I've never seen anyone give anyone an odd look for playing a handheld system in public. 99.9% of the "public" don't give a crap what anyone else is doing in public as long as it's legal. Or weed.

Ther's a guy at my job who plays his 3DS when he's on break and EVERYONE at my job thinks he weird, immature, and lame for it, whenever I see some man in public playing one with my friends they all clown him, when I was in highschool and people played handhelds they got clowned for it. Maybe we're just living in two very different areas of the US, but where I'm from and been playing a handheld in chidish = yikes. 

I've been thinking of buying a 3DS. I'm old and I definitely will not play it outside. I'm bringing it to my work office only, hahaha. But yea, OP is on point.

Here! why not?  only think i dont admit at the first date is that i cry allmost every weekend in the train after my team lost again.

women dont like football fans...

I kind of agree. I personally play my handhelds wherever, without giving two shits but I do see your point,

I've never had any qualms about being open about being into gaming. It's never been an issue even on a first date.

It's also not that women don't like football (or in my case soccer) fans, my wife (who is actually American) fell in love with the game after watching my local team win  play off final and now follows them as much as I do (this applies to any sport really). It's more women don't like something that overly dominates a man's life rather than what that thing actually is. Could be fishing, football, videogames, or whatever.

If 99% of your time is devoted to that single hobby, it can be very offputting to someone who might be interested in you as they'll think they can never become more important than that single pastime.

All the people saying how embarrassing it is for people of a certain age to play a handheld console in public - frankly I find it embarrassing that a certain age you actually still give a fuck that people will judge you for that. I work in finance and whip my Pikachu XL out all the time - people probably think
I'm sad but I have a blast playing my 3DS so I just don't give a fuck! I still have friends and drinking buddies so who cares.

I'm from the UK. I guess the stigma went a lot faster here than the US. What you are desribing sounds like something plucked out of the 80s.

Playing with a Vita in public is alot less embarassing then you might think. I'm taking the subway two times a day, Always playing games like Most Wanted, Killzone, Uncharted, Wipeout and etc. The graphics are so good that people are always watching me playing, some of them even ask me questions about how cool it is. School kids would look at it with a "whoa" kind of face. That's the daily routine with my Vita.

With my 3DS ? The complete opposite. So I don't bring it anymore.

You should encourage them to get one for themselves.