My friends, my friends! Everyone has got the wrong idea about myself and the big N-word HQ. I don't think the games are all kiddie--I think the games are all marketed accordingly to avoiding direct competition with the other systems so that Nintendo of America can stay afloat financially.
The other systems just seem to have much more capability, in my estimation. The gamecube will forever shovel mario and link down your throat in the same five types of games (the racer, the 4-player mindless melee, the fighting game, the puzzle game, and your standard 3d platformer). You pay nintendo hundreds of dollars (well, no, your moms and dads do, no doubt) to play rehashed versions of old games. They are not financially secure; selling more units than another company doesn't mean that Nintendo is actually generating more revenue. Hell, an Xbox is what, 300 bucks still? An Xbox and one game (a standard xmas gift setup) generates as much money as every two gamecubes sold. Not to mention Microsoft has other departments that can allocate money to Xbox development; Nintendo doesn't secretly manufacture cars or processors or refrigerators to fall back on. The one advantage Nintendo has to recoup the Gamecube stuff is this new portable--because Sony is about to put out a portable themselves, Nintendo has to one up them to keep the market. They hid under the radar in the console war and now Sony is forcing a confrontation.
And they used up all of their old school Mario/Zelda rehash on the GBA, already ("Super Mario Bros. Advance/ Super Mario Bros. 3" WTF is that?!). So they're going to need to produce some quality titles to get this new handheld ahead, because Sony has them beat on licensing rights anyhow.
PS2 isn't easy to dev for, but it IS fairly intuitive, and it's capabilities are pretty clear. Clever designers can make the PS2 do some impressive stuff, let me tell you. And with newer technological leaps, the PSP should easily be able to match GBA and this new thing's sales, if not devour them whole.
The mistakes Nintendo has made financially will bring them to their knees; this portable is the last chance to escape that problem. Doing things like having unique, expensive-to-produce formats for your system, having lousy integrational capabilities, and all that other good stuff they did, have run their money ragged because the Cube didnt' sell a bajillion units more than everything else (which would have helped break even).
Regarding my taste in games, I really don't like Rockstar games...GTA was a turd, it had no point, it was just a giant playground. Manhunt just sucks. The idea was stupid in the first place. State of Emergency made we want to cut off my own legs with disgust. I don't like games just because they are rated M; I like games that are good, and games that are fun, but I do NOT enjoy games that are designed solely with the purpose of making soccer moms notice the colorful presentation and decide it'd make a nice gift for little Timmy. I don't like paying for the same game three times and that's what you young'uns do when you buy an old-ass Nintendo game that's been "reinstated" on GBA or some such ****. So from now on, everyone post your age when you discuss a console, and we can take a survey. I'm 21 personally but I never liked the cube. If you guys want to keep buying Rogue Squadron clones, fine, pay 50 bucks every six months for the same game with the same ten missions. Pay 50 bucks for bad Zelda games that aren't at all like any of the fans' requests (that's my main gripe with them, by the way--they haven't given us what we've wanted in a long, long time, and that upsets me greatly, having been a customer for 10+ years). It's all preference really; I went to college for marketing and media, so I know why things are the way they are with Nintendo's marketing. It's designed to fool you into giving up your money with them putting in minimal effort; and any company not putting any effort into the games, shouldn't get the money, and that's that.
Either way, this is all pointless-the PSP will destroy whatever this idiotic contraption is without even trying. Mark my words.