The 3DS is pretty much teetering on the edge of a precipice in terms of press, and specifically, the bad press it has gained over its very short lifespan. In fact, it's gotten so bad that Nintendo has lowered the price $80 already, and are offering 20 free NES and GBA games to early adopters.
While this probably makes some sense from a business standpoint (this thing was always overpriced), it can't help but look like Nintendo has been caught with their tails between their legs. Basically, these are the perils of having a shitty launch, an early launch, and that's exactly what the 3DS did.
Look, the 3DS is probably my favourite piece of hardware that I own. It's gorgeous. The display is so vibrant, the controls so perfectly placed, the online features are very cool. But I've always contended that hardware doesn't sell hardware, software does. And in terms of software, the 3DS is looking pretty thin right now. Sure, there's some major heavy hitters coming in the fall that will assuredly bring the 3DS into many, many more homes this winter, but Nintendo made a huge mistake in launching this thing, well, not in the winter time. Even if they'll eventually make up ground, the PR damage is done. Even I wouldn't advise someone to buy a 3DS right now, not at least until Super Mario comes out.
But the people who didn't see this coming, or who expected the 3DS to set the world on fire, were clearly naive. In fact, the situation that Nintendo finds themselves in happened five years ago to Sony. Essentially, the DS was Nintendo's PS2 – a console so widely adopted that it was inescapable – everyone had one. Part of this was due to its low price point, but also it was due to both consoles' massive software libraries. Let's ignore the fact that the DS and the PS2 started out with terrible launch titles too, and let's just consider where they ended up.
With a DS in every man, woman and child's hands, the 3DS and the PS3 were never going to share the same relevance. They were just incremental steps up in terms of graphics and online connectivity, things which your average consumer (I'm thinking of my brother, and the two DSs he owns for his daughters) aren't really going to care about. You already have a DS – why do you need a new DS? Couple in the lack of compelling software on both platforms and it's no surprise.
But hey! The PS3 did get compelling software, and eventually grew to make Sony money. And the same thing will assuredly happen with the 3DS (I said it two days ago, but it bears repeating – the second a Pokemon game comes on the 3DS, everyone will be shutting up about this). But there was absolutely an act of hubris on display when both Nintendo and Sony assumed that everyone would buy their next console based solely on the fact that it was new. That's not the way things work, and people shouldn't get so worked up when that happens.
The software will come, and the 3DS will assuredly "print money." But as someone who really likes the games that Nintendo makes and philosophy that they adhere to, hopefully that'll happen sooner rather than later, so that I don't have to see so many people joyously jumping on the "grave" of one of the most important creators of entertainment in all media. If you told me that you were going to get a 3DS, though, I'd hope it's so that you can enjoy the DS's software library and the potential for 3D awesomeness in the future, because if you already have a DS, you can just wait for the time being.