But Android is also far and away the fastest growing handheld platform on the market, and establishing a presence here could be key to future success on these platforms. And if Sony can do all that without needing to release new hardware, then that's a pretty good strategy. 

Whether Sony can pull it off is something else, but I think the idea is sound none the less.

The idea was rumored since... I don't remember... 2008? When the whole topic of PS Phone has popped up. Well, good luck to Sony.

I think the PS Phone and PS Suite are pretty different though. I don't recall anyone predicting Sony would publish games outside their own hardware.

I do have hard time seeing the 3DS reach the same success as the DS, though whether that is due to the competition or simply faults with the 3DS is hard to pinpoint right now. But I do think it's likely that Nintendo will see reduced results this generation due to the competition.

Rol, what could be some of the biggest wrongdoings, in your opinion?...not releasing a 2D Mario for the 3DS, for example?

On the contrary, Sony just de-values PSP brand with that suicidal move. First they surrendered their mobile division (SE) to Google, and now it's SCE turn with announcemet of Google PlayStation. Amazing how much suicidal things could get while big corporation tries to run away from the 3DS dreadnought :)

I only doubt it because Sony went with 3G technology here, which is very slow. With many phones emerging with 4G, they're already making the NGS somewhat obsolete.

In regards to smartphones vs both NGS and 3DS, smartphones lag behind game depth. Sure, if you want to play simple games, they're great (minus for being a major battery drain), but if you want a game with depth, there's no competition against both the Sony and Nintendo portables.

I think Nintendo's biggest weak spot will be if people react poorly to the 3D graphics, and they've already planned for such issues with a 3D kill switch.

I think it'll come down to price really, especially as the world economies continue to falter.

You people are overestimating how much money is made on apps/games and howmuch money sony stands to make here.

Sony has absolutely zero content which will appeal to an "app store" like gaming mentality. Selling Ps1 and Ps2 games will not work. They have to start making games like Angry Birds...and even then, they stand to make a few dollars on them for every sale asuming that they know how to make good portable games which will sell (not something they showed with PSP).

Not to mention, if they are to start making casual portable games, why do they need a PSP2 at all and all the hardware losses that is going to bring? They can just release them on android devices, which sold 33 million units last year.

Nintendo doesn't need a "nintendo suite" platform on mobile phones as they will never sell their games outside a nintendo platform since they want you to buy their platforms as they sell it for profit. And since they sell their games for profit as well which are always in demand, you can't beat them really...

What about the PSP Minis?

This move is certainly an attempt by Sony to expand into another gaming market, but it doesn't look like an attack against Apple or Nintendo, either, maybe more against another company I won't name that could lose further ground in the phone market despite the already huge investments poured (and mostly lost, losing positions instead of gaining them, defeated even by newcomers) into it.