It's almost more curious about the handhelds over the consoles, which is funny considering a bit of the handhelds kind of link up with the consoles, and that bit of function is worthless without the console. And of course, if you have the handheld, you usually can't afford the console, but the versa is the same situation!
To be fair, there's less connectivity on Nintendo's 3DS to the Wii U. You can manage eShop purchases across the board, and you can look at Miiverse posts from both communities... That's about it, really. OH! You can bring Miis over... Yeah, no.
The PS Vita, however, was touted highly for the ability to Remote Play to the PS4 with near-perfect quality and much better power than it did when the PSP offered it for PS3. So you can at least see they emphasized the VNC for their consoles, not to mention the coming PlayStation Now for universal streaming of PS1, PS2, and PS3 games.
And before you can say anything, yes, I'm grouping Windows 8 in with the handhelds, considering Windows 8 Phone, Surface tablets, and RT. I don't know much about the SmartGlass app, but I'm aware there's not a lot of use for it, which like the Dualshock 4 touchpad, it's a gimmick, used only by the first parties, and not even then. It's supposedly much better than the 360 SmartGlass app, which was basically yet another controller for the system that did jack all but left, right, up, down, ABXY, and... that was it. OH, and it was delayed because it's sent over Wi-fi! Yay?
It's sad, though. There's more amusement from the handhelds than the consoles they were hyped with. It makes sense, though. The handhelds are universally cheaper, and there's more original games and a calling for them than the consoles are getting. You can't honestly tell me Tomodachi Life wouldn't have somehow sold the Wii U if it were released there. Arguably, I haven't seen any sales figures that say the 3DS sold an increased amount of units with the game, though knowing SSB is coming soon, that's gonna whiplash right about.
I can see the PS Vita will succeed, if only technically speaking, considering the Playstation TV is coming in Fall, and the PSTV is basically just a Sony-based OUYA with actual exclusives and a company that gives a damn, plus advantages like the Remote Play doing really well for streaming across a house without having to shell out a full $400 to do so. Of course, don't expect to enjoy Killzone or CoD online, you'll get bumfucked by the piss-poor input response time.
The survival of the consoles are definitely in question. There's not much selling the platforms right now, and especially so. Dead Rising 3 and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare were Xbone exclusives, but of course, Capcom and EA are hardly obsessed with supporting a console so much as supporting themselves. You'll always have a hard time experiencing Nintendo titles, though you could just accept that by buying a past Nintendo console and playing one of those. There, problem solved, who needs Mario Kart 8 when you got Double Dash?! And Sony will always have their exclusives that jump around. Like The Last of Us? Well, here it is again with 60fps and... that's about it, really. Have fun! Oh yeah, and enjoy an Uncharted Collection for PS4! It isn't like the entire trilogy is already on a console before us and is perfectly adequate to play on that one. Oh, you sold that system for the PS4? WELL THAT'S FANTASTIC!
There needs to be some real titles. Something that pushes each system to its potential and gives enough gameplay that you will want the system, and will actually enjoy it enough to come back to it. Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros will do that for Nintendo, hopefully so, and Sony's always on it, although they're more obsessed with ports of their previous titles right now rather than anything impressive and pushing the PS4. Xbone's home to Halo, and that's about it. Eh.