I think some people are overlooking how much of a graphical showcase Pikmen could be too. Pikmen 2 was one of the most beautiful games of the GCN generation, and had a silky smooth framerate and a ton happening on the screen at once as well. The game could do alot to validate both the graphics, processing and the touchscreen. I think it will lo. ok stunning, and also displays a combination of cartoony characters, but also a realistic environment. If it looks anything close to the Bird demo it will already be on par with the best of this gen and surpass it in some ways, the conference demo doesn't do the on-screen demo justice, not sure why they showed the one on stage that they did. Retro's game should be everyones hope though if they are looking for something that looks a solid bit better than most of the prettiest games from this gen. They are maybe the most talented dev out there when it comes down to marrying technical wizardry with an amazing artistic vision. Give them a system, like Wii-U that for at least a year is going to be reasonably more powerful than the competition and I have no doubt that it will look better than games such as Last of Us, GOW Ascension or any other PS360 game, which is to be expected of any studio as technically and artistically talented as Retro working on the best Hardware.
I actually think it is important that Retro's game be shown well before PS4/720 really get rolled out, as it is the one thing (provided it is a more realistic/large scale game) that could really beat Wii-U's advantages on the hardware side into consumers heads before it gets overshadowed technically by the other console competition.