People often say the same thing with laptops and PC's. A few years ago iPad and other tablets was destined to take over the world and pc sales dropped immensely, but suddenly it wasn't the case anymore. Lately it's been the opposite again.

Definitely not a Sony fanboy. I own a 3DS and PS Vita.

The overall console market in Japan is very, very weak compared to previous generations. The Wii U, PS4, Xbox One and PS Vita are all doing poorly over there. The 3DS stands way above the pack... in a crappy market. That's nothing to celebrate about. The Japanese console gaming market is being absolutely decimated by Apple and Google. 

In North America and Europe, home console gaming is still alive (for now). But the 3DS (and the Wii U of course) is being absolutely killed there by Apple and Google. And Nintendo's financial situation is suffering as a result.

Nintendo's financial situation should matter to gamers because if Nintendo continues to lose money, there will be no more Nintendo. But yet if you want to call people "Sony fanboys" for pointing out facts about Nintendo's financials, then go ahead. Don't let the truth get in the way of your fanboyism.

PCs are not dead yet but I won't be surprised if it happens eventually. Back in the day it was said that iPhone would never replace the Blackberry because it doesn't have a physical keypad. But these days kids don't bother to write e-mails anymore, they just text short messages to each other in 160 characters or less. And they don't even call each other anymore. They just have these short little bite-sized conversations. As humans become stupider and have even lower attention spans, there won't even be a need for a laptop anymore one day.

I don't know. Those 3DSes still seem to sell a bit. If this thread is about non-Nintendo portable systems then I absolutely agree.

In the portable console gaming realm, even Nintendo has been on quite the decline.

DS (2005): 10,991,195

DS (2006):20,776,966

DS (2007): 29,508,695

DS (2008): 29,663,772

DS (2009): 27,573,530

DS (2010):20,620,707

3DS (2011): 13,250,062 DS (2011): 8,759,675

3DS (2012): 14,112,182 DS (2012): 3,012,615

3DS (2013): 14,369,898 DS (2013): 818,084

3DS (2014): 7,487,090*

And even the Gameboy Advance sold 81.51 million units to the 3DS' 47.91 million. And the GBA was given a smaller life cycle to work with. DS was released 3 years after the GBA.

The home console market in the west will also be in trouble down the road. It's already in trouble in Japan. If we don't see a console gaming crash this generation, it'll happen next generation. Video games are not as magical anymore compared to when I was a kid in the early 90s. Or even as a teen in the late 90s. I used to be engrossed into games like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and VIII (the one that everyone hates) as a teenager even. But nowadays I'm at that point where I feel like I've seen it all before and it's difficult to be as mentally stimulated or impressed by things now. The difference is that everything looks prettier and more realistic now.

The ds actually reminded me of the snes and ps1 combined into some awesome console of greatness.

But on subject. I like the 3ds because many games are great and worth the cost. Tablets and phones have damaged the handheld console market for sure but the fact the 3ds is holding in their mean the market still exists if you supply the content. I would say tablets and phones are also a threat to consoles in general. People who appreciate a console should still appreciate a handheld console unless they are tech snobs who dismiss consoles on specs alone.

But these are all second hand games. Not games developed for android devices. 

Funny. 3DS seems to be still selling just fine, last I checked. Better than fine, actually.

I don't really get the whole "Nintendo needs to get with the times" on this one. The Vita has only sold 9 million units in almost 3 years. Its pretty "with the times" and yet it doesn't sell...

Your argument is invalid, because Pokémon exists!

It's not dead: it's just moved to phones.