I think that without a doubt Apple will become the mass market gaming king with the iphone/ipod touch/whatever replaces both of them. Ironically Apple out casualed Nintendo, the current casual king.
I will admit the average Iphone game isn't great, though, to be fair, most DS games suck PRETTY damn hard too. After years on the market there are maybe 10 DS games worth a damn and so much shovelware that you could spend a year with a tractor working through it and still not be done. That goes more or less for the PSP as well. Nintendo and Sony toss crap into their console (that is barely functional outside just basic game playing in Nintendo's case) and ask for 30-40 dollars PER GAME.
That 30-40 dollar point is the key to why the DS and PSP will both fall to the ipod touch. The average game price on the ipod? 5-10 dollars. Even big event games never go above 20 bucks. That means its not just gamer kids and their parents who will shell out the money, but the parents might pick up a game or two as well. If its a 5 dollar Sodoku game or a 4 dollar Texas Holdem game suddenly you have a HUGE market of people who would never in their life buy a 40 dollar game for the DS.
That there are already event games like Metal Gear Solid Touch headed for the iphone only furthers the claim that it has a serious future in gaming. Its a little hidden add on to what people were already buying. There are far more ipods and iphones in the wild then DSes, and sooner or later the older ipods are turning into newer iphones or ipod touches.
Another big bonus for ipod gaming is free gameplay. I have a number of games like blackjack that are totally free with limited advertising. That means developers get paid, I get to play for free and everyone wins. That kind of free advertisement model would be absolutely impossible with traditional gaming systems particularly the DS.
Complain all you want about no buttons and low quality, but if the Wii shows anything its that limited buttons and low quality do NOT hurt casual appeal. The iphone isn't about winning over the hardcore halo gamers, its in getting your mom to download a crossword puzzle game on her iphone and play it while waiting at the doctors office. There are a hell of a lot more middle aged not yet gamers then there are teenagers who love core games (and unlike very expensive cartridges+retail boxes+manuals iphone games are almost pure profit).
Ironically, the iphone and especially the marginally more powerful ipod touch are better equiped for gaming then either the DS or the PSP. That is right, the ipod family has better graphics capability then either of the dedicated handhelds (especially the rather pathetic DS processor which is under 100 mhz). With a little experience you can bet the event games will look better then anything the DS OR the PSP has to offer. For example one see
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
