Is this the last, last generation of handhelds?

Don't know about Sony , but i think Nintedo will try one more time.

Nintendo will keep at it. Not sure on Sony, im sure they will drop out. Samsung might enter though, they are getting larger then life, they have taken over phones, tvs, dvd players, you name it. Samsung is a force and wants into gaming. They might even just flat out buy Sony.

Last for Sony, that's for damn sure. lolvita

That sounds really cool.

Honestly I hope so. Because every time I see a new game by Nintendo at E3 and it actually ends up being a 3DS game, I only ever end up dissappointed. I want a full console experience and not some mini side branch made for a portable.

Nintendo will keep at it because it's the only market really keeping them alive.

Maybe one more for Nintendo, Sony are definitely out. I don't think DS sales will happen again, I think any new handheld will be an even bigger sales drop compared to even the 3DS.

Nintendo is good but on Sony most likely they want teh vita to accessories on PS4[via remoteplay and other things favored using PS4 on it like MP hunting like God eater series] for next gen on portable its pretty the same concept with new gimmickry

I'm personally done with dedicated gaming handheld systems.

Sony it sure is I'm not buying another psp ever again after the vita fiasco ya I'm done

Nintendo is more than likely to keep going

Hahaahha

What the **** ?!? how come there´s a "SONY and NINTENDO will keep at it option ", Sony is pretty much done with handhelds, Nintendo will most probably continue with them for a long time, it´s a market they dominate and have dominated for ages ? ( anybody remembers the Game and Watch ? )

I don't think Sony will release another handheld. I do however think Nintendo will release a next gen handheld. Handheld gaming is Nintendo's most profitable division right now. It's no surprise that they showed so many 3DS games at E3. It's commendable that they even showed as many Wii U titles as they did considering it's not nearly as profitable. Sony dominates the home console market and Nintendo dominates the handheld market. I'm just happy that Nintendo continues to make home consoles because I love HD Zelda and Mario.

Nintendo handhelds will cling to dear life.

Sony handhelds are already dead.

Nintendo will, but Sony is probably out. Mobile games are growing increasingly more popular. It's already the "handled gaming device." I thought I read Nintendo will be making mobile games? Depending on the success there....who knows actually.

Doubtful. For starters, handheld gaming will always be a strong market for 4-10 year olds just because they're naturally a convenient toy with that demographic. In addition, the 3DS Is the top gaming console in Japan.

Even if Sony drops out, Nintendo needs to have some sort of cheap portable device as part of their portfolio.

I don't know...I could see Sony maybe doing another. I mean they don't really support it. But look at how much indy support that thing gets. It easily dwarfs the 3DS in quality indie titles.

Sadly, I don't think Sony will make another one. Nintendo will keep making them, for Pokemon after all.

Sony may quit but Nintendo will keep going with handhelds

I'm pretty sure Nintendo will make at least one more.

Sony is done.

Sony abandoned it, definitely

Nintendo will still keep doing it but in time it'll lose steam

Dedicated handheld gaming is a thing of the past now

Nintendo needs to broaden their games past just "kid friendly" and nostalgia titles (mario, pokemon, zelda, etc). These are great games but only appeal to very niche audiences. They also need to ditch more "kiddish" gimmicks like the horrifying 3D. I have a 3DS and these games, so I'm speaking from a marketing point of view, not from whether or not these are good games or judging those who like them. Nintendo is focused too much on Nintendo and not as much on what 2015 gamers want in a console and gaming library. In my opinion they could knock handhelds out of the park if they focused more on changing and less on what fans from 20 years ago liked playing

@amyh7292: So you want them to be a Vita then? I would rather them just be Nintendo then pretend to be something they arent. There is plenty of other consoles out there that all copy each other, it nice to have one go against the grain.

I wish Nintendo would just go handheld only. There would rarely be game droughts, even if they were the only ones developing for it. And they have certainly been profiting from handhelds better than consoles for the past few 4 or so years.

Nintendo will keep it alive so long as it remains profitable. Everyone else will move to mobile.

And seriously, Pokemon will remain profitable for decades to come. It's already been around for two with no signs of waning.

So basically what you are saying is that Samsung today is what Sony was during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s?

No. I believe that dedicated handheld systems will be around for the next few generations regardless of the popularity of mobile gaming.

Might be time to look at those sales figures.

Nah, Samsung is WAY bigger than that.

I certainly hope not.. 99% of all the mobile games out there are casual garbage designed towards micro transactions and simplistic addictive gameplay rather than something actually good.. Currently the mobile games industry is a microcosm to everything wrong with the gaming industry as a whole.. Pointless and insulting nickel and diming micro transactions? Check... Countless devs making numerous clones and shameless rip offs of successful games in the industry like Clash of Clans? Check.. Devs bastardizing and destroying once great franchises for shameless money grabbing like the Dungeon Keeper mobile game? Check.. A dumping ground for games in which devs release their shit software and quickly abandon it shortly after with numerous broken features and functions? Check..

The hell are you even talking about? Nintendo's ds and 3ds are the most successful handheld game devices in history of gaming, they already knocked it out of the park..

Pokemon is considered niche? It is one of the most mainstream video game franchises in the world. The same goes with Mario.

As long as Nintendo 3DS is putting the smackdown on Vita, Nintendo's handheld will remain supreme of the Handheld nation. Everyone knows Nintendo will stay in handheld business and I rather Nintendo to stay with 3DS for up to 4 more years and do we really need a new Handheld now? Nope not really.

@sSubZerOo@onesiphorus I didn't mean it like that. My point with mentioning those series has nothing to do with their success. Just that these same series are remade over and over again on Nintendo. I meant that Nintendo does not have the most diverse library. Niche maybe was a bad word. What I meant was that most fans of Nintendo, like myself, have always been fans of Nintendo which is why they continue with these same old series that sell well. I'm happy with that. From a next generation point of view I'm simply stating I think broadening their library would bring in more gamers who are neither children nor 90s fans of Nintendo. I thoroughly enjoy my 3DS, I just can understand why people who don't, well... don't. Sony is obviously out of the game with handhelds. I just think there are changes Nintendo could make to accommodate a broader consumer base... if you don't agree with that, I don't think we're talking about the same company. I feel like many hardcore Nintendo fans think any kind of criticism towards Nintendo means I'm sitting home jerking it to the latest CoD game. Chill, simply stating they could improve, as could every company

Nintendo will probably keep trucking. Maybe Sony will take another crack at it after its name brand starts to carry more weight with the market.

sony are in a unique position of having everything they need to make a proper gaming phone and tablet and it could throw a wrench in the works.

nvidia are trying but they dont have the games support. android games are not worth it.

but IF sony put the big guns on a gaming phone and tablet (same games would run on both devices) and cut the profit margin on the hardware....that could be interesting. top end phones and tablets with high end specs...for around 350 quid (or one plus one prices). it could be a good way to get peoples attention..especially if they are wavering on sticking with samsung. its a USP at least.

however i dont think they will do this. they clearly are putting all their resources into PS4 development. i dont expect to see a successor to the vita...which is a shame :(.

im very interested to see what nintendo do with their next handheld (clearly the 3DS will have a successor). how are they going to fight for pocket space? maybe they will make a bigger device to be used around the house (more a tablet size rather than a phone size). but what form will it comes in? what will be the hook? is there much to be taken from the shaped screen tech? will they stick with dual screen or use 1 bigger screen?

@osan0 Interesting ideas. The dual screen has become more of a permanent menu display, since when DS first launched their big thing was the "touch screen" aspect of it. Eh, idk if it's necessary anymore. It's definitely handy in some games, but rarely serves as anything more than a quick display of menu items in lieu of pressing Start. I'd like to see a gimmick-free handheld again. I don't need 3D (if you can call it that) and multiple screens. Just a solid device. I'd love to see an HD screen. Imagine HD pokemon. Although in general the 3DS graphics are solid right now

@amyh7292: depending on the size of the screen of course...but i would be reluctant to see HD on a gaming handheld since it has a nasty knock on effect on the rest of the system. higher res means more powerful hardware needed to drive it which, in turn, needs a bigger battery to sustain it and the heat needs to be kept under control (perhaps even needing active cooling like the nvidia shield. all this has an effect on the price and i dont think nintendo will even think about a high price. 250 quid at launch would be the maximum i would think).

assuming itll be vita sized (though i think nintendo would favor something smaller to keep it more pocked friendly), somewhere between 540P and 720P would be fine i think.

i do agree though that dual screen hasnt really been a massive boon for games so they could chuck that (DS games could be run on the one screen...just split it in 2 perhaps) and the 3D also. i liked 3D but it wasnt a massive revelation for me. but i am very interested to see what they will do.

Ummm no not really. Back in the 80s/90s. Sony was basically what Apple is today. Or Samsung if you prefer

Sony around 1980-1999:

* Sony had by far the largest market share in CRT televisions of the time (much like Samsung and LG today)

* Sony had the largest market share of CD players (I genuinely don't know who dominates this segment today, but CD players don't sell like they used to anyway)

* Sony had the largest market share of portable devices (basically the iPod of the 80s and 90s with their Walkman/Disc-man series)

* Sony had by far the best selling consoles (PS1 + PS2)

* Sony had the largest market share of DVD players

Don't know how well they sold, but they also were quite prominent in the headphone market as well.

Samsung today:

* Largest market share of televisions

* Largest marketshare of smartphones

Umm, not really sure about the rest.. I don't know what their blu-ray player sales are like, nor how their computers perform but they hardly touch Apple/Asus/Lenovo/Dell/HP in the latter.

Not for Nintendo.

Yeah, but what im getting at is that was small fry stuff compared to what Samsung does. Samsung is sooo much more now, TV, Phones, Hardware, hard drives, etc, plus their quality is light years above Sonys. Sony was big in a time with not much competition, Samsung rose from the ashes and destroyed ALL the competition like it was nothing. Not only that the quality is off the charts. Shoot even my Wii has Samsung parts. I dont think Sony has ever been worth as much as Samsung, Sony is horrible at handling money, if im not mistaken they are still on the break of collapse. They are having to drop out of almost everything.

I guess competition might have been big then also, i wasnt really around for the 80's, but i hear they were super big then. But i dont know how their quality and all that stuff was. They could have rivaled Samsung in net worth if we estimate for inflation. Im not sure, i would like to think Samsung is bigger though.

Sony's never been able to touch Samsung's net profits or revenue numbers, inflation or not.

But that doesn't change the fact that Sony had a good ~ 3 decades of dominance in the electronics market, while Samsung's barely had one (so far).

And I lost it when you said Samsung had quality and Sony not... SERIOUSLY? you clearly have no idea what you're talking about if that's what you think. I'm a Samsung fan myself (owner of Galaxy S3, S4, S6) but let's face it, most Samsung products have been utter shit. Those that aren't utter shit are overrated, like Samsung's LCD/LED TVs. Panasonic plasmas were always superior to anything Samsung made (be it plasma, LCD or LED) and before that Pioneer plasmas were the best. Philips and Sony consistently made the best high-end LED TVs ever since they starting making full array local dimming models (cirka 2009-present). Where's Samsungs quality? Before flat screens came around there was one type of TV that dominated and won pretty much every single picture quality award, guess which? That's right, Sony Trinitron CRT tvs. Best CRT TV ever made is the Sony XBR-960, best CRT monitor ever made is the Sony GDM FW900. In fact they were so good, despite being more than a decade old, some videophiles actually claim they can match and even out perform some of the best LED/LCD televisions on the market today. Still think Samsung quality is "light years above Sonys" ?

What about the home cinema projector market then? Here there are two companies that excel in the lower mid range, upper mid range and high end markets. Those two companies are JVC (X35/X55/X75/X95 series respectively) and you guessed it - Sony (HW40/HW55/VW300/VW500 series respectively) as well as THE best consumer projector on the market - the $30,000 (MSRP) VW1100ES. FYI the Sony VPL-VW1000ES ($25,000) was the first 4K display ever released to the consumer market, some 4 years ago or so. To this date they remain the only manufacturer of 4K projectors (JVC uses 1080p --> 4K upscaling technique).

While Samsung probably only makes dollar-store cheap plasticky music players, Sony sells high-res portable music devices that cost upwards of $1000, and receive raving reviews for said products. They still make excellent headphones in any price range, from the MDR-V6 (legendary sub-$100 cans) to the Sony R10 they made in the 1980s for over $3000 (not a typo, that's three grand.) Audiophiles lucky enough to have tried them claim they are the best dynamic headphones ever made. Has a luxury Samsung product ever been called the best in the world? Not just for one year, but for around 30 years, like the Sony R10?

Samsung is a mass-market, entry level brand selling to budget oriented people, the only exception is their TVs (their plasmas were excellent but their LEDs have always been overrated by the public, and exposed by professional calibrators) and their smartphones which have been fantastic. My Samsung Galaxy S6 is the best smartphone on the market, hence why I have one. But they are still mainstream, every-day devices that even I as a student can afford. Samsung is like GAP, H&M or Zara. Sony on the other hand, while mostly catering to the same market, is also a prestigious, high end luxury brand in some markets (like Hermes, LV or Gucci). Be it their 4K home cinema projectors, 4K broadcast monitors, the legendary R10 - A worlds-best product for nearly 3 decades or their luxury portable players.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the professional market... You do realize Sony manufacturers 4K cameras costing tens of thousands of dollars and DCI projectors like the Sony SRX T540 cost hundreds of thousands of dollars? How can you compare the quality of a company that mainly sells $400 TVs to company that provides theaters with projectors costing $250,000++ ?

3DS might not be selling as well as the DS but it still sold a crap ton of units. There is still a market for dedicated handhelds.

@Mozelleple112: Just from personal experience, ive owned Playstation 1 that had to run sideways, PS2 that had to have drive replaced twice. Ive had cheap headphones speakers from them, ive had a Sony boombox that gets dusty inside to easy and cd skips. My PS3 works great though.

Then ive had a Samsung HDD in my computer that was great and still works great, bout 7 years. Ive had Samsung flip phone which was great, Samsung slider which was awesome phone, now i got a Galaxy phone which is great. I have a Samsung P2770 which ive had for about 5 years and dem colors is pretty, touch buttons still work on point. Also have a Galaxy Tab that still works on original battery, bout when Tab 2 come out. I have not had a bad Samsung product yet, its is was it is.

Nintendo is plunging ahead in the console arena despite WiiU sales but scared off of a market it dominates by 3DS sales? GTFO. Not only is Nintendo going to have a next gen handheld, you can just about book its successor too.

It's far easier to believe Sony would abandon it handheld ambitions except:

A: The device makes money on every unit sold.

B: Maintains a huge attach rate boosting software sales far beyond a typical platform sporting its install base.

C: And most crucially, is their premiere device in their home territory.

Would I be shocked if Sony jumps out? Of course not. But I do think that without a financial imperative to fold, they'll want to maintain their presence in a market that keeps them relevant at home. And Sony reps have been very coy of late about questions regarding their future in the market. Maybe I read too much into it, but they act like someone with a cool secret they aren't ready to share.

IMO, the key to handhelds going forward is going to be as portable console devices instead of completely distinct platforms. We see that today somewhat in the way Vita development has moved to many ports of PS and PC games, and have heard rumors of Nintendo's newest hardware being able to play the same game on console or handheld.

There's a market for "Console on the go" gaming that simply doesn't work on the buttonless marvels that are modern phones. If the next iteration of handhelds can enable that without needing as much investment in separate software, they'll carve out their own niche for years to come.

Sony probably is done.

It's Gameover for handhelds. Even Nintendo the King of Handhelds has jumped ship to smartphone OS.

I wouldn't completely rule Sony out of handhelds. They learned a lot from the Vita.

With the popularity of android I do not understand why Sony did not stick with a PS branded phone. ....Unless that doesn't make sense from a game development standpoint which I can sort of see. Still, Sony could attach it to a contract if they wanted.

Sony, yes.

Nintendo, no.