For DS, because of Nintendogs and Brain Training and the novelty of the touch interface. For PSP, as much for media playback I think. There wasn't much comparable for the price and for a couple of years.
I'm not saying Tetris and snake is good enough for everyone forever. We want advances. I just think the advances have to fit the 'little game' idea. My definition of "console experience on a handheld" is the types of games people enjoy sinking hours at a time in on a large screen. Those same games that define the consoles (Gears, Halo, Assassin's Creed, GT with steering wheel, Mass Effect, FF, Uncharted, etc.) aren't as good on a 5" screen with analogue nubs and digital controls. If you're going to sink hours into a game, you'd rather do it in the comfort of the big screen not getting eye fatigue or cramped hands. The portable as I see it is more for filling in time, or taking on holiday. That's when dip-in, dip-out titles like Layton and Locoroco and Angry Birds come into their own, and games of that standard can be achieved on a smart phone. Even more involving games like DQ are an okay fit for mobiles, providing the deeper game experience of an FF but with visuals that aren't demanding of the hardware. DS's DQ didn't suffer as a game for being a significantly less powerful hardware than PSP.
Once you get to a graphical and performance bracket beyond what a smart phone can do, you are looking at sophisticated games like shooters or graphically ornate RPGs, which are a gamestyle I don't think is valued on portables. With other games, that power isn't needed to make the game; developers will just create a game that fits the device. 2D has had a resurgence.
That's true, and there's always room for some such games. But you don't need the world's best graphics to enable them and get the sales. If the difference between 3DS and PSP2 is just PSP2 offers more power, what exactly will that offer regards game experiences that 3DS can't? For the games that would benefit, like SOCOM say, if 3D doesn't prove to be any value to FPSes, you're still creating a platform for those who want FPSes that look pretty on the go, which isn't by my guess 20+ million.
Don't get me wrong, I was never advocating a simple-games system. I was saying Sony shouldn't put all the eggs in the core gamer market, wanting to bring all their PS franchises to the handheld. LBP on PSP2 might be awewsome and something only PSP2 could pull off for a few years, but it won't be enough to sell tens of millions of PSP2s. In order to sell lots and lots, Sony have to offer both the bestest, deep games and the 'little games' and the novel experiences people want. I've known people buy iPods just for apps and particular simple games that use the motion sensing. It's that wide appeal that has enabled iOS to do so well. And regards the little games and deeper games, many can be done on smartphones just with less graphical zing, which is why investing in graphical zing won't net Sony more interest on its own.
