I read the article and, although I don't agree entirely, I think he made some good points. Much of Nintendo success with handhelds came from marketing them for kids and casual players. However, I am not convinced that this public will be willing to pay a high price for the 3DS at launch. Casuals will not surrender to an impulse purchase at this price point whereas many parents will not be able to afford to buy one unit to each kid. As a matter of fact, based on price and launch lineup, it seems to me the 3DS is aimed at hardcore gamers, the same public the PSP tried to grab. 

Hardcore games need more attention and free time than most situations a portable is played. Personally, I prefer to sit on my chair in front of my TV set to play a hardcore game and, as far as I know, my preference is shared by many if not most players. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why the PSP, which was released as a hardcore machine, was never as successful as Sony wished. Therefore, I wonder the wisdom of going after this niche market instead of focusing in kids plus casual players, which are most of the DS customer base nowadays.

Hopefully I am wrong. However, it is very possible the 3DS will mirror the PSP. It would be very successful in the launch, as many early adopters would buy for the novelty, but then it would fail to reproduce the successful story of its predecessor.

Are you kidding me this shit has 3D, it will sell because its 3D and your not cool if you like don't have 3D gaming portable device. 

Peer pressure of being fashionable and cool will sell the 3DS.

250-300 for something no one else is offering (at least not all in one product) vs 200-1000 for something every smartphone and pda maker is mimicing, surpasing and selling for less.

'And those Blue Ocean lapsed- or non-gamers? They’re the same people who only have interest in 3D when it’s a marquee event – like an Avatar. So far, there’s nothing on the radar for the 3DS software lineup that’s likely to lure that demographic.'

Lalw. Is he serious?

I must've imagined seeing Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Nintendogs and Professor Layton announced for 3DS then. All of those are casual-targeted multi-million sellers. Heck, Nintendogs for DS was the original game that started the whole blue ocean casual craze for Nintendo.

And that's not even mentoning the tons of 3rd party stuff coming out, targeted at casuals, like FIFA, Madden, The Sims, Deca Sports, Carnival Games, a LEGO game etcetera. The guy must not've noticed the lineup?

Its simple Nintendo knows that hardcore consumers will purchase the 3DS. They expect 4-million at launch month. I think once the novelty does ware off (2013) then Nintendo just releases a newer model and cuts the price to its older model. Once the price falls to 180$ from 250$ or however expensive it launches at suddenly the casuals will flock to the console.

I think Nintendo is making a clear move to recapture the hardcore market with the 3DS. After all the hardcore market will sell alot more software in the beginning where as the casual will not. If Nintendo wants to ship 15-million software within a month they need the hardcore demographic.

Not to mention if the hardcore demographic buy the hardcore third party software it will help Nintendo in marketing its next home console. I think the 3DS is Nintendo trying to regain third party support for their next home platform. Also regaining hardcore support for that next platform is probubly also a priority for Nintendo.

The fact that there are several pocket computer platforms emerging and not just one makes it more dangerous for Nintendo, not less.

It won't be too long before every phone and every media player is a gaming platform with easy access to a wide variety of cheap game titles and other entertainment. Nintendo has to keep coming up with compelling reasons why folks should not play with their pocket computer, and instead carry a game console around with them, too. There are different conditions in play in the mobile space, so don't expect the same dynamic to form as there is between PC and home console.

I'm with Monteblanco. The biggest danger is that Nintendo will secure the gaming enthusiast upmarket and lose everybody else. The fact that the 3DS is launching at such a steep price raises my concern.

On the bright side, there's a decent amount of money to be made serving the enthusiasts if you can manage it right.

I'M CALLING IT NOW!!!

3DS the best selling videogame sistem of all time, at least 180 Million!!!