The sales of PS3 and 360 are already down and out, the "new" factor alone will make Wii U a larger than expected success.

What sort of threat are you actually arguing about here? Because I don't see how Vita's power first approach (or Sony's PS3 for that matter) has actually benefited anyone.

And let's be honest here about threats, both Sony and Microsoft released their own versions of assymetrical game control this year at E3.

Based on all the trends we're seeing, rise in popularity, useage, sales, profitability of iOS/Android (and social/FoP) games vs drop in popularity, useage, sales, profitability of console games is the gaming industry is in the beginning pains of the same market shift Apple successful brought to the music industry, and that the movie industry is in the midsts of now.   Namely, Apple destroyed the old model of how those industries were run.   People now download music, $.99 song by song, via itunes (and other sources) instead of buying $9.99 albums at stores.   Movies are in ever increasing amounts viewed digitally instead of via physical sales (largely thanks to pay per view, Netflix and itunes) at much reduced rates.   Now the games industry is facing that same threat.   People are growing accustomed to cheap or free games digitally and drifting away from $60 game purchases.    It's only at the early stages in this industry but from what we've seen so far this is a process that won't reverse itself but will only increase until the home console market (and handhelds) become a niche market and probably an unprofitable and unsubstainable one.   

This is the threat to Sony/MS.  WiiU is the least of their concerns.

Except gamerace, people that play console games aren't going to substitute Angry Birds for Pokemon. They are fans of the franchise, not fans of the console they play them on. You would think the 3DS would be suffering and isn't it doing just as well as the DS was in the same time period. You only have how the well Apple is doing but none of this has affected the consoles yet. You guys keep bringing up how iTunes has harmed the music industry but the difference is Apple has the same music that's on those albums on iTunes, Apple doesn't have Mario or CoD on iTunes which is what makes it no threat. Some one that wants a fitness game like Wii Fit or dancing game like Just Dance has no substitute equal to those on iTunes.

You are correct - for the time being.   Just look at the profit margins for studios developing on iOS/Android and those exclusive to consoles.   EA/Activision/Capcom/etc., etc. are not around to make console games, they are around to make money.  There's more money - and ever increasingly so - to be made on tablets/smartphones.    In time, they will bring all their franchises over.   Plus new ones will be developed on iOS/Android that people will want to have (like Infinity Blade but much better).   Control issues in time will be overcome (Ouya might start this in earnest).

It's still a long ways off but it the shift has begun.   The casual market will shift first and the industry will follow the money trail or die fighting for marketshare in an ever shrinking market.

Yes Nintendo franchises are very, very strong and that will keep 3DS alive but ultimately Nintendo can't do it alone.   

Hey, guys back again! And I've got some sales results for NSMB 2! Ok, not full results, but still! NSMB 2 is currently the 17th best selling eShop title on the eShop, right behind Mutant Mudds! Now some may dismiss this as saying not many titles on the eShop sales all that well, but I do have info on eShop sales from 2011.

Anybody remember this? http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/02/analyst_claims_eshop_made_usd11_million_in_2011

Estimated Top Selling Titles, by Gross Revenues (Annual, 2011)
1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo) - 338,700 Units / $2.3 Million USD (VC)
2. 3D Classics: Excitebike (Nintendo) - 481,100 Units / $1.3 Million USD (eShop)
3. Super Mario Land (Nintendo) - 230,500 Units / $1.1 Million USD (VC)
4. Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive! (Nintendo) - 112,700 Units / $969,000 USD (eShop)
5. Pushmo (Nintendo) - 93,300 Units / $634,000 USD (eShop)
6. Kirby's Dream Land (Nintendo) - 84,500 Units / $384,000 USD (VC)
7. Let's Golf! 3D (Gameloft) - 43,200 Units / $356,000 USD (eShop)
8. Donkey Kong (Nintendo) - 82,800 Units / $348,000 USD (VC)
9. 3D Classics: Xevious (Nintendo) - 47,900 Units / $301,000 USD (eShop)
10. Hyu Stone (Poisoft) - 50,300 Units / $293,000 USD

In case people want to know, Excitebike is currently the 11th best selling eShop title as of today. That means NSMB 2 is far from 500,000 if it reaches below Excitebike. And if it passes it, then it would've sold more than 500,000 units... on the eShop alone! Now I don't know how much it is exactly sold, but this should give us a clearer picture.

I will post a photo of the eShop later on as evidence.

I have to side with phenom08 here, cuz I had the same thought: I don't think Apple harmed the music industry; piracy did - and Apple had the solution to it. But, it's like phenom says: what you're getting on iTunes is the same music as on the album, and it's the same movies. A more valid comparison would actually be iTunes to the eShop, and other networks the major console manufacturers have provided to download games. You can't have the same gaming experience on a phone or tablet as opposite to a console or PC...

hey that's great news!! Do we know anything else about how it's done in EU and/or US?

North American eShop, by the way!

Has nothing to do with sales, but the game does have a high rating!

 This is where you go to check the charts. The the title that says "Charts".

Now just chose which platform to check.

 Check it out!

 Other sales.

 And the Top 3! Pushmo, Kirby's Adventure, and Kid Icarus!

@Gamerace
1. You seem to believe controls is the only issue for smartphones. They have many more than that, CoD can't be done on a iPhone lol. Battery life is horrible, who wants to play on its little screen, and the lag would be terrible. Face it gaming isn't going anywhere its just a phantasy of analysts without a real job.

2. Who are these so called profitable devs working on IOS? They won't ever get the real support they want, remember the Wii had plenty of sales and still got no respect so why would two platforms with majority of the consumers buying the free version? Apple wants to be a threat but they can't. They can't get the real support because the smartphones are far from being strong enough, thank the OS.

I just wanted to add two more things to the discussion about MS/Sony considering Apple to be the big threat: Zynga (some social game company apparently) have lost money according to their last financial report. And an indie game developer (can't remember whom) has stated that he's made more money from the Wiiware than he's done from iOS. I mean, that's two facts speaking against Apple being the big threat.