I'm starting to hear a reoccuring theme of a failing 3DS attributed to phone games in android and iphone.   Personally I do not own a modern smart phone yet and I have no inclination to purchase a 3DS.  It just looks like a clunky, under supported, platform that has dated tech (especially online).   I have owned every nintendo handheld since original gameboy and I have always been attracted to handhelds and I have played plenty of phone games, all of which I would not call proper games.  I get concerned that the influx of articles overrating phone games will force the market into something that it shouldn't do.

It comes down to carrying more devices on your person. The 3DS is also grossly under-supported, and the support it does have are with $40 titles. Which I would rather buy a few XBLA games for that price. Kids these days want a damn iPod or an iPad, not a DS. If you're going to throw a bunch of money in a device in 2011, it better be more capable than playing overpriced videogames that rarely come out.

People's idea of what a game should cost has changed in the mobile market but not everyone got the memo. Low production cost, low profit expectations, and digital distributor mean games can be sold cheaply and made quickly. Its not entirely unless the pre-NES era of games in that way. So the question is when you have meaty consoles for your big budget thing and iWhatever and 1-10 dollar games for your bite sized mobile market, where does that leave handheld games? You're left in a situation where devs would make more profit on a lower cost iPad game or a higher budget console game. So the middle just sort of hovers there.

For me the problem is purely with lack of titles. I would SOOO have bought the 3DS at launch (even if the 3D doesn't work on me) if Mario kart, zelda (a new one), fzero (a new one), star fox (a new one), Kirby, some random puzzle games, and so on. Also, I would like to se a funtioning online market for new titles, for maybe a dollar or so. 
 
I won't buy the WiiU for the same reason I wont buy a 3DS, the value for gimmicks are not  enough.
 
I believe that Apple are supporting their developers more than Nintendo, maybe that has something to do with it...

I own a 3DS and several smartphones.

I don't play games on any of them.

Most hardcore players prefer a dedicated handheld gaming system, but casual players probably prefer smart phones more nowadays.

@Hailinel said:

@Rolyatkcinmai Several smart phones? Why more than one?

One for personal use, one for work, and since I replace my personal one every few months I have a bunch of old ones laying around.

I dont own a phone (true) and i still dont wanna buy the 3DS just yet, need to see a good rpg game first for that plataform; a pokeman or dragon quest will do the work.

I would never attribute the failure of the 3DS to smartphones. I'd definitely chalk it up to an absolutely horrible launch library (there's absolute piss-all out for it other than OoT 3D that anyone I've talked to is interested in), the DS library is still strong and the price was a bit steep.

@Hailinel said:

@Rolyatkcinmai Every few months? I really don't see the benefit to switching phones that often.

A better one comes out than the one I have. I want it.

iOS products and smartphones do so much more than play games. AND games are like .99 cents. They aren't as fleshed out. . . but my question is who cares?
 
To me, portable gaming isn't supposed to be "epic." It's supposed to be a quick little diversion. Isn't that why Nintendo packaged Tetris with the original Game Boy to begin with? Maybe not. I don't know.

I've got a phone that'll play every Nintendo game made to the N64 era- it's fucking rad. There's not a chance in hell I'll be buying a 3ds before Luigi's Mansion 2 comes out.

It boils down to the simplest of facts. Everyone is always carrying around their iPhone/Android phone and games on these devices are far cheaper, disposable and readily available.

I think that more people are playing games on phones because the audience is bigger,  people who dont really play games can play them when in line at the grocery store; but people who have been gaming (imo) are still buying handhelds for the meatier experiences, thats how it is with the people i know.  So i agree fully that phones are given too much credit in the sales, or lack there of, for the 3ds or any other handheld

I only play casual games when I'm on the road, so my android phone is a perfect fit. I can't enjoy playing the engrossing OoT on the road, with it being interupted every 15 minutes, it's just kind of dumb to play that in short bursts, but playing Peggle on my phone is a great fit for portable gaming, and it was way cheaper than the DS version of peggle. So I think, when it comes to portable gaming, IOS and android make so much more sense, and are a better choice. Nintendo really relied on it's own ego this launch, somehow they thought people were going to buy the 3DS because of Street fighter and ridge racer? I can't see why Nintendo thought this was going to go over well, and this price cut won't do anything for me, because now I just see a almost 200$ device with no game support, and even by the end of the year looks lacking, with MGS pushed to 2012. So i'm going to wait until Nintendo is serious about their platform before I even consider the purchase. Same with the PSV. 

It comes down to carrying more devices on your person. The 3DS is also grossly under-supported, and the support it does have are with $40 titles. Which I would rather buy a few XBLA games for that price. Kids these days want a damn iPod or an iPad, not a DS. If you're going to throw a bunch of money in a device in 2011, it better be more capable than playing overpriced videogames that rarely come out.

In a lot (not all coverage) of this issue I feel like people have been ignoring the role of parents in all of this.  The fact of the matter is that for someone like me with  kids I can't easily justify  picking up 1 or two of these for my kids at the current price point let alone one for myself and perhaps the Mrs. especially after having dropped cash on the DS Lite or DS-i in the not too distant past especially with the way the economy is looking.  It's just a bad value IMHO and it's not like I'm buying smartphones for the kids instead.  Grandparents are probably a little gunshy too in wanting to give out a gift like that too.
 
How big of a market do I represent verses the enthusiast crowd?  I'm not sure but I think it's a bigger difference than is reflected in the enthusiast press about the 3DS.