14 DAY TRIAL // One of Spore's team members at Maxis, Chris Hecker reckons that Nintendo's Wii is "severely underpowered," and he's not only talking about visuals. He also thinks that the Wii cannot process complicated AI, which is true, but Nintendo's plans with the machine didn't include this from the very beginning, thus it isn't a mistake on their behalf.
Hecker made his point by digging up quotes and specs lists found on websites from both Nintendo's rivals, Microsoft and Sony which make good tools for comparison. Apparently, Sony and Microsoft have a lot to brag about their consoles, the PS3 and the Xbox 360 respectively, while Nintendo's spokesmen resume to saying "they only want to make fun games."
If a person were faced with choosing one of the three machines, not knowing anything about them, that person may be influenced by what he/she reads on the Internet yet, not actually playing them may give a false impression. It is true that concerning processing speed, the Wii is no match for its rivals but in an article on IGN, Hecker is indeed quoted saying that the console is the equivalent of "two GameCubes stuck together with duct tape," which is a little going too far. The machine has clearly risen Nintendo's standards and don't tell me that people are just plain stupid buying it.
When they said they just wanted to make fun games, they weren't blowing their mouths. Nintendo has developed what is probably the most fun-to-play gaming system ever created so far, with an unique motion-sensitive control. Until another console outsells the Wii, I think it's safe to say that it isn't just two poor systems in one.