When a Wii U game shows up that has better graphics than a PS360 game, they'll just say so what that means PS4/720 will be ten times as better looking and Nintendo's developers are enslaved to make games with 'shitty' graphics. Even if said Wii U game is the most beautiful game anyone has seen to date.
I'm starting to feel there's no use arguing with a certain technologist, leaf-counter mentality. Within such a framework, today's bitchin' graphics are tomorrows horrible crap, because tomorrow there will be trees with 20% more leafs, and more godrays in the environment. Some people don't see the holistic whole, just the parts. And the problem is that way lay madness. There will always be more parts. It's never finished.
Perhaps the real problem is that if someone is a 'leaf counter' and sees only the components, it is impossible to understand diminishing returns. Every generation of visuals becomes less dated as time goes on, because each generation is more complete and nuanced. More accurately, each generation allows more art styles to achieve critical threshhold for timelessness.
It is part of what amuses me, I guess, about the talk regarding Wii U having shitty graphics out of the gate because "it's just the same shit we've had for seven years". Yes, the same 'shit' that would have blown people away seven years ago. In a sense, I wonder if people like that ever realize they're actually being quite insulting to the people who actually make the games. It is effectively saying "your efforts don't matter, your games look like shit because somewhere out there, there's better AA and cleaner shadows".
In reality, I more think this generation has hit a LOT of critical thresholds for visuals holding up over time. Most of the remaining visual blemishes are purely related to IQ. Lack of AA or poor AF, banding, low res and washed out textures. If Wii U's hardware merely cleans up what this generation sorely lacked in, you're going to see some games that look god damn great.
One underrated game so far, for example, is P-100. It was funny people barfed at that one trailer that zoomed in on a tiny person who was, you know, tiny. Pull back to actual game view, and P-100 is actually full of great shadows, soft lighting, a very rendered, CG animation look, but with great IQ and at 60fps. And tons of stuff happening, along with massive environmental effects like whole cities collapsing. If that's offensive, shitty graphics, then hand me a plunger son, I'm heading down to the sewers.