I think you are working from a wrong assumption. I don't think it is as simple to say Nintendo = 2D fanatics; MS and Sony = 3D devotees. Also, you are putting the start date of the console war with the PS2/N64/Gamecube era, which is a common mistake for anyone to make regarding their relative age as the majority. I make it all the time assuming most here grew up playing Duckhunt and Super Mario Bros. after our big brother put down the controller.
Many of us, including myself, who were aged 12-16 in 1996 grew up from the NES to the SNES to the PS1 to the N64 to the PS2 and on. There are many of us who transitioned from 2D to 3D, look back once in a while to play an old school game like Mario Galaxy or New Super Mario Bros. We could care less either way so long as the focus is on the gameplay; not on the graphics at the expense of the gameplay.
Basically, once the 3DS hits the shelves in Spring 2011 it will garner a media fervor mainly concerning how a small Japanese video game corporation can create a glassless 3D experience without creating a 3D television. There will be comparisons to Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and the like highlighting how if a video game company can do it, then why are you guys charging $3000 for a 3D television?
I don't think there will be much thunder left to steal once the 3DS hits. The PSP2 will further confirm the theory that a late entry into a video game console generation correlates with lower lifetime sales.
I say correlate and not cause for the good reason to not sound like a conspiracy theorist where correlation = causation. Entry price, initial software library, and exclusives defining the experience have just as much an effect on the outcome for any console in any generation as does the gimmick power of 3D or graphics processing capability.
