Why the iPhone can't replace a portable gaming system

I hear a lot of talk on these here Internets about the iPhone being a possible contender in the handheld video games arena, competing with the Nintendo DS and Sony’s PSP. I’ve been seeing a lot of very cool game ideas being implemented on the iPhone platform and it’s great but I don’t think it will ever be possible to offer a deep gaming experience like the PSP and DS. I’d like to clear up that it’s not a performance limitation, the games are just as pretty or prettier than on the traditional handhelds. It comes down to battery life. The iPhone is a communications tool. It’s your phone, your connection to your friends and family when you’re on the move. 3D games hit the battery life very hard, and if it comes to phone versus games as a priority, phone wins for most people. Integrating everything into one device is very convenient but battery life is the main issue here. You can’t sacrifice your cell phone’s battery to listen to music, play video games, or watch videos. Until there is a magical battery technology solution that makes this a non-issue, my opinion is that we can bring ourselves down to two devices. A communications device for phone, IM, texting, quick internet browsing, etc. and another device for entertainment like games, movies, and music. In this case I would say that yes the iPod Touch, not the iPhone would be a real competitor to the traditional gaming handhelds. With Microsoft just joining the fray announcing the Zune HD (which ironically isn’t anywhere near HD) as a games/music/video entertainment hub tied to the Xbox brand, the mobile gaming space could get very competitive, and that makes me very excited.