Er, no, the 3DS is pretty plainly going for hardcore adoption upfront.  That's why stuff like SSF4 is being pushed so hard at launch, and the heavy emphasis on traditional gaming 3rd party games in general (to build a strong market for those games early on)... Nintendo wants 3DS to take both the casuals who got a DS and the core who got a PSP.  It's a different strategy than they tried with DS/Wii upfront.

They're not only releasing SSF4. For their release they have listed Nintendogs, Lego  StarWars and The Sims 3.

Also if they're  targeting both the casuals and the core then it sounds like you agree with me.

I never said they were only releasing SSF4, I said they're pushing it harder than usual and that marks a bit of shift from their DS/Wii strategy (which was build userbase as fast as possible by going after the mainstream, and generally ignore 3rd parties).  The 3DS launch lineup feels more like a PlayStation launch than a Nintendo system in terms of what's lined up.

And hitting both markets wouldn't be agreeing with you, unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "mass market".  The DS and Wii were launched as mass market machines, 3DS is more of a catch all in terms of market, but with a stronger upfront push into core games.  It's really more like something along the line of PS2.

I'd also say NGP has it's eye set on more than just the core... hence Android and PS Suite marketplaces, the emphasis on new interfaces as well as the more diversified 1st party lineup they showed (including very iOS-ish casualfare like Little Deviants or Smart As).

UGh, I didn't want this to turn into an argument over definitions. lol.But basically I think that mass market includes both casual and core gamers. 

I still think that the NGP can be more successful then the 3DS while selling less hardware. It comes down to the strategy for each of the hardware.

I think that Nintendo just wants to sell 3DS hardware. If the average person only buys one game, then they just need to have a broad enough set of games at release.

The high price of the NGP and the type of games will likely attract hardcore gamer. Also by hardcore gamer I only mean someone who buys 3-4 games per year. SONY said they wanted to target hardcore gamers in a press release but I'm not sure how they define it. If it's a similar definition then right now they're withholding the price because they want to confirm which games they will have on release. Depending on the number and quality of the games, they might be more willing to sell the NGP at a subsidy. This would only work if their target audience is one that purchases several games.

Different strategy = different success criteria.

I believe in the long run, the NGP could pull a stronger battle. The '3D' fad might fade as new devices implement this technology.......or if Apple steals this idea. 

This is kind of a duh. In fact if apple made a handheld and followed this they could win too.I cant help but laugh at those that in this thread said NGP is going to just fail or those that said vice versa. Both the DS and the PSP are pretty good systems. They have both made a profit. Even though PSP is under half of what DS sold it did pretty good.

Lets face it, the PSP did not have one game that had huge world wide mass market appeal. While the DS had tons. The other huge difference is PSP was treated as a home console not a handheld in terms of games. If this holds true again it will be the same results. Though, it does look like Ninty is grabbing some very home console looking third party support too this go round.

I think Sony kinda lives and dies by its third party support. The PSP ended up with just enough of some of the third party games I wanted to play to make me finally choose to get one myself. Funny enough the leader of that is Square the same people who finally pushed me to get a PSOne and two.  I have never bought a Sony system for a Sony game. If Sony loses Square support and other JRPG's on the NGP thats the nail in the coffin for me, its also the biggest ninche they fill. I'd assume it would be pretty done period. Different picture for most people who buy a Nintendo handheld, or system period. Good third party support is just one hell of a bonus, but its Ninty's games  that tend to make them pick it up.

Im not even sure what market Ninty is going for with the 3DS. Looking at the line up I feel underwelmed atm  "except for Kid Icarus" and I have owned every Ninty console. Thats not a good thing. However its the same for NGP, but even less not a single one yet. Sure I see FF listed, 2D Mario and some others id want on 3DS, but no clue what they actually are atm and im not investing in my hopes.

All in all it is a toss up as to who will win in sells. Many things can go wrong for both sides, and many could go right.