Will Wright calls Wii "the only next gen system".

Star designer Will Wright (´Spore´, ´The Sims´) has called Wii "the only next gen system". Speaking to The Guardian, the designer said:

Somebody asked me what I thought next generation meant and what about the PlayStation 3 was next generation. The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic. In some sense I see the Wii as the most significant thing that's happened, at least on the console side, in quite a while.

Wright is not the first designer to make this point. In August last year, American McGee said the same to CVG:

The only truly next-gen console out there is the Wii. Everything else is just a video card and processor upgrade. (...) I sense that Nintendo is going to capture the hearts of gamers while Microsoft and Sony stab each other in the neck for market domination. Nintendo is focused on innovation and games. The other guys are focused on making money.

Slightly off-topic, but here´s some exclusive information while we are on the subject of Will Wright: ´Spore´ has finally been given an internal launch date: it is coming in early May 2008.