Personally, I think MS is the one to watch going into next gen. They've learned a lot from their defeat at Wii, and have gone from core centric to a more balanced approached with Kinect on the other end.
However, it's split their audience into two. Kinect is pure casual, Non-kinect games pretty much pure core.

With their next gen system Kinect will by much more powerful (utilizing 4 of the rumoured 12 cores). If it can detect fine movements and they fine a way to replicate a analog stick/buttons (with perhaps a nunchuk like device or hand movements) then that will bridge the gap between the two.

In short, MS next system could be revolutionary and like Wii this gen, get all the hype and momentum. WiiU is interesting but hardly revolutionary and Sony still seems clueless as to how to (re)gain a wider audience.

Finally the 7th gen can truly start :D


/s

We'll see what the Wii U brings to the table.

I will say that Nintendo is definitely poised to dominate the handheld market again.

Personlay i think motion controlls are a sinking ship that MS is still chasing. Only a teather free VR head set would bring the core gaming to Kinect and I really don't think we will see that this gen. Fine motions wont help the games be any better.

Nintendo just stepped up with Sony to completely sweep the rug from under Microsoft's feet with regards to digital distribution. I love that.

Now what they really need is to build a strong community and core online experience. Hopefully those things are revealed in a great way at E3.

sooooo the 3ds and vita are equal on quality games right now and the vita is on pace to meet or exceed the 3ds ???

please elaborate

imo
3DS games quality & quantity LIGHT YEARS AHEAD
3DS top 10 >>>>>>> Vita top 10

Nintendo is obviously preparing to dominate, maybe they will, we´ll see.

Launching a system a year ahead of the competition is (sort of) like scoring the first goal in a hockey/soccer game; if Nintendo can get solid (10+ Million) hardware sales, decent third party support, and have a strong first party line-up of games in the first year it will be like they're up 4-0 after the first period. If Sony and/or Microsoft stumble upon release, like Sony has with the PS-Vita, it will enable Nintendo to build on their lead and make it (virtually) impossible for Nintendo to lose the generation.

Of course, none of this is certain; but after the 3DS vs. PS-Vita, the DS vs PSP and the Wii vs. XBox 360 & PS3 I find it rather remarkable that people still believe that processing power improvements act as a significant advantage for any console.

3DS has only one year on the Vita, that's not "light years ahead" which would indicate more than one year. What would be interesting would be to number the games and quality of games on 3DS compared to Vita from this time in Vita's lifecycle.

Games are all opinon based, vita has plenty of excentl games out right now, and more coming in the coming months, vita's fist years line up will be far better for me than the 3d's first year. The only game that even kept me playing my 3ds was Mairo 3d, but it wasn't really that great, just something to play, other besides 64 ports. So some how because the 3ds sales are better than the vita's at a lower price, it's a better system?