Firstly, this who thing about what generation the Wii is, it's definitely latest generation. The term 'generation' was only bandied about with games consoles when the PS2 and XBOX were on their way. The PlayStation had created a massive and major new market for gaming, with less tech savvy people knowing about it - gaming became cool, and everyone was anxious to see what was coming next, so the term 'next gen consoles' came about.
Nintendo have always been out of sync with XBOX and PlayStation lifecycle, hence the Wii's excuse for not competing like-for-like with them. The Wii was initially called Revolution (a name which holds true I think), but I believe they wanted to distance it away from any 360/Revolution comparisons and opt for a distinct group or family orientated image (Wii as in we and ii as in two people standing beside one another). The Wii has attracted new buyers with it's controllers, and has therefore not needed to be much more powerful than a Gamecube (my Mum doesn't care about specular effects or shadow detail because the Wii is the first games system she's had any fun on). It's priced right in the 'I played on one at a party last week and now I'm going to impulse-buy' price bracket too, which PS3 isn't.
Register
Why the Wii is winning
Firstly, this who thing about what generation the Wii is, it's definitely latest generation. The term 'generation' was only bandied about with games consoles when the PS2 and XBOX were on their way. The PlayStation had created a massive and major new market for gaming, with less tech savvy people knowing about it - gaming became cool, and everyone was anxious to see what was coming next, so the term 'next gen consoles' came about.
Nintendo have always been out of sync with XBOX and PlayStation lifecycle, hence the Wii's excuse for not competing like-for-like with them. The Wii was initially called Revolution (a name which holds true I think), but I believe they wanted to distance it away from any 360/Revolution comparisons and opt for a distinct group or family orientated image (Wii as in we and ii as in two people standing beside one another). The Wii has attracted new buyers with it's controllers, and has therefore not needed to be much more powerful than a Gamecube (my Mum doesn't care about specular effects or shadow detail because the Wii is the first games system she's had any fun on). It's priced right in the 'I played on one at a party last week and now I'm going to impulse-buy' price bracket too, which PS3 isn't.