Actually I think you just made a really relevant point, even though you may be wrong.  Americans defintely DO like their fast food joints better than grocery or resturant cooking.

You need to understand how things were in the past.  Before home consoles got big nobody thought people would give up the luxury of the arcade environment/experience for a system that you just slouch down in your couch to play without any of that arcade environment allure (lights, music, noises, happy excited crowds, etc.).

But you know what got the home consoles to sell?... Portability.  Videogame entertainment right in your own home.  You lose all the glamour (resturants/groceries) but the portability is what short sighted users want.  The same thing will soon be happening with the new round of portables (smart phones and handhelds) Vs the old round of portables (home consoles).

No one ever thinks of home consoles as being portable, but at one time that was their allure.  Portable because it was always with you, compared to the older tech at the time (arcades).

I agree,but I don't understand why the article compares apple to nintendo. There not the same type of company. Is there really that much of a market for games on smartphone's? I know I would'nt want to play some RPG are something like that,for hours on end with a smartphone. It's just not pratical in my opinion,but again why make the comparison between the 2.

I pre-ordered the 3DS and my initial POV on the unit has been nothing but positive, but i still have to question whether there is any legitimate growth to be found in the dedicated handheld gaming segment or whether it will even be able to maintain the same consumers who were former customers.

There wasn't a single game in the initial line up that I'd pay $40 for. Recognize that many of those titles sold at that price were purchased simply because of that age old "new console phenomenon" that inspires owners of a brand new device to buy really mediocre games they wouldn't look twice at a year into the console development cycle, just to have something to play on their new toy.

Perhaps the biggest question is whether the software being sold is actually worth $40 per title in the days where major publishers are now releasing smartphone developed versions of their main IPs  at a fraction of the cost. For those who don't have an ear to the ground, the days where free and $.99 apps developed on a shoestring budget were the only options on smartphones is already over.

"I like buttons", "touch screen controls are terrible", "I like physical games", "I only play Nintendo games" while legitimate opinions, simply don't apply to the average user, who in all likelihood sees minimal beneift of a dedicated gaming handheld if they already carry a smartphone.

This is a comforting thought, but it's almost exactly the same thing that people said about the DS and Wii so I'm going to dismiss it out of hand.

What is that writer's problem?

Is he butthurt because Nintendo doesn't go in the same anti-customer direction that the industry does?

We have been reading to this "iOS will take over the gaming world" discourse since late 2008, and still, no real competition from it has been seen. The sales of most celphone games are mediocre (besides Angry Birds), and nowhere near of making a profit. Analyst tend to underestimate the gamers audience, who wants a GAMING DEVICE. 

Again, the only hole in this argument is content. If the dedicated handhelds draw the right games, they can make non-consumers (who would prefer to have just a smartphone) into consumers.

Now this makes it an uphill battle to be certain, but Nintendo's got the capability to make consumers out of non-consumers if anyone does

Hell, if it weren't for Nintendo, this whole argument wouldn't exist, and the whole market would've defaulted to non-dedicated platforms decades ago

yea,that's the way I see it. again,why compare the 2?

Its as simple as this I don't buy an Iphone to get angry birds, I get angry birds cause  I already have an Iphone so why not. With the 3ds, I buy a 3ds cause I want to get the zelda or mario, not because I already have a 3ds  so why not buy those games.

I think this is a very good argument, and it's plain simple too.  The platform that these games are coming out on are built for reasons other than gaming.  The primary reason is communication.

I guess the problem is this though.  Since communication is such a primary necessity for all human beings, then all human beings will probably own these phones that ineviatble have "general computing device" as their secondary function.  That includes games and all these other apps that are half baked versions of their fully formed brothers (ie Word on an iphone will never be as good as it is on Desktop, and same for games)...

So, maybe people will find that they are satisfied enough with the half baked apps, rather than their full versions that can only be fulfilled on specialized devices for each of them.  They have one device that does everything only so-so rather than a hectic multitude of devices that do their own specialized thing great.

If customers want the former then yes, gaming on specialized devices like the 3DS or home consoles will start to fade away inevitably.