I like the article calls the 3DS just a 3D version of the DS. I'm sure Nintendo just loves that.

Anyway, mobile gaming is NOT the next big thing. Most people only buy the games on their phone because they're bored waiting somewhere, and don't really play it otherwise. People who bought the actual gaming handhelds go out of their way to play it and the fact that they can move around with it is a plus. They should ask how many people actually keep playing the mobile games on a consistent basis rather than just focusing on sales. Because the sales will die down, and then there will be wasted investments based on what 50+ execs say who think they know what they're talking about when it comes to the gaming industry.

http://www.seedplanning.co.jp/press/2011/2011090801.html
Here are some figures provided by Seed Planning, Inc.
The Japanese smartphone software market was worth 8.5 billion yen in 2010. In five years, it is projected to increase by 30 times to 255.0 billion yen.

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201101/05037551.html
For comparison, the Japanese home console and handheld software market was worth 318.1 billion yen in 2010.

You are probably right but considering Reuters is an international news agency and they did not specify in the article that they were only refering to Japanese sales. It really shows flaws in their article, especially when they say 14-million units will be sold they are refering to global sales and obviously not just Japanese.

It almost appears as if Reuters was paid off to say what they said. The article makes very little business sense and is largely a biased peice of crap. Coloring the 3DS as a dead peice of tech to be replaced by smart phones is really irrational. DS and PSP did fine against phones all this time and DS continues to do fine. Software on handheld devices have made more profit then their smart phone counter parts.

Lets face it, yes Nintendo is in real danger if they don't act fast. But smart phones aren't going to kill 3DS infact 3DS is doing alright its just not as big as DS was. People from Reuters and other news agency lack a basic understanding of the industry, consoles don't always shatter 140-million units. Infact the majority of the time its around 30-40 million units. This doesn;t indicate Nintendo is dead or anywhere near they just aren't going to be as profitable this generation if they don't take drastic measures. Which is evidently exactly what they are doing!

'In Japan, 3DS sales leaped to more than 200,000 units in the week of the price cut, but swiftly fell back to about 55,000 units'. You must have missed it. I even commented on that sentence in my comments after the article.

But I agree the article doesn't make much sense.

Can't we atleast wait until after the holiday to proclaim that Nintendo is gone and forgotten!?

So it is just their blind insistence that Nintendo piss all of its long-term viability away in favor of short term gains in the phone market?

These people should have to pass a test on the industry they're getting into before they're allowed to invest in it

These guys are foolz I tell you lol.

Slow start doesn't mean its doomed. Wait till after it's first holiday.

The whole slidepad add-on accessory is a Big F U to early adopters. It looks very awkward to use and it'll make the 3DS massive and unpocketable. Nintendo should have included dual analogs right form the beginning or not included them at all. I'm really disappointed in Nintendo. I regret having bought the 3DS last month.

Mobile gaming can't adequately replace dedicated game handhelds sure. But the mass market doesn't care about portable gaming enough to want to invest on a dedicated gaming device and $40 a pop on games. When I'm out and about, I don`t even bother taking my 3DS, DS or PSP with me. If I need to kill time, I just surf the internet on my Android phone or play games on it (right now I'm rocking Symphony of Eternity, a 16-bit era RPG for Android). My 3DS/DS/PSP stay at home and I play them at home.

Dedicated gaming handhelds are between a rock and a hard place in the west. On the go, carrying an extra bulky device around in addition to your phone is an inconvenience. And at home, most people would prefer to play on their home consoles than on portables (that's not true with me and many other gamers but this seems to be the case with the majority).

I bought a 3DS becaue I actually prefer gaming on a handheld than on a home console, I figured that it wouldn't get another price cut anytime soon and I had faith that Nintendo would deliver on the games front (right now I have only two 3DS games and these are the only two 3DS games I want to play. But in the near future more will come out.) After this whole dual analog BS though, I'm quite pissed. That slider add-on accessory doesn't look very comfortable. And if I actually do want to take my 3DS on the go, I'll need to put it in a bag because that monstrosity will be too big to fit in your pocket with the add-on.

Next time I'm just going to avoid being an early adopter. It sucks (that means I'm not going to jump on the PS Vita right away). I had figured that Nintndo would release a redesign in the future. But not with an extra slider pad. I thought it would have just had better battery life and maybe a slimmer redesign or something.

This joke never gets old: