which makes the "nintendo handheld killer" topic all the more laughable.

Its nintendo that changed their product design to try and take a peice of the mobile market pie (wii u tablet), not the other way around.

Who needs stuff like that? I rigged up my own handheld device last night.

iPhone 4S + Wiimote + Tape.


It actually held the iPhone so I only needed to keep hold of the Wiimote, lol. Been playing a shit load of Phantasy Star IV.

You don't understand what I've said. You gave numbers of phones sold and compare them to the number of consoles sold assuming that every single phone is a gaming console. That's false. There are millions of people who bought these phones yet will never use them for gaming, while every single handheld will be used for gaming, so you can't compare these numbers.

And no, I do not discredit mobile gaming. It's just that unlike you I don't see it as being in the same market as handhelds. Mobile gaming is not on par with handheld gaming, it is far inferior and it creates a different market for people with lower expectations and demands. I have no problem with you claiming they are gaming platforms. PS4 and 3DS are both gaming platforms yet nobody claims one is the king of the other one.

The problem with mobile gaming doesn't lay with the GPU, but the controls. Just one touchscreen and no buttons limits the gameplay so much, that it can't come close to genuine gaming experience that we are used to on consoles. This control method limits what can be done, limits the games and limits the whole experience. I mean, just look at the games that you gave links to and compare that to what we get on 3DS or Vita. If you think that's on par - good for you, but accept the fact that other people are a tad harder to satisfy. For me games that you may get on mobiles are just silly time-eaters, not games per se. The experience is so shallow that the only thing it offers is to while away the time when you are bored and waiting for something (on a train or whatever). On the other hand I don't play console games just when I'm bored and have nothing better to do. They often are "the thing" to do.

Also, there is nothing hypocritical in wanting my platform of choice that gives me the experience I want to succeed. If another inferior experience is threatening it, I want it to fail. It has happened numerous times that inferior products managed to eliminate far better ones, so it's only natural and there is nothing hypocritial about it. I want to play real engrossing games with normal controls and I'm just not satisfied with Angry Birds, Line Jelly or Fruit Ninja. To me handheld gaming and mobile gaming are two different markets, but unfortunately one is eating into the other one. As I've said - for me mobile gaming will start competing with handhelds the moment when SteamOS enters tablets that are capable of showing graphics on PS3 or maybe Wii U level. That can actually kill both handhelds and hurt Apple like hell.

Say It LOUD!!
Tell 'Em AGAIN!!
PREACH Brother PREACH!!!

It's like you took this right out of my own mind!!
Underestimating Nintendo is a fool's errand & so many love to play the fool.

Sony thought they were taking portable gaming out of the "handheld gaming ghetto" 8 years ago.
Today they have essentially waved the white flag on their portable endeavors...
...while Nintendo's still here making a killing with their handhelds like always.

This is the gamemaker's field & Nintendo's the Master Gamemaker.
Many shall enter. Only one shall remain.
John Lucas

To knock Nintendo out of the market they would need to have a batter control scheme.

Doesn't matter what ONE phone looks like. It could look exactly like the PSVita or the 3DS or be better than both in looks and or control, yet it still wouldn't beat the 3DS.

It would only be ONE phone. It's like the move or kinect. They didnt' get developer support because they were extra periphials and not pack ins. The same would be of this phone. It's only one phone in a market of 100's.

Why would a developer put millions into developing titles for 1% of the market, and considering that phone as stated before will be outdated and consumers will be upgrading in a year anyway.

Phone games will always be made so that they can be played one EVERY SINGLE PHONE available. (well not every phone, all touch screen phones) They will not deviate from that.

It still doesn't feature any Nintendo IPs, or emulate the 3DS, so I'm assuming Nintendo is safe.

Even if every game ever released up to this date was ported to the phone, I still don't think it would win.

Too many developers I believe would be too scared of supporting the device.  What happens in 1 year time when people want to upgrade their phone?  Will their new phone be of this same type that the game you been developing for a year they will buy?  or will by the time your game is done and getting released they will all have moved on to new phones that can't play your game?

Thus I see no developers jumping seriously on to any such phone, and thus even if the consumer does stay with this phone, there will be no new software and thus they move onto a new phone.

untill the tablets come bundled with that stuff or have buttons themselves, it's not a threat.

The problem with comparing smartphones with 3DS is the same as comparing an apple to a banana.

One is a phone. It is needed by most people in the world. It is used to make calls, send messages, browse the internet and many other things. One of them being gaming. But it's not a dedicated handheld gaming device. You don't buy a smartphone to play the games it comes with. you buy it to use it as a phone and maybe play a game or two.

The 3DS is a gaming device. It's made to play games, you can also browse the internet and do other things but it's not it's main function. You buy it to play games.

So in the end you can't really compare them! You can't compare the sales of a phone with the sales of a gaming machine! The phone is obviously going to win as it is more vital in everyone's life while the gaming device is just part of a hobby.

That is why it is unnecesary to make a smartphone that has buttons. People who game on it don't give a damn about having buttons as they don't really game that much to begin with. They will buy it... because it's also a phone. Just by adding buttons to it, doesn't mean you are making it a handheld gaming device... It's still a phone.

I think this is analagous to the folowing comparison of  PC vs. Consoles. PC's can play games, and hundreds of more people have more PC's than they have consoles. Also, more people play games on PC's (Facebook games) and more revenue is made off of games so consoles will die. The logic does not work.