April 2012 NPD 360 HW 236k, PS3 175k, Wii 91k

[VGKing]

Soundwave said:

It looks like we're seeing almost a full-on collapse of the traditional US handheld gaming market.

Nintendo had a monstrous holiday season, but that's sorta like a person making a fortune on green t-shirts on St. Patrick's Day ... what about the rest of the year?

I'm beginning to think a 3DS revision may have to be much bolder, perhaps even almost like a platform re-launch with much more emphasis on digital downloads.

Vita already at sub-100k in just its second month on market is a disaster bordering on Dreamcast levels.

Both Nintendo and Sony may also have to accept the cold ... hard ... truth ... that a handheld gaming platform as is is going to have a hard time surviving admist year iPad/iPhone/Android upgrades, but may be facing an impossible task when the pricing structure remains $39.99 a pop for new games. Even $29.99 might be pushing it.

Most people have a dusty back catalog of several PS3/360/Wii games sitting at home that they haven't even played enough of yet, not very many people need to be playing 1-2+ hours on the go as well. That's where $1-$5 iPhone/iPad games are making a killing ... yes there's no d-pad or buttons... but who cares. It serves it's purpose, just like no one complains about a hamburger joint not having steak + salad + wine on the menu. 

I'd compare it more to the 3DS pre-price cut.

Worst care scenario with 3DS and Vita, we'll have Sony and Nintendo doing yearly system updates like Lite, XL, Slim...etc....just to stay competitive with Apple products out there. I wouldn't mind as long as the changes are purely cosmetic.