People are unrealistically expecting to be blown away with the future platforms just like with previous generations, they describe things that would cause manufacturing costs reach unreasonably high amounts.
Basically, people are demanding processing power that goes beyond that of a normal gaming PC rig but stays below a $400 price point.
I want to be clear that 4K video resolution is not a natural step for future gaming hardware, it's an expensive and unneeded addition that wouldn't add anything to the experience other than a number for bragging rights. 1080p already have more pixels than what we humanly can distinguish so there is no need to go anywhere above that for the average consumer.
I think that none of the future platforms will have a price tag above $400, and I believe that unless Nintendo stupidly thinks that PS360 are their main competitors, we won't be seeing any major differences between future cross platform games.
Sure numbers, just like in the past, will tell a different story but other than reading what is written on a spec sheet the general gaming public is going to have a hard time differentiating future multi platform games without side by side comparisons.
Nintendo has already stated that they are planning to have the Wii U as their main future platform intended for people that consider games as one of their hobbies.
Iwata mentioned that with the Wii they were able to expand the width of the gaming audience through having more games of the accessible type like the Wiisports/fit/play games for example, the downside to this was that such a market alone won't be any real source for financial profit in the long run as these people are very likely to move on.
He admits that with the Wii they created a split between the casual and core gamers and that they by creating a casual image will have a hard time getting back people who otherwise had Nintendo as their main brand.
While Wii does have many compelling titles that are geared towards the core audience to enjoy it falls short in many areas such as online, even fans of Nintendo usually have other platforms in their household along with their Wii to fully meet their gaming "needs".
Iwata wants to correct this problem with the 3DS and the Wii U, he says that changing a brand reputation is hard, but achievable.
He believes that getting better developer support and providing people with better online and deeper gaming experiences is going to be the new key to success this time.
The Wii U is a next gen console and Nintendo has no plans to go the Wii route again judging from their current statements about their performance on the home console market with the noticeably weaker Wii.
Iwata has been very clear about their efforts and goals, so in short I have no doubt that the Wii U is built with gamers in mind. And I hope Nintendo succeed with proving that this E3.
Also if the rumors are true then Nintendo is currently staying very close with third party developers optimizing the Wii U for future needs. Iwata has already mentioned that the Wii U will be 3DTV compatible for example, it's clear that they don't want another "HD" scenario again.
