Has iphone gaming now on par with PSP and DS?

The App Store gains more ground with every Galaxy on Fire, Modern Combat, N.O.V.A. and Chaos Rings that comes out, and the Unreal Engine will put the iDevices on top for good. I've been playing my iPod touch more than my DS for more than a year now.

 

Galaxy of Fire 2 I'll agree with I've enjoyed this one more than any game on my PSP but then again I really loved the freelancer game on PC. I also have the others Nova, Black Pegasus and both are very good and control quite well considering it's on a touch screen but really they can't compete with PSP games like Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker or the newest SOCOM.

Some games on the touch devices should have an advantage like tower defence ones but I've still to play a tower defence game on my Ipod that is as good as pixeljunk monsters on PSP.

I think people who believe the apple devices are better games machines are really just deluding themselves at the minute but they definitely are catching up and I think the later models probably could match the PSP with their graphics chip.

I still like playing games on my ipod though because it's a lot more pocketable and you really can't argue with the prices it will be interesting to see how they fare when the 3ds and psp2 are released though.

 

That depends on the gameplay. Pretty graphics alone don't make a game. Saying that the Unreal Engine or the Rage engine will be the thing to put iDevice games on top for good is way too premature. It all depends on how well it's implemented and how good the game is.

And I can't help but wonder if the games on the app store were on par with the prices of PSP/DS games if we'd even be having this discussion. iOS gamers tend to be a cheap lot. I can't imagine any of the games doing as well as they have if they weren't 99 cents.

Chaose Rings is the closest that I've seen to a handheld quality title (that I've had any interest in playing I'll add), but if it had been twice the price wouldn't have sold half of what it has.

 

Duuude, look at the psp real title list for the first three years of it'd life. It had away worst stuff than the cream of the crop of the app stoker selling for 40 bucks a pop. Heck twisted metal was selling for that much and it had less gameplay and variety of modes than jet cR stunts or whatever it's called.

 

I only lump the PSP in there because it's an actual gaming system. Meaning it was designed specifically to play games, and anything else it does is secondary. iDevices are the opposite, games are secondary to the other functions (whether you want to believe that or not). I bought a used PSP to play Crisis Core and a couple of other games. My primary gaming is done on my DS, 360 and computer. The PSP has always been the weakest handheld in terms of games.

Reread my post and maybe you'll understand what I'm trying to say.

 

the fact that it isn't specifically designed for games is a strength not a weakness. Its one of the reasons I game on it more than the DS - aside from the fact that it has way more great games of the type that I want to play on the go (you know, the reason a portable game system really exists). I don''t want to have to carry two devices around and most of the time I'm not going to bother taking the dedicated gaming portable becuase I need the cell phone at all times.

What difference would it make if Apple called it the Igame? I mean all that matters is that its powerful enough to run some great looking games while eliminating the need to carry several other things around with you.

 

a lot of great indie developers are just starting out in the app store, so while I don't think iOS gaming can compete with the big guns yet, I'm going to assume that in 5 years (once they've got more practice and funding) we're going to have some really high quality exclusives on iOS.

if only apple would add some a joystick and a few buttons - I think the market would for bigger budget titles would really take off then.

 

if you want joystick why not buy a damn psp

 

I don't know I think the app store companys are making a lot more from me than the big guns have in quite a while and it's mostly all down to the pricing.

If I buy a console game I need to have read around ten reviews beforehand and have it well researched and know I will have time to actually play it, on the app store however I've bought a lot of stuff spur of the moment I've probably spent a ridiculous amount of cash there I wouldn't have if the prices were higher.

I think the pricing is why the app store works so well, I actually bought my touch with the intention to probably jailbreak it but when I saw the pricing I considered it reasonable and changed my mind.

Basicly what I'm saying is when prices jump up the customers will dwindle although I don't particularly care about games with super graphics it's nice to have them but I'll happily play something likes game dev story over a shiny gears clone if it isn't as much fun.

 

SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS, ????????

"developers should not make games at a $0.99 price point (which is apparently working) to make a crap-load of money, but that they should sell it for more to satisfy the ego of some people who feel more superior to others because they want to spend more on games."

You can call iOS gamers cheap. I'll call them intelligent. If you feel like paying twice the price for the same (if not inferior) product, be my guest. I'm sure it's a small price to pay for what little confidence you have in yourself.

 

there's enough iOS games that utilize an onscreen joystick and buttons that I think it would be worthwhile for apple to add them to the hardware. I don't think it would detract from the multitouch/gyroscope innovations - just add to them by freeing up some screen real estate.

or at least a d-pad and one button. hear my prayers, apple!

 

No, what he is likely saying is incredibly large investments should be sold at a price that justifies that large investment (within reason), thus is likely to make that investment back with the least amount of copies sold .

If a developers aim is to hit $5 million...

- At 0.99 they would need to sell around 5 million copies (rounded off)
- At 5.99 they would need to sell around 800k copies (rounded off)

For the most part the 5.99 one is more attainable. People should realise that every IP has a built-in cut-off point with regards to purchasing appeal (which publishers have to try and gauge what that is, which is difficult) and that no matter how well marketed or how low a price it is sold at, many IP's would not substantially sell more than that cut-off point.

For example, the Metroid IP is well known but the actual audience is relatively compact (less than a million). If the latest one sold for 19.99 instead of 39.99 there is no guarantee the increase in purchases from the lower price point would make up for the less sales needed from the built-in / likely purchasers who are prepared to buy at the higher price point.

Indeed, going by what usually happens in this industry, the lower price point would not make up the difference. It is why you do see many App devs state they are better off pricing at 1.99 and 2.99 than 0.99. It has never been as simple as "Price at 0.11 and sell gazillions!!!!". So I find the "which is apparently working" comment a little odd. Perhaps it works for the rare small, compact title made on the cheap, but for larger budget wares such a course of action is likely to put out ones business.

People should want high budget major titles to sell at justifiably high prices because they should want similar titles to be made for the market. That isn't exactly possible when everything is expected to be 5.99 or under, or what is usually the case, 2.99 or under.

 

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Theres nothing stopping any devs from charging more for their games. Lots of games on the app store are selling for $4.99 and up. Street Fighter IV is what, $9.99? and doing fine afaik. Dodonpachi too. If a game is seen as worth the money, gamers will buy it. Theres no denying lots of games are being sold for a remarkably low price, but its up to the devs to decide what they want to sell for and you can't blame the customers for buying them up at a budget price. The fact of the matter is, when you can access your market pretty much directly without the overhead of dealing with middlemen and packaging plants and printing costs and so forth, it totally changes the paradigm.

 

There's no way that will ever happen. The iPhone is a phone first and a gaming machine second. Putting a joystick on the iPhone would make no sense at all for Apple to do. Now making some kind of gaming peripheral would certainly make sense, but not "adding it to the hardware."

 

I think the $0.99 has become a kind of standard price people will pay but maybe it comes at a small disadvantage in that you don't get the sort of content length of a higher priced product. A good example being Reckless Racing having a small number of tracks. Possibly.

 

I think you're right that games on the original and 3G were secondary to other functions, but the iPhone 4 (if not the 3GS) were made with the AppStore very much in mind. Plenty of people are buying itouch for gaming over music.

 

i agree with this, why else would apple add openGles 2.0, gamecenter along with loads of memory and feature mostly games in their TV ads.