The graphics WILL look discernably better than the Gamecube -- DX9 shader ops are most certainly gonna be available on it, and that alone is the leap between current gen Quake 3-esque effects and Doom 3-plus effects. It'll have enough of the ol' glossy shit built-in that it'll look better than this gen by some margin.
The Gamecube Turbo's gonna start lookin' pretty iffy when Xbox 360 and PS3 development have really ramped up 1.5 to 2 years into the generation, though, when we've all become jaded to self-shadowing effects and pixel-shaded water and basic particle effects.
Nintendo's money is going to produce DX8/9 class hardware that is A) small, B) quiet/cool, and c) cheap as hell to manufacture. Those three requirements alone require a hefty cash outlay. The backwards compatibility with the Gamecube also necessitates a fair chunk of engineering manpower, as well as the decent reliability. One thing non-gamers and casuals rarely tolerate is the sort of shit that plagues Sony launch systems.
The initial screenshots of Rev games are gonna look pretty good. But there ain't gonna be room to grow, no matter how you slice it. As hardware gets more complex, it takes a longer time for devs to really eke the truly next-gen multimedia out of each individual console. This generation had a nice advantage, at least in terms of the Xbox/GC, in that they had APIs and feature sets not terribly divergent from what devs were used to on the PC. The PS2, on the other hand, went from trash to ZOMG over the course of 5 years, and we're gonna see the 360/PS3 do likewise: leap from "eh, Xdude 1.5" to "JESUS HOW THE HELL" as they shift from the current-gen programming mentality to the next (and as ports or platform switches from current to next gen become less prevalent). The Revolution, conversely, will remain in Xdude 1.5 land, because no matter how you hope otherwise and no matter how clever devs get, the performance ceiling is gonna be a whole HELL of a lot lower.
Also, ignore Johnny Nightfraud, there. It's very safe for him to say "would you be happy if it looks like <insert CG from game that's sure to come out>" because, hey: the Gamecube Metroids and Smash Brothers already look pretty darn good given the scope of their design, and slapping some DX9-class effects on 'em ARE gonna bring 'em even closer to something resembling that CG. It's called backpedaling, and I guarantee there's a lot of folks on this forum alone who are lot fuckin' closer to knowing the Rev specs than a post-adolescent photographer-cum-industry-groupie is. He's playing coy in order to do damage control, and it's only fanboy hope that keeps you granting him any credibility.
Lastly, I'm gonna do a very rare thing and be honest here: I think the Rev has a chance. I don't LIKE that it does because I think the waggle wand is a total case of cognitive dissonance, but I think Japan has honestly stagnated to the point that they might embrace something that significantly deviates from the norm. If the Rev comes out at $199 -- or more horrifying still, $149/$99 -- they will INSTANTLY catapult themselves out of the main living room dash and become a viable and extremely prevalent second console. They might even wow folks enough with the waggle wand to become the ONLY console for the lion's share of households, although given the franchise horsepower on the PS3/360, I honestly don't find that a likely outcome. Either way, they make bank, and I go back to gnashing my teeth for another generation. That killer price point and family-grade reliability is what they're paying the $500M for.
Also, isn't that fact that it WILL be hard to port for EXACTLY what Nintendo wants, despite some publisher fallout -- unique content specifically tailored to the Rev's waggle wand seems to be EXACTLY what they want.