Then there's industry bellwether id Software, who debuted the mobile version of their next-gen 3D game RAGE for iOS devices in mid-November. No PSP version is planned.

And don't forget iPhone "core" exclusives like Dungeon Defenders, Perfect Cell, Dead Space, Secret of Mana, Infinity Blade, Aralon: Sword and Shadow, and Real Racing 2. There's more buzz around those games than anything in the offing for the PSP.

Cell service alone won't cut it. If Sony really wants to compete with the iPhone (not to mention Nintendo's 3DS), it needs a portable with a brilliant iPhone-competitive touchscreen, a signature iPhone-competitive Android interface, updated higher-end internals, a one-stop price-competitive app and game store, and a stable of first-rate game studios tripping over themselves to develop for it. *

A , in other words, a device that might legitimately generate the sort excitement Nintendo's 3DS does.