Interesting, but I'm not gonna comment on Vita's doomededness until the end of the year at the earliest.

Don't be ridiculous.

Nintendo would never release such a low-quality product.

I KID.

Really, the quality of a console should be determined by its software. I sigh every time someone says that the Vita is "a really great piece of hardware." As a video game console, that means nothing if there aren't enough good games to back it up. Vita is new and it's still building its library, but it is far from a high-quality product while it has such a small selection of software to choose from. PS Classics support will help.

The 3DS is not the greatest handheld of all time, but it's getting there. Full backwards compatibility with all DS games (excepting the ones that used the GBA port), a dozen or so very high-quality retail games, at least as many classics available on the Virtual Console, and a solid half-dozen great eShop games. Eventually, the 3DS will have its own library, the DS's library, and (through VC) a large chunk of most of the notable games from the GB/GBC library, plus some NES games for some reason.

Hm. Without even looking I can tell you that both Rayman Origins and Wreck-It Ralph are also coming to 3DS before the end of the year. Your source is lacking information. LEGO City Stories and Scribblenauts Unlimited are probably coming out this year, too. Those four bring 3DS's total to 8, to match your Vita list. Now if only there was a high-profile DS game coming out this October...

Never owned a Dreamcast but played one shortly after they stopped production and it seamed to be a great console and ahead of its time.

Curious, IIRC Sega itself killed its own consoles...

Oh, you take a list from Nintendo, that doesn't list Vita-products. You also miss to list all stuff that is dated this year from the PDF. I read for US: NSMB2, Professor Layton, Luigis Mansion, Paper Mario for first party. Third party titles have no dates, but they list: Transformers Prime, Moshi Monsters, Skylanders Giants, Epic Mickey, Disney Princess, Castlevania, Kingdom Hearts, Rabbids Rumble, LEGO LOR, Scribblenauts. Some of it may already be released, but then you need a newer list I think. I don't know which list you take for comparison for the Vita. But I see on Nintendos list 14 titles for 3DS, you name 10 for Vita. You also said 'West', so including Europe we also have New Art Academy, Freakyforms Deluxe and Fifa (that you also named, so you included Europe). But this is also a list for a financial report, they don'T list everything only some picks that they think are important. As you don't say where your Vita-list is from, I doubt comparability.

Why are scaled-down versions of titles on home consoles going to turn the fortunes around for the Vita?  If someone can play Call of Duty at home, with their multiplayer stats and leveling there, why would suddenly the portable version be of interest?

What you have there, at best, was the name of the company with Nintendo its name.  Sony isn't doing that, they are coming up with a brand independent of their own name, and pushing it with either another name or a number in it.  But then even moved beyond that.  The Wii as a brand name would also likely end up going away as another offering came out.  What you saw was the market ended up doing away with the Gameboy name, as the DS ended up being hugely successful.

What I believe is seen is that companies will transition out to another brand that puts focus on new features.  You have Call of Duty shrink into the background, as you now have Modern Warfare and Black Ops being the brands Activision will push.  That is videogame franchises, not platforms though.

Monopolies are never good, Ninty evolved because its leadership was never granted even when it was a monopolist on portables.
And about the current situation, you should also consider that with Sony gone, MS would attack directly Nintendo, and MS can even afford to lose money for more than a whole gen (the whole XB1 life and the first years of XB360 on the home console market) to grab market share.

Because you can't play the console versions of Assassin's Creed 3 or Black Ops on the bus/train, or on your lunch break, or on holidays.

It isn't the same game though.  Titles like that had ended up appearing on handhelds for awhile, and they didn't make a difference.  There is also debate over whether or not the style of play you see on the big screen will translate ok into a handheld for play as you described, on a bus or lunch break.