iterative advancements of that very implementation. Raw power does not, in and of itself, determine that games or gaming systems, will be entertaining or a worthwhile investment. Interaction methods, and the software that takes advantage of them, however, do.
Its plain to see that you are being sucked into the click bait for teh lulz garbage that is being fed on CERTAIN gaming media sites. Only fanboy biased gaming media outlets are even questioning whether Wii U is next gen, because they want to maintain that PS4 or XBOX is the best, because that is where their personal preference lies.
Sites like IGN will say whatever you want them to say so long as you pay them enough to say it.
The only reason some games are being developed WiiU/PS3/360 is due to the common instruction set. It has nothing to do with raw potential or specs or anything else, it's simply a business decision to simplify the development process so that each team is working from a common code base. This part of your comment in particular was the most annoying, because I think of you as smarter than this, and capable of seeing past BS.
The Wii U is certainly capable of competing with the other two manufacturers, and will as such. They are making great strides in improving the third party development pipeline on their platforms, and Iwata stated he is going to market third party games on Wii U to ensure they are successful. This is actually the first gen since the SNES where I think they can really compete simply because of the direction they are moving to make 3rd party development smoother, cheaper, and more lucrative.
I hope you really aren't naive enough to believe that the difference in hardware between the three consoles is going to amount to much. The XBOX is only very slightly more capable than the Wii U, according to everything we've heard, and much of those resources are going to be used for Kinect. The PS4 is a little better than that, but still not enough to make a significant difference in any facet of gameplay other than graphical representations, which in and of itself is laughably small. What I like about the PS4 is that it sets a clear standard for gen 9, but for gen 8, they are all competitive graphically, and all will try to make use of their second screens for new types of gameplay.
