This is an epic thread xD

Tracking

For the record, I'm sure that 3DS will be the highest selling (ie. the king) of this gen - it surprises me that it's 50-50 on the polls at the moment. I guess Vita could win; it's too early to tell.

The weakest console always sells the most. Like
PS2 > Gamecube > Xbox
Wii > Xbox 360 > PS3
DS > PSP
PS1 > Nintendo 64

So 3DS > Vita wouldn't be much of a surprise.

The Vita looks like a fine system, but there is something that the 3DS can have that it can't. Huge franchises.

The PSP's big franchises were console spinoffs, Square Enix games, and Monster Hunter. The spinoffs should continue to do fine, but Square Enix invests in every system on the market except the Wii, suggesting that their games will go on whichever console is more successful. Come to think of it, Square Enix sold more DS games than PSP games. And Monster Hunter is multiplatform nowadays, with 3G already out for the 3DS and 4 only being announced for the 3DS so far.

The DS's big franchises were Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Mario platformers, Brain Age, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing. Nintendogs looks to be smaller this gen, and the Brain Age crowd is on the iPhone nowadays, but Pokemon, Mario, and Animal Crossing are all on the 3DS to stay.

The Vita's best chance is being a console/handheld hybrid, which could essentially replace consoles in Japan if all goes well. Uncharted is a great start, but it also needs to have the same Call of Duty games as its brethren, and a lot of 3rd party multiplatform support.

In other words, the Vita's success depends on 3rd parties, who have a poor record from the PSP era, in comparison to the 3DS, which only needs Nintendo's support.

SNES > Genesis says hi.

Wow I loved how you made a story out of it! :D It was a cool read.

And of course the 3DS will win out. It's doing better than the DS did and has very strong games coming out or that have already came out for it. Just look at Luigi's Mansion 2 it has already over 80'000 pre-orders and we don't even have a release date! Plus the new hardware update will make it a big seller (I think, because of the 3D video capture.) It will do just as well as it's relatives and probably better!

 Totally agree with what you said. The Nintendo systems usually do better because of all the Nintendo Franchises. If they get a Colored Pokemon game on the 3DS the PSVITA will get another stab in the back, so to say. ;)

Vita needs a Monster Hunter, GTA, "mainline" MGS and Call Of Duty fast and it has a slightly chance to outsell the 3DS.
If neither of the 2 devices gets hacked, Vita will be the king of software im pretty sure, but most likely 3DS will win HW sales, altough not percentally as high as ds vs psp IMO.

Dreamcast too. Less power means cheaper price, which means more sales, that's the only relation between power and sales, but not the only factor to take into account (plus, Xbox sold better than GC).

I have to admit Sony deserves a pat on the back for trying. At the very least they are keeping Nintendo on their toes. To try and defeat Nintendo in the hand held market is almost impossible. Sony just needs to focus on making a decent profit with the Vita considering they stand little chance in the sales race.