Yes you are ignoring it, no they aren't two different markets entirely (they both appeal to Nintendo fans) and no the handheld market isn't dying.

The XBONE will be lucky to sell as much as the 3DS. The Wii U won't even reach GC levels. Does that mean a large chunk of the HC market is dying too? ;)

And?? didn´t Ps2 had the casual crowd too? remember Eye Toy? remember the amount of casual shovelware that the console had? and what? Do you think PS4 has no casuals on it watching interactive movies? The winner always takes the casual crowd, but the 7 milions that Twilight princess sold, the 11 milions of smash bros and the 20 milions of mario galaxy were not from soccer moms and granmathers you know?

Wii existed, and wii WON, get over it.

They are different but the same people buy both devices. It is dying and smartphones/tablets are the cause.

Not as "iconic" because they don't have as many icons. Everyone in the developed world has heard of Mario and Zelda. Only gamers know about Nathan Drake and Ratchet&Clank.

But Playstation is undoubtedly regarded as the dominant force in console gaming by pretty much everyone at this point. When you have 4 successful consoles in a row, people take notice.

It's funny how people repeat that. Yet they refuse to believe that home console is dead in japan

I do prefer bacon....

It's "icons vs popular" , though.

It's hard to be impartial when I can only speak from my own pov. What would be better? Flipping a coin?

Huh? You actually think that bothers me? Of course........ it existed and a nintendo console actually sold well. I applaud nintendo for it but i doubt that it will ever replicate that kind of sales with a "console".  

There's a difference between the unknowing casuals and core gamers. The PS2 captured the core gamers. The wii captured the attention of housewifes looking for something fun the family can do together and lots of children. There's nothing wrong with that but I don't see any point make it out to be something it's not. 

Anyways, I said my piece on this. If you want to keep debating about why playstation is more iconic than nintendo with me, I'll be around. 

Pretty much this. I don't think their iconic characters fully brought the massess to the Wii. It was the nunchuk motion controllers that mostly did.

Going back at the topic at hand, the title asks if Playstation is as iconic as Nintendo, and the OP does mention if Sony can go toe-to-toe against Nintendo in overall brand impact, not character relevance exclusively. And it's obvious that PlayStation is more iconic than Nintendo in that regard.

I just think it's hard to say what the majority of people think of as iconic in the video game industry.  I'm a little disappointed no one got my shades of grey joke...  :P

Oh. My. God!