Archos has been a player in the PMP market for a few centuries now (a rough estimate, anyway), and to say that the universe was jazzed at the mere thought of a 7-inch tablet for under $200 would be understating things dramatically.
That Nintendo announced the 3DS was not a surprise -- that they had a couple-dozen of these things to try out, that was. We elbowed our way to the front of the line to try one out, and the effect is actually not bad.
We've been reading about it for what seems like ages, looking over images of the FCC prototype with a magnifying glass, and now Nintendo is showing it off at its E3 press c