If you follow the news, it looks like pre-orders have been pretty good, and that it will probably do better than the 3DS did at release. As far as design and graphics are concerned, people are pretty excited with the possibilities. I also think that the release games and schedule are better than the 3DS, and the fact that you can play your games from the PSN right out of the box is a plus as well. Nintendo had that huge problem of getting the network up, and is slow to release meaningful games. I can't wait to start seeing PS2 and dual shock PSOne games on the Vita.