jeremy1456 said:
Yeah, because they'll be playing the millionth re-packaged version of Angry Birds by then
But seriously, anyone who thinks mobile gaming is going to overtake handhelds is in for a serious wake up call in the coming months with the 3DS price drop and Mario Kart.
I can't imagine any person who routinely buys video game consoles/handhelds saying "I just downloaded 'insert generic mobile game here' now there's no reason to buy Mario!"
I think it's valid to question whether some people feel the need for a portable gaming device any more in a world where a smartphone will play pretty good games. I've been tempted by the 3DS and I'm sure I will by the Vita (and own a DS and PSP), but I may never get them.
There will be games on Vita and 3DS that I'll want. But I think you either need the lifestyle where you'll use it regularly (long transit commute, lots of business travel), or you need to be someone who is happy to play portables at home when you've got a "real" console there.
I don't think I'm either of those (I've got a big enough backlog that if I've got gaming time at home, I'd rather play a so-called "real" console)... so I'm perfectly satisfied for now with retaining my iPhone as my only mobile gaming platform. I've scarcely touched either my DS or my PSP in months and haven't bought anything for either since the newest Warioware... I'm sure there's more recent software on both I'd enjoy, but I certainly don't feel as though I'm missing anything. I may not be in the NeoGAF majority... but I think it's unlikely that people like myself will have zero impact on the handheld space.
It's not that Angry Birds replaces Mario, it's just that maybe Mario, et. al don't trump these facts (for me):
1) These devices have little place in my lifestyle
2) I have enough to play that I don't think I need a 3D portable Mario game.
Not that I
need Angry Birds, but if I can get one or two reasonably deep games on my phone plus a bunch of Angry Birds-ish time wasters, my mobile gaming needs are well met.
(BTW: Not saying portable gaming is dead... but it does face new challenges that didn't exist in the same way a few years back. If portables were dead, the DS wouldn't still be chugging along).