2011 - The Year in Review: 3DS and PS Vita

A new generation of handheld machines always elicits a certain amount of hype and frenzy, and with both Nintendo and Sony unveiling and launching their first portable machines in half a decade this year, excitement in the mobile gaming community reached fever pitch in 2011.

The 3DS was Nintendo's successor to the most successful portable console ever made, the DS, and, of course, it dominated industry column inches at the start of the year.

Most pundits and insiders expected Nintendo's device to fly off the shelves thanks to the company's recent track record, an enticing price tag, and all that stereoscopic trickery.

Indeed, everyone's favourite analyst Michael Pachter described the price of the 3DS as too low, claiming that Nintendo had missed a trick and that stock shortages of the world's first 3D-without-glasses console were inevitable.

With titles such as Pilotwings Resort, Nintendogs + Cats, and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition leading the launch line-up (not to mention hidden gems like Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars), it looked as though the 3DS was a guaranteed commercial hit. And initial sales, while not brilliant, were definitely solid.

But, then the unthinkable happened: people stopped buying the machine.

Whether precipitated by dodgy scientific experiments undertaken by national newspapers, or - more likely - the relatively poor release schedule, Nintendo was forced to slash the 3DS's price. This move angered many early adopters, and made even our most ardent Nintendo fans question whether their favourite gaming company had actually messed this one up.

In September, Miyamoto & co. further surprised everyone by announcing that a bolt-on extra Circle Pad would be made available for the machine in 2012 - all but confirming that the original hardware design just wasn't up to scratch.

With a relatively barren summer on the new games front, Nintendo sped up development on its big franchises, admitting later that it had rushed to get Mario Kart 7 ready on time.

This proved to be the smartest move the Japanese firm had made for a long time, packing its winter schedule with system-sellers like Super Mario 3D Land and updating its 3DS software with a whole host of welcome features, such as video recording.

By the end of 2011, the 3DS once again looked in a relatively strong position. The increasing number of quality eShop titles like Pullblox / Pushmo is one of the primary reasons for this renewed optimism.

Another is the knowledge that much-anticipated games like Luigi's Mansion 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and more will be debuting early next year. We, therefore, find ourselves quietly confident that the machine will prove to be a success in 2012.

The PS Vita

As Nintendo floundered through the middle portion of the year, Sony sensed blood.

It made sure everyone knew that its upcoming PS Vita handheld would not only ship with two analogue sticks right out of the box, but would also launch with original entries for some of the studio's biggest second-party franchises, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss.

The price cut to the 3DS has left the PS Vita out on its own at the premium end of the market, however, with the 3G version of Sony's machine retailing at almost twice the price of Nintendo's portable console.

Pricing issues could very well come back to haunt the machine in terms of software, too, with the very biggest titles confirmed as costing the same as a home console release.

Sony also spent most of the year in coy mode about the battery life of the PS Vita - and for good reason. The official numbers for the powerful portable put its rate of battery consumption in the same ballpark as the 3DS's, which isn't exactly a good place to be.

Despite these potential pitfalls, the Japanese launch of the machine saw a healthy turnout, with 321,407 units sold in the company's home region - almost double the original PSP's launch week numbers.

We'll have to wait until Feburary to see if Sony's new device can repeat the feat in the UK and US, but one thing's for sure: this new handheld war isn't going to be quite the foregone conclusion we all initially expected it to be.