the success of the DS was never sustainable. it was inflated due to the influx of many casual gamers, which is why it sold over 150 million units. but the thing is, outside of the initial launch of the Game Boy and the DS, handhelds were never reliant on casual gamers. the PSP was never marketed towards casuals and it sold almost 70 million units. the GBA sold about 80 million units. and even with that initial influx, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, over a decade, sold about 118 million units. portables may never hit that 150 million mark ever again, but they don't have to in order to be successful. you may see a bigger software slide towards smartphone gaming, but until developers can prove that a sizable number of those gamers are willing to pay more than 10 bucks for a game, they will never ignore the tens of millions of potential customers that are accustomed to spending between 20-40 dollars for a game. gaming as a whole is still a niche market, portable gaming as well, but in the past, no one bothered looking at the large number of casual gamers out there (the ones playing Snake and Tetris and Bejeweled on their dumbphones for hours on end). now we are looking at those people and they far outnumber the people that are willing to purchase a portable console, but that has always been the case. i don't see the core handheld market going away anytime soon. 

As the App market grows at blinding speed and is so easy to use for customers its obvious that more 'casual' gamers would want to be part of the new thing especially when its so simple to use.

Nintendo really shot themselves in the foot by having such a long drawn out opening launch. The lack of sexy software coming out and SO MANY REMAKES of old games for full retail price I'm really not suprised the 3DS isnt selling.

This is what happens when you build a console on a gimmic and expect that to carry the console without any decent eshop or software.

Thanks to lack of 3DS software I started playing FarmVille, on my iPhone. That is the most heinous crime of all.

I really love these editorials guys. keep them up.

Nintendo is the new Sega. Its only a matter of time before they are software only.

I'm just not on-the-move enough for portable games. As a general rule, sit-down console or PC games are more complex, better-looking and generally more fun and lengthy. Add on the fact that I'd much rather look at a big, friendly screen than suffer neck strain looking down at something in my hands for a long period of time, and I doubt I'll ever buy a handheld gaming system. They just don't make sense for me.

By the end of March, Nintendo had sold 5.27 million units worldwide well looks like they hit that mark , because 3ds has sold 6 million according to the last report , world wide, -just a month shy of dses record , oh well ,

the games are coming=good sign @jetforcgemini, apple aint gonna do nothing ,but release countless ipads no one uses for games they use them for music ,

get a grip , ipad has no future in the gaming market , its only shoved a side as a after thought look at those games if its not a port of a 10 yr old-caugh gta 3 , game , its some little flemsy angry bird type game which you can play for free in the google chrome browser haha now i bet you feel ripped off even paying 2 dollars andchange for a free game !

sucks for ya, that will keep happening for as long as you support one of the most overrated companys in history of making companys, they are even behind mr coffee . im sure your aware of what that is ,