Most people think that if the Wii U doesn't have OMFG graphics, it will fail comparable to the next Playstation or Xbox, however, people need to understand that there can't be that much of an improvement, at most the PS3 and 360 will have comparable graphics to what our PC's (well, the good spec ones) are currently capable of, consoles are a step behind the consoles in graphical power and that's something that won't change any time soon. The WiiU needs to be powerful, I'll say 1.5 compared to the PS3 (the top console in terms of graphics atm), however still inferior to what our PC's "could" offer.
What I seriously hope that the WiiU will have is a good, free online service, maybe communities online and stuff like that, and make sure to always have a "Mute" button ready to use in online game modes, like CoD or similar. <.<"
The one thing that the 3DS currently lacks that would make me really love my 3DS is a decent OS (kinda like the 360 one, before it was filled with this metro crap, and without so much spam), and an even better internet service, swapnotes is fun, but it's more like an email, not really designed for 'on-the go chat', while you're playing other games, or the Friends thingy, Mii's are pretty ok, but friend codes sucks, it'd be great to be able to add people just by their nicknames and like instant chat with them (it already allows us to join an online game that a friend is playing, so that part is pretty good). Also, the OS is just secondary, obviously consoles don't really need an OS, but heck, currently everything has an OS, so if you make one, at least make a damn good one. xP
Edit: That was longer than I intended. .-."