But to answer the question directly no I don't think Japan is becoming an irrelevant market. Although I do think the market is going to be larger percentage of handheld, doesn't mean consoles will die out. Actually if you think about it, handhelds are cheaper and more accessible, thus giving it a much larger appeal than consoles ever could. Imagine the original GB releasing the same year as the PS2. I mean we are talking about sales above 150 million with that case.
But the slow sales right now don't make it irrelevant. Just means that they are in a small depression in the Japanese gaming market, which will easily be put down by this holiday season with such big titles coming out, the biggest one, at least on the console side, being Wii Fit.
The Japanese gaming market is still one of the biggest markets out there and has a lot in it, including high software oppotunities. Not to mention taking Japan is always good becuase the majority of top video game publishers are based in Japan.
