what people seem to disregard is the fact that in the situations where nintendo has beaten sony, sony has had its products at prices that were far beyond the price range of nintendo's product :

psp $250 vs ds $150 or ps3 $600 vs wii $250

the upcoming battle between the 3ds and vita will be the first time a sony device competes at a similar price point since the ps2 vs gc era... not saying this is a foreshadowing of whats to come but that price is a big factor in this that people seem to overlook

Conservative does not have to mean non-aggressive, just that they're selling consoles the same way they've always sold consoles, which, i noted, is not a bad strategy, there's just nothing particularly new at play here

Nintendo's failures are unique because they are always self-imposed. Make GameCube games, get GameCube sales. Make NES/DS/Wii games, get NES/DS/Wii sales. I'm not of the extreme opinion of some hereabouts that these expanded market games are the only games Nintendo should make, and that there is a value in trying to reach the core gamer, but ultimately if Nintendo wants to win, they alone have the tools to do it, and these core gamer strategies should be supplementary to their primary efforts (which is why i'm more optimistic about Wii U than the Malstromites, as it shows an expanded market mindset just as much as it does a core one, and is not letting their desire to cater to the industry undermine it too much)

Which is not to discount Sony's efforts either. Even if Nintendo's head had been in the game for the GameCube generation, they still would have lost to the PS2 because it was perfectly positioned to own the market, but in Vita's case we've seen the limitations of the PSP strategy, and Nintendo knows what they must do to surpass the bar that Sony has set for themselves

What you call "right cards" I call them "all cards", simple as that. What more could do Sony now? They've just done everything they could, delivering a great machine even for the mass market. BUT this means, right now, all they need is a good support to suceed: if it doesn't come, Sony won't suceed.

What you call "bad launch" I call it "lack of balance": as you say 3DS is not perfect, actually I would like to know why you are attacking the FC system which has greatly improven (one code, imput one time, simple as that, and liked to out Club Nintendo account in case of broken console) or the battery, since it's something PSV won't shine either, and it deserved to start slowly. But all these problems can be solved and what Nintendo needs is exactly balance: in their line up, about the price (not depending on demand as of now) and in their multiple offerings (eshop, or online system).

As many said, now it's not Sony's turn to make right choices, but Nintendo's one to correct their bad choices.

I don't have a time machine, I would like one to skip my exams...but I know all you people acting like Vita is going to dominate don't understand how the market goes: who would have tought about 3DS failure at launch, after preordering records? Who would have tought about Nintendo's come back after GC era, with an overpriced console and doomed by the godly Sony? We can't predict the future either way, but, as I said, Nintendo has all the ability to come back when they want...while PSV has some big sellers but not a system seller as big as Mario Kart is. Story will tell who'll be the winner, right now I'm sure that Nintendo is lacking a balance for their console, and over 200 games are a good answer to start solving the problems.

you can't be aggressive with your hw, sw and pricing and be 'conservative'. that just makes no sense.

so far sony have done better than ninty in all areas.

hw: much better value for the price, very aggressive pricing here

region lock vs non region lock

better AR

NEW gameplay mechanics something the ds thrived on. something the psp lacked.

not sure what you mean by we are seeing the limitations of the psp strategy with vita, would love to hear you expand on that. Sony have done much much better than the psp. Very dev friendly, easy connectivity between home console, much better online, new gameplay possibilities not available elsewhere, much better use of game format, lots of NEW IP's, almost no ports (can think of sf vs tekken, not much else), dual analogs which will help a lot in FPS?tps (something that crippled the psp games in those genre), complimenting and combining with other mobile platforms through PS Suit etc.

I think many of you are downplaying what sony have done here and trying to cover up how bad ninty has done with but wait the giant is sleeping I promise scenario. admit it, ninty messed up. sony have done well so far. I fully expect the 3ds to outsell the psv but if you or ninty think it's gonna be the same as last gen you are in for a rude awakening. it's not the same strategy as the psp, it's very different and so far it has been down right perfect!

time will tell in which way sony will manage to ef up, but so far they have outperformed ninty in every way. it really is simple as that. and don't discount sony, though I don't think they won't win and all, they have not shown all their cards yet. Coming year or two will be very interesting in the handheld market

Conservative can have many different meanings. In this case Sony's playing by the book that they wrote, and aggressive pricing is merely part of that book (remember that the PS3 was "aggressively priced" in that they weren't charging you the $800 it cost to make one right out of the gate)

Most of the points you mentioned are either negated by the 3DS or irrelevant to making a top-selling handheld. Sony has shown some innovative uses for the multitouch technology (that demo of Mod Nation Racers was rather impressive), and they could pursue better ends with games like that, Little Big Planet, and Little Deviants. Most of the gameplay elements Vita can produce can also be produced on 3DS, sans the multi-touch, and what you end up with again is something that's better than the 3DS on paper, but that's more or less what the PSP had going for it too. Games that can more closely emulate the console experience, objectively better online, but did any of these features make a difference in the past? Sony could very well have a lead on something if they broaden their thinking on utilizing the device's multitouch capabilities, but otherwise they're going to be in the PSP pipeline

And the whole sleeping giant thing isn't quite the proper analogy. Nintendo has gotten distracted by the lure of GameCube-type game development, something that their developers love a lot but consumers not so much, and it's more a matter of if they get back to basics again, things will change for the better, but them snapping out of their distraction could take some time. Last time they wandered down that path it took them about 12 years to get off it...

I don't think 3DS have a good amount of console game:metal gear,dead or alive,reident evil and PSvita has also . 3DS has no new IP.

I'm not sure what your first statement is trying to say, given that 3DS has all of those games. No new IPs is a legitimate complaint

u mad bro? lol

first off "What you call "right cards" I call them "all cards""...lolwut? I mean really? that's the BEST you can come up with? if you think this all the 'cards' that will be played in a gen you are being naive. it takes way more than this to do well in a console generation, I would've expected you to know that, too bad really.

again with this 'balance' >_> this is getting embrassing...what is this balance nonsense really? they need to balance they shortcomings with positives or something? it has nothing to do with the term balance...its just shortcomings. it won't 'balance' things out. really, I wonder how you guys even come up with these terms :S balance...

and hold your senstive horse there buddy..attacking? :P internet is not that serious ya know. actually it can be but FC? LOLNO! not a topic I will bother attacking. and if you fail to see how FC in this day and age is trailing behind ps/xbl...i have nothing more to say to you. as long as you're happy I guess.

battery? psv will be around the same as psp. not a downgrade compared to last gen and considering the monster is packing what it does, that's outright awesome. and it will get better too..cuz you see sony can improve on these things to just like ninty can 0_0 OMG! what an idea right?

acting liek vita dominate? >_> do you actually read what I type or just see somethign negative about ninty and go bonkers? you do realize I have literally mention that I don't think psv will outsell 3ds around 4-5 times in this thread alone already? and you go on a rant about how things change etc etc but you do realize this applies to 'everyone'...and this is something I have been saying for a looooooooooooong time here in the forums. things change, I doubt sony will surpass ninty in the handheld arena this gen but boy are they trying or what. Give cred where cred is due...and don't worry knowing sony they will manage to ef something up sooner or later lol :P

  I don't know why PSvita won't be sucessfull if it have a good price and good games.

Vita will be an awesome platform for imports, but i can't really see it competing with 3DS once the big games hit the system. Games like Mario and Pokémon will push the sales further than they are.

And don't forget that Mario and Pokémon are long time sellers (just look at how well they sell). They can sell even without price-cuts. Along with them, Nintendo has a plethora of other franchises that can sell well above 3 mil.

Besides U2 and even with that one, Vita will have to find its own system seller. That alone will give it a hard time finding a way to compete with the 3DS. But there's also the consumers who will not find it as attractive as a smartphone.