Sort of. Nintendo has the luxury of being predictable, so you know there's going to be a Mario Kart and Pokemon even if they don't announce it. Mario Land 3D wasn't announced until the system was already out, but people knew of and have seen Paper Mario, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Resident Evil, and other stuff. The announcements since then were bigger, like Monster Hunter 3 and 4, Mario Tennis, and other stuff. But still, 3DS launch was pretty bad and there really wasn't anything to play for two months until a remake/port of Ocarina of Time came out.
Vita's biggest problem is how there isn't a strong lineup to look forward to, and Sony doesn't have popular (or good) games to fall back on. There are a bunch of great games right now, but the Dreamcast had the best launch ever and
like it's already been said, the hardware is fucking amazing. everything else, from the OS to the software situation, can be improved.