Handheld gaming.

For the longest, there's been constant buzz about the future of the portable gaming market. Speculation always falls upon the idea that smartphones will soon dominate the entire market. It makes sense really. Here you have a multimedia device that can also play so many games, without having to lug around so many cartridges and disks cartridges. Basically one sexy swiss army knife. So how the heck can anything else compete at all? Slashgear's recent argument pretty much sums up the whole debate. Problem is, they forgot a few things. Smartphones and tablets are just multimedia devices that can play games.

They're something developers can make a quick buck off of, and give users something to do on the train, or on the can. They can never compete with the core experience a dedicated handheld can give. Especially the ones promised by the two newcomers, 3DS, and PSVita, who both actually do provide multimedia, the 3DS already having Netflix, a music player, and photo viewer. (Though they can be greatly improved). The Vita promises the same and more, and both also have apps and downloadable games, the 3DS even having a few titles which are also available on iPhone and Android market. Both even have touch. The 3DS being more PDA-like in that sense, while the Vita has a full multi touch screen.

All that and we haven't even mentioned the fact that they both have buttons. NOTHING can ever beat button-based gaming. It's basically law. We need that feedback to know we're getting a respnse from the game. Sure devices have that cute little vibration to let you know sometimes, but it's really not enough, and even limits response time. So all that mixed in with the fact that both handehelds pretty much boast the power of a current gen console, the Vita more than the 3DS, but still. Overall, both devices will have better games, and much better experiences due to them having more ways to play.