I bought a 3DS on launch day in March (USA), and it's been rough going... Nintendo already dropped the price to make it competitive, and they've gone nearly silent on marketing the system in the USA. On launch day, the game selection was pretty terrible. I bought a couple of titles, and they smacked of the usual games you see on a game system launch -- basic, bland, slightly show off the new features.

When Zelda hit this summer for it,that was a good start -- finally, a game worth owning on the 3DS! I finished that a couple of weeks later, then what...? What was I to play then? I'm an RPG gamer, and was waiting not-so-patiently for a 3DS RPG... Downloadable titles were fairly basic, too -- most were ports of mobile versions of games (e.g. Bejeweled Twist), and the original titles felt like homebrew.

Come October, my 3DS sat and collected dust, and I figured it may just not mature. However, since early December, things are looking up, and the system is getting some momentum:

1. The December firmware upgrade added 3D video filming. It's limited (max 10 min), really doesn't work with lots of action (the 3D focal point moves too much as you film and makes the resulting videos a mess), but is cute and fun to play with. They also added some other new Spotpass (Internet sent/received) and Streetpass (passed via short range when you're near someone)based games, and the new person-to-person messaging/drawing service. The social aspect is picking up (hello, Nintendo? You're last to the party to add gaming achievements... get on that!).

2. A couple of new releases game-wise are getting there: Doctor Lautrec (not a Professor Layton knock-off, really -- just being badly marketed), Mario 3D Land,Mario Cart 7, and Cave Story3D. They're not perfect, the Mario is the best of the bunch, but we're slowly getting more titles.

3. A few fun bits on the downloadable scene: the charming and addictive Pushmo, the first of the GBA downloadables (but a weird set... Yoshi 3, Warioware 1, the original Fire Emblem, etc.), and more mobile ports (Puzzle Quest, etc.).

4. Good looking upcoming titiles, including some RPGs: Tales of The Abyss, a new Professor Layton, Etrian Odyssey, Fire Emblem: Awakening (no US release date yet, though), and plenty of others. Probably a dozen I'm looking forward to, which is similar to what I am looking forward to on other consoles. A few titles announced before the 3DSsystem releasecontinue to have delays, though, which is concerning: Paper Mario, Kid Icarus...

So overall, I think there's hope for the system. I still think the 3D feature is a gimmick, but if Nintendo and the game developers can take advantage of the better system specs on the 3DS, we could see some fun new games. Also, Nintendo needs to cash in on the addictive and compulsive buy advanatges of downloadable purchases: if they put a lot of the best GBA and DS titles as downloadable purchases on the cheap (< $5 for GBA, < $10 for DS)... they could sell systems and old software.

Anyway, I think the system will see a surge in 2012. It'll be interesting against the Sony PS Vita, and to see if doomsayers saying smart phones will kill off handheld consoles are right. Of course, I'll get 'em all because I'm a sucker.