3DS is 164k at most.

Keep in mind just a few years ago, the DS was easily clearing 500k-600k in a month like July with no real big game releases. Now Nintendo's got really work to keep sales hovering at about 130k-150k/month outside of the holidays. 

You and your friends are the minority portion of the market, you may want to accept that. 

Either way the 3DS is sitting at 19 million units sold. Theres obviously still a market out there though I do agree that market is narrowing.

Vita is just in very real danger of being left to die while 3DS isnt even close. In fact its doing pretty damn good.

I guess we can put the 3DS and DS between 130k and 135k units each.

A new console can't compete with a console 5 years into its life cycle. That's a ridiculous comparison to make. Try comparing 3DS to '05 or '06 DS instead.

The way I sorta look at it is with the rise of smartphones, there was basically one seat left for one of the game companies, and Nintendo hauled ass to make they got to it first. 

The market for the game-only handheld was shrinking as is, it can't support two seperate platforms, it was going to be one or the other. 

The problem that comparision is that the DS was a new brand surrounded by considerable confusion, because the GBA was still in its prime when Nintendo suddenly just released the DS and a lot of people early on didn't know if this was some kind of experiment on Nintendo's part (a lot of people felt the DS was a stop gap for the "real" Game Boy Next back in those early days). 

So the DS had an extremely slow start. The 3DS shouldn't have that excuse though, it's the successor to the second best selling platform in game history, the formula and brand momenteum should be there for it. 

Much like the Playstation 1 to PS2 -- the PS1 had a sloooow start, but it had to build its brand those first couple of years. The PS2 rocketed out of the gate because it didn't have to. 

The 3DS already has had a monstrous price cut, it was Mario 3D Land, it has Mario Kart 7, Kid Icarus Uprising, it has Resident Evil (x2), MGS, Tales, it has Mario Tennis, Zelda: OoT, available in many different colors, etc. Sales should not be this sluggish. Honestly from a game library POV, the 3DS is considerably stronger IMO than the DS was at this point. 

So 3DS and DS sold over 130k and below 135k.

Yeah I agree with that Soundwave. Nintendo I think in the long run will be fine but I dont know if theres much hope left for Vita. Im just not sure if the market can support both handhelds.

This holiday will be key as the Vita actually has a strong set of games coming. If the Vita still performs terribly even with AC, COD, Persona, LBP, Playstation All Stars, and Need for Speed then we might as well start saying our farewells cause it will officially be in doomed territory

The problem for both handhelds is the iPhone 5 and iPad mini are set to release this September apparently.

I think Apple is going to cannibalize a lot of people's holiday wallets this year, especially for portable gadget spending.

The Wii U I think could hurt both handhelds to an extent too. For the people who like handhelds at home because of the quick start up, ability to play away from the TV/in bed/whatever ... Wii U can fill that gap with real console quality graphics.

I have both a 3DS and Vita, but honestly I play them mostly around the house. When I'm out of the house, I just don't have the extended free time to really sit down and get into a game. But with Wii U, y'know, I think that's going to eat up a lot of that handheld-at-home play (real AC3 > spinoff AC).