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[Xeogred]

Nintendo going 3rd party would be the most painful sword stabbing my heart.

To be biased at one angle, if it came to something like that I would prefer they go 1st party with Sony.

[noiseredux]

I want to know who the market is for a dedicated closed handheld these days.

30-40 year olds who grew up with this stuff and don't like change. I'm not trying to be funny nor snarky.

[Sarge]

To be biased at one angle, if it came to something like that I would prefer they go 1st party with Sony.

Take it back. TAKE IT BACK!

[Sarge]

I want to know who the market is for a dedicated closed handheld these days.

Discerning kids that know better than to flock to shallow mobile shlock.

[noiseredux]

I want to know who the market is for a dedicated closed handheld these days.

Discerning kids that know better than to flock to shallow mobile shlock.

but do kids really still play 3DS? I honestly don't know. I feel like the ones that do are given them by those 30-40 year olds I mentioned above. They play them because their parents are into them. I honestly have no stats to back this up of course. Just my hunch.

[Exhuminator]

I want to know who the market is for a dedicated closed handheld these days.

30-40 year olds who grew up with this stuff and don't like change. I'm not trying to be funny nor snarky.

Well, I'm closing in on 40 now, and I've been into portable gaming since I got a Game Boy back in 1989, and even I think dedicated closed handhelds are an entirely archaic concept in this day and age. I know for a fact that kids/teens don't give a damn about the concept. I know a lot of kids/teens in real life, none of them own or want a 3DS. And personally I am prepared for the 3DS/Vita to be my final dedicated handhelds. The NX would have to utterly blow my mind to make me consider buying it. And I really, sadly really doubt that's going to happen, based on what Nintendo's done with the 3DS and Wii U.

Now this is not meant to be a knock against Nintendo. I still enjoy some of their games, and I think they deserve to be part of the medium for years to come. But their primary demographic has always been kids, and that's totally OK, but the kids are playing on mobile, not dedicated handheld. And I don't think watered down Nintendo games on mobile are going to make little Timmy ask his parents for an NX, just so he can play the "real" Nintendo games. More like little Timmy will think Nintendo just makes "kinda okay" mobile games, and then little Timmy will just keep playing other companies' mobile games he likes better. Nintendo needs to go all in, or not at all, with their mobile releases.

If the NX takes off and is another Wii for Nintendo, more power to them! I'm not saying that I hope it doesn't happen. But realistically speaking, I just don't see it. Mobile has handheld gaming wrapped up tight these days, and Microsoft/Sony (especially Sony) has the console space on lock. What's left is eaten up by a rabid PC fanbase. I just don't see a future for Nintendo that doesn't include them becoming a third party developer. And I do believe as a third party developer Nintendo would make amazing games, and make amazing money.

Sorry Sarge, not trying to be a jerk, it's just the world we live in now. I'd love to be wrong and see the NX be a huge success. It'd be nice to have a surprise in this medium, been a while.

[Sarge]

Yeah, I've seen a decent number playing them. Not as many as I see on tablet devices, but I'd argue that the handheld gaming market has, to some degree, always been a bit niche.

How much is parents getting it because it's what they liked, and how much is the kids? I have no idea. I just know that when I was a kid, I wouldn't have been enamored with most of what's available on tablets and whatnot. Just as the Atari 2600 era was just a touch too shallow for my tastes (sorry, Bone!). I'd play those games in a pinch, but I'd take deeper NES games, and particularly RPGs, any day of the week.

[noiseredux]

I agree with every word of Exum's post. Spot on.

[Sarge]

In other words, there's a reason that most of the stuff produced for kids is crap; it's because they're willing to play crap.

You may very well be right. But I find it incredibly depressing. Again, I've seen kids with 3DSs in public, but it's overwhelmed by the number of tablets. Does that mean that the dedicated handheld market has shrunk (and to some degree, it has), or does it mean that the tablet market has simply tapped into a segment of the market that would otherwise go without that dedicated handheld? I don't know. I think it's a little of both.

Does that mean dedicated handhelds are doomed? Maybe. Maybe not. I think we're going to find out pretty shortly. It may just end up going back into its niche, kind of like digital cameras have in photography; not gone, but certainly a shadow of its former self.

Anyway, I'm hoping it's not the end of the line, but it very well may be. It may be the end of the line for consoles, too. Dark days ahead, it would seem.

[noiseredux]

personally I think a HUGE part of it was the success of Minecraft. I'm not sure we as adults can fully fathom the Minecraft thing. But it's a big deal to kids. Or was - is it still? I don't even know. But I'd imagine Minecraft resulted in a lot of kids wanting phones and tablets instead of 3DS's.