That and Luigis Mansion getting delayed really hurt it over the holidays but whatever it just made this year extremely stacked

Bit too stacked. I can't buy 5 games in the span of 2 months, that's far overbudget.

True that many high profile games in such a short time could potentially hirt each others sales

If Sony supported PlayStation Mobile more it could have turned out differently.. They only released some ps1 games.. But now the Xperia play is actually one of the factors holding PSM back cause all developers must make games compatible with that device with its outdated hardware..

Yes, that's both a good and a bad thing, isn't it? It's like Otakume said; if they release too many games too close to each others people won't afford to buy them all.

Releasing Luigi the last holiday would have been a smart idea, just like you said. Paper Mario isn't that huge a system seller, while Luigi has proven himself to be quite capable to push a system.

The hardware is the limiting factor. Games that _might_ be good on traditional hardware are hampered by the duel screens, 3D, and lower specs of the 3DS tech.

It's come to the point, and it pains me to say this because I severely dislike phone gaming, that I would rather play games on my phone than I would on a 3DS.

IF 3ds struggles much, you can bet psvita will die shortly.

smartphones, tablets, etc... that's it.

Thing is that the 3DS is the said top selling game console now, and the company making it is saying it doesn't have sufficient momentum in two of the three major markets.  So I have concerns about it doing well.

3DS had a weak holiday season (in terms of software releases and hardware sales), and up until March it didn't really get a release except FE in NA (late Feb). That is a lack of momentum after the fantastic 2011 holiday season for the 3DS. It really did halt its momentum, and Western sales as a result decreased by quite a margin (considering 2011 was 2 months shorter as well than 2012).

That said it's the exact opposite now, and it's showing on the hardware side. 3DS is gaining some momentum before its big release (Pokemon), that should be exciting and it should roll some big numbers!

pretty much this, at the end of the day, it doesnt matter what we think, if Ninty isnt happy with the sales, then its not doing good, period.