See, that's the thing. It's all about the on-the-go lifestyle! With so many things you gotta do that beg for your time these days, we gotta get our gaming time in shorter bursts than we used to, if we're gonna continue to game at all! And a quick bit of fun does help you keep some semblance of sanity, let's face it! For us adults, that is... Kids, they can still spend as much time as they want on the console or PC and enjoy that entertainment like we did when we were young before the word responsibility creeps into their lives, LOL!
It's a matter of free time. When I was a bachelor, I played mostly console games. Now that I'm married, and have young children, I've shifted to mobile gaming where I can play in short burst and quickly set myself up - Console gaming requires some preparations - you sit down on your sofa, turn on the tv, boot the console, load the game - it's a process which makes it all less accessible. And as a family man, I just don't have that privilege.
I been married and a house owner for four years. And held job for ten years and second job for a a couple. No kids tho But enough about me, it's a matter of convenience. Plus when I have down time, I'd prefer NOT to be staring into a tiny screen and playing a game that is inferior in every way to a full fledged PC or console game. I play iOS games 5-10 minutes at a time. I like the simple and challenging quick games. I do like how iOS has some of the old school RPGs like Final Fantasy stuff- which I downloaded but yet to play. Cause when I do have extended down time , more then 10 minutes, I'll play on console or PC.
Not sure if I'm really the target audience for this question, but I'll share my experience anyway. I had consoles up until the Wii and lots of handhelds, which I always preferred. I've always loved playing games while watching TV. When iOS came out, I ditched the Wii and DS for the iPhone. But when Super Smash Bros. 3DS was coming out, I couldn't say no. Bought a 3DS in August 2014 and played it a ton for a few months. I played iOS less during then, for sure, but I was so plugged into iOS by then that it remained part of my day to day experiences. The 3DS stayed home, the iPhone came with me. But, by Christmas that year (12/2014, two months after SSB came out), I was ready to ditch the 3DS again and flipped it on Craigslist. iOS is just so much more convenient. That being said, I don't play tons of fully immersive games, so iOS has worked amazingly well for my tastes.
I value iOS games less than consoles, PC, and other handheld devices. One main reason for that is system updates. I can always play an Xbox 360 game on my Xbox 360, as long as the device works. I can always play a Wii U game on my Wii U as long as my Wii U works. With iOS, I cannot say this is true. Every year I have to either not upgrade my device or hope that the devs update their games to work with the newest firmware. If I don't want to worry if things will work, I'll need to jump through some hoops by either jailbreaking my device, which I don't want to do. That's a big reason I left Android. Or, I can purchase a few difference iPads and run iOS 7, 8, 9, etc. That just isn't viable. Another thing, the device lifecycle is much shorter on iOS than it is for a console. I can play the newest games for around 6 years with a console, but, at times, only a year two on iOS. Of course, that isn't the case for the majority of games, but, if I wish to play some of the better, newer titles, they don't quite run as well on older devices. I end up suffering through issues like crashes, which I don't have to worry about on a console. Ultimately, the worry about my investment is greatest with iOS. If my iPad breaks, I can't recoup some losses by selling my games. If the dev decides to stop supporting the game, I have to jailbreak or not upgrade my device to still play it. This leads me to value consoles over iOS. We can also talk about quality of titles, ease of controls, etc. When I first got an iPad, I would play time consuming games quite a bit. But, as time went on and issues would arise, such as updates wiping game saves and the like, and games crashing after updates, I stopped investing so much time and money into iOS. Now, I mainly play at night while in bed. It's pretty rare that a title grabs my attention enough to keep me hooked to my iPad.
I've got a console and Mac that I play games on, but I much prefer playing on my iPhone. If I could play all the games I wanted to on my iPhone instead, I probably would. Right now, our console is in the bedroom, and the TV is kind of far away for me to see the small text. And to be kind to the wife, I usually only play when she's awake. So, early mornings or late nights are spent on my phone instead. I also love to play on my porch while smoking a pipe or while out-and-about, which iOS is perfect for. While rendering projects at work, I could play a few minutes of FFVII or DQVIII. The only reason I have a console is for the BlueRay player, digital content, and full games that I can't play on iOS, like Alien Isolation, the Batman Arkham series, Disney Infinity Star Wars content, Sherlock Holmes games, and others. My Mac kind of sits in between. I've got some console games on it, but also some iOS games on it as well. But I've always wanted an all-in-one device, and now that we have it, the iPhone is definitely my platform of choice.
Very interesting thread. I've been a gamer since the days of the Spectrum, I've always loved them and loved playing games I could get lost in (RPGs mainly). I loved the thrill of buying a new game, getting the feel for it and just playing to death. This continued throughout my teens and early 20's, heck I would have got a better degree had it not been for gaming. I upgraded my PC regularly and learnt to build my own and was addicted to world of warcraft for a few years Then a became a Mum and my spare time became limited, I moved onto DS games (Harvest moon remains one of my favourite games). My eldest child is now 8 and even though I now have a little more spare time I Am still more likely to play on my IPad. I bought the Witcher on xbox1 and I still haven't played it. Not because I don't want to but I don't feel I can give it the time it deserves. Do I value IOS less? No I wouldn't say I do. Would I pay console prices for an IOS game? No but only because I buy console games rarely. I would happily have paid steam prices for FTL, Don't Starve and Legend of Grimrock. To summarise I think both platforms have their place and both have their value. Who knows, when my kids fly the nest perhaps I'll swing back to console/PC gaming
Due to the ease of use and my phone being readily available, I've pretty much abandoned most console games. Every now and then, a console game comes out that brings me back (currently waiting for the new Uncharted and Mirror's Edge), but for the most part, mobile games have nearly caught up to console games in terms of depth and quality and have certainly passed them in diversity.
I value it the same/more. It essentially is the PC of portable gaming. Main downside for me is how i'm starting to lose trust in apps permanence. I value having a decent library of games, much like a Steam library. But Apple has broken apps too many times with updates, mix that with devs who rather pull apps then fix them and its not a great environment for non FTP games. With FTP you know they will be patched right away as they are continuously bringing in revenue. Of course, the second they stop bringing in enough, they close down the servers deleting any money/time you invested in the process without any regard for the customer, so its a double edged sword.
I sold my PS Vita because it was collecting dust, so in the handheld sense my iPhone has one. But I value console gaming much more. If there weren't so damn many F2P games out there, maybe the market would shift and I'd find mobile more appealing. Don't get me wrong, I love iOS gaming, but when it comes right down to it, my battery is going to drain at some point, or one of the myriad games I've been sucked into that have timers are going to force me to put my phone down. So until energy and timer systems die out like the dinosaur, mobile just can't keep me entertained long enough. The console ports help, but not enough yet.....
I'm like some of the other adults in the room. I have an Xbox One, PS4 and a PSTV (for some Vita stuff and PS4 remote play) as well as some legacy systems. I love them all, but if I added up the time, I'd be willing to bet I'd have more hours logged into iOS and Android games. Why? Short answer: a wife, kids and a demanding job. It's a LOT easier to play a mobile game here and there than it is for me to put two hours straight into console games. When I have a block of time to play on console, I certainly do. But that isn't reality in my life. And I often get the same amount of joy, even if not the level of grandeur, from playing a good iOS game as I do a console game. It's all about balance and having some fun to get away from things in real life. So while I still put console gaming on top when it's available to me, iOS has become my go to in a busy life. It also doesn't hurt that the quality of games has continued to rise.
I have been a hardcore gamer since my Sinclair ZX81. At present in my household we have a Mac, three laptops, a PS3, a PS4, a 360, an Xbox one, a vita, 4 iPads and four phones. I have a good job so can afford to buy anything gaming-related when I want it. In spite of having a treasure trove of tech that most teenagers would sell a lung for, more times than I can remember I have played on my iPad rather than a PS4 etc. It's not always the case, right now it's rainbow six and fallout on the PS4 and Battlefront on the Xbone that's calling (but had Slitherine delivered Heroes of Normandie it my have been a different story). For me IOS isn't about the triple A titles, it's about playing games that you wouldn't buy on a PS4 or something that I can play in the background of family life.
For me it's always been more about availability and saturation. I'm overwhelmed by the number of iOS games I have, and yes I value them less...its human nature to cherish things that are harder to come by more. Any parent can tell you that. BUT because of life, I play my phone the most.
Really annoys me when people undermine mobile gaming. To me, this is where creativity is still at. You look at a console game, it has a ridiculous big budgets that the game has to meet. Creativity of game concepts is far too big a risk. Ok people say-then you got Nintendo handhelds and stuff, but I imagine its still a big barrier to getting a game published on there. Most of the time, most of the releases on them are still the big companies, and Nintendo. Along comes mobile gaming on the otherhand. Anyone can develop and hey presto.. you get creativity. See Sorcery 3 as maybe an example of creativity permitted. See games like Drop7. And many many more. You even got boardgames taking a resurgence, and thriving on this new form. So no- I don't overvalue it. Yes, I may try over-sell it to friends because of this annoying condemnation from them, mobile games can be excessively simple for the most part, and pale in comparison to many console releases. But I think, these days, we are getting best of both worlds; console quality, and creative.
I have every system. A high end PC. I have in total, probably 400 something titles from last gen and about 90 from this gen. That's not counting my steam library of over 800 games. I spend more time playing Brave Frontier lol.
This is a huge topic and a really tense war between console pc and mobile its hard to determine why but in my case i could not care less about where i play a game so long as its fun i really dont care
I play with my ipad a lot at home (hearthstone and jrpgs mostly), i have a 3ds and a psp, i do spend about as much time on them, ill usually vary between them, with my clash of clans being checked every now and then. I do enjoy having a Subterfuge game always rolling as well. I like variety, i dont value iOS less when im home.
I actually left the consoles and handhelds once the iPhone hit the market. It was so perfect in that I had my console with me at all times and the graphics were nice with some solid titles. The time period of the early Call of duty style games, NOVA(1,2,3), Dead Space, Space Miner were so amazing. The phone had some much potential as a viable game platform. You could had even used it as a console by sending the games to a tv... But the age of free to play has ruined it for me. I have almost no interest in gaming on my phone any longer. My phone has become a phone and net surfing device and I am now back with my Ps4, WiiU.
