Is Wii U Next Gen?

I've heard this so many times since Wii U has launched. If you search Wii U on Google you will find this question being asked and discussed over and over again. This is such an easy question to answer.

Question: Is the Wii U next gen?
Answer: Yes!

Here's the thing the term "next generation" has nothing to do with a systems power. The word Generation refers to a time span, usually associated to people. Here's an example, My father is from a previous generation than me. Since he was born before me he's from a different generation.

Since the Wii came out in 2006 (around the time of 360 and ps3) and Wii U was released in 2012 (around same time as ps4 and xbone will release) they are obviously from different generations. The internal pieces and specs of the machine have nothing to do with a game systems generation!

Yes you can say that the Wii U has closer specs to the PS3 and 360(even though that's not entirely true).  You can not argue if Nintendo's Wii U is next generation.