Gen doesn't go by power, it's strictly a chronological and iterational thing.

I've always considered the handheld generations to be thus:

1st gen: Game and Watch (Nintendo), Microvision (i think Milton Bradley did that, or Mattel). 1980-1989
2nd gen: Game Boy (Nintendo), Lynx (Atari), Game Gear (SEGA), TurboExpress (Hudson). 1989-1998
3rd gen: Game Boy Color (Nintendo), WonderSwan (Bandai), Neo Geo Pocket Color (SNK). 1998-2001
4th gen: Game Boy Advance (Nintendo), N-Gage (Nokia). 2001-2004
5th gen: DS (Nintendo), PSP (Sony). 2004-2009 (i guess).

In my line of thinking, the DSi will start a new generation if it gets some sort of competition. If Sony, or someone else, pulls out a new device that can gain some sort of market presence (and you can see how lenient i am there, since i counted the Lynx and the TurboExpress), then it will count as a new generation

PSP and GBA are 6th gen.

DS, DS Lite, DSi are seventh gen.

When the touchscreen PSP comes out, that will be 7th gen.

I kid =)

would you consider PS3 Slim new generation as well?

Oh, good point, you sure got me there.

P3 "slim" doesn't have PS3 "slim" exclusive games. So no.

That's like the DS Lite, plays the exact same games but has a new look and perhaps a couple of ''gimmicks'' to add value. The DSi is a new handheld as in that it has games made for it. If many games are made exclusively for the DSi (as in not playable on the DS and Lite) then the DSi will have started a new generation of handhelds. If Sony choses to not make a new PSP then the PSP will be a handheld that lasts two generations (as long as sales keep up). With the PSP Go it seems they have decided to just do that.

But if the DSi (or PSP Go for that matter) get little to no exclusive games then (looking back at it) a new generation hadn't started at all.

Is your criteria for GBC being a seperate generation just because there were other new handhelds on the market?

DSi doesnt have 30% of PSP's power so its NOT 8th gen. You wouldnt call PSP GO next gen, would you?

I'm with you on it being the same generation, but I don't agree that it is because of it's hardware.

We are working on different premises, you should attack that rather than just make arguments based upon your own premise. I, along with most of the other posters here, are working on a premise that generations go chronologically, based on successorship and new game libraries. You base it on processing power, which is odd since you're counting the generations of home consoles to reach 8th gen, when handhelds and home consoles are not on the same level in processing.

PSP Go could arguably be the next generation based on the fact that it's DD only, but the I doubt there will be many games exclusive to Go so I wouldn't say so.