The grudges for the system are for the reasons:
1. Killed the PSP in the US, a reason lots of games are No Export for You (even though you can import them
2. Ahem, Disney Channel games in the DS? PSP only got one.
1. DS simply had a larger demand than the PSP. It's a fact. You can't change that. But even if it did sold more, PSP did really well on its own. If the DS sold more, then it's not Nintendo's fault. It means Sony needs to step their game up (like in those commercials :laugh
.
2. Disney games and kids games in general achieve better sales on the DS (which brings me back to point #1) and the DS is much cheaper and much less fragile than the PSP, so most parents are gonna buy a DS for their kids for those reasons.
Every system has its exclusives, including third-party games. If you're a gamer and not a Sony fanboy, you'd play that game regardless of what system it's on.
At this rate both of them are going to get killed by Mobile Phone Gaming and that makes me rather sad inside.
I agree with you only on one point. Mobile gaming is the **** .
Are you kidding me? Smartphone games and gaming handhelds are not in the same market. Sure the games are cheaper, but the quality isn't better. I'd rather play a remake of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or Starfox 64 than a mediocre microgame like Angry Birds. Seriously, I don't understand why that game is so fucking popular. I've played it and it's NOT THAT GOOD.
The iPhone games are mostly budget minigames that are only for people who play quickly on the bus or train before they go to work, not gamers who want an awesome handheld game. At least the 3DS and Vita WILL get more and better games in the future and I have no doubt that they'll follow the footsteps of their predecessors. iPhone has a plethora of them and barely a handful of good ones. Games cost more on handhelds, but you get what you pay for.
And another thing, smartphones like the iPhone and Android only rely on a touchscreen and that's not enough to render the handheld market obsolete. A lot of gamers prefer both a touchscreen AND buttons to play games. Not to mention there are certain genres where a touchscreen alone just isn't gonna work. Could you imagine playing fighting games on that thing? Look at the iPhone version of Street Fighter IV. That game plays like crap compared to the 3DS version, and I don't think the 3DS version is that great! It even plays like crap compared to other portable fighting games like Ultimate Mortal Kombat on the DS.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play had the potential to remedy this problem, but it wasn't very successful. If it was, other companies including Apple would try to copy it and MAYBE I would believe smartphones are killing handhelds.
Also, you get a physical copy of a game on a handheld whereas in a smartphone, you get a digital copy of a game, which brings up another problem. For one, when you buy a game for a handheld and it turns out crap, you can sell it back (GameStop, eBay, whatever). Or you could get that same game from GameFly and send it back to them. But what about when you download a game? If you buy a crappy game, you can delete it, but you can't sell it back. Of course you can also download a game for free, but then there's the whole anti-piracy thing, but that's beside the point.
And another good thing about a physical copy of a game is that they come with an instruction manual, so it's nice to have it on your hand while playing a game at the same time.
When it comes to handhelds, gaming is the primary focus, hence why games play better than they do on mobile phones. iPhone and Android, on the other hand, focus more on web browsing, listening to music, watching videos, and of course PHONES. The games feature is just a little extra.
Besides, Nintendo and Sony have enough big franchises to keep all their systems alive.