Man, your original post really hit home for me. I've been playing since I was 6, with an NES as my first console. I'm 34 now. Then I got a gameboy and an SNES, followed by Playstation, n64...you get the drift. If there's anything I'm yearning for on mobile, it's not a console experience I'm missing. It's the experience I had when I first played Tetris on my gameboy. Or when I played Castlevania Aria of Sorrow on my gameboy advance. Those were magical times, and the current mobile scene lacks the charm of the older games. I mean, look at last nights releases! They looked like a bunch of kiddie games, match three clones and the like. But! I got that feeling once more. When I played Dragon Quest 2 on my iPhone it was truly magical. However, I am in a strange place in gaming right now. I am perfectly content with what I have. I have a full range of systems from the NES to the PS3. All the important handhelds, and a few things on my PC. I have a lifetime worth of gaming to be had across about...100 or so games. If another game was never released, I would be happy. I know that's not where you guys may be, but I have kind of hit a "zen" with my gaming. Why look for a new Mega Man experience when I can simply pop the cart into my old NES and enjoy the good vibe, here and now?
You know. I really get what you're saying. You know what iOS needs? They need like their own Mario. Or Link. Or even Crash bandicoot. I guess the biggest "hero" they have is the Angry Birds". And they are cool. But not as cool as the old NES heroes were. Where is Samus Aran? Wasn't it cool when Samus changes into a girl? Hehe.
I really miss 4X grand strategy games. Where's an un-neutered version of Civilization, or a port of Master of Orion, or Alpha Centauri? I also find myself regularly returning to my laptop to play Railroad Tycoon, Heroes III (with expansions), and Rollercoaster Tycoon. It seems that every masterpiece from yesteryear is either brought to mobile and ruined, or not brought at all. There are a few notable exceptions, of course, like Baldur's Gate, etc.
Try Starbase Orion. You'll be pleased! http://www.pockettactics.com/news/how-starbase-orion-came-out-on-top/
For a while iOS had the Infinity Blade series. For me, that was the iOS equivalent to Nintendo's Mario. And I think Ida is a great mobile character from Monument Valley. But I totally know what you mean. And now that so many games come out so fast, they get forgotten sooner, I would imagine.
I've tried them all. Yes, it's similar, but it ultimately falls short; as all mobile strategy games have for me. Mobile Developers seem to have an impossible task of Making money off of mostly non-gamers who prefer to game in free and bite sized chunks. Even Starbase Orion feels "mobile" to me. I don't want to play "mobile" games. I want to play PC games on my mobile device.
Absolutely agree. I'm 32 with two young kids and as we have only one tv, it's a case of console gaming taking about a two hour a week slice of my time. Mobile is a life saver. To be honest, you'd not be reading this post from me right now if it wasn't for my phone and the brilliant TouchArcade app as I'm writing while my sick 8 month old rests on my shoulder as I walk around the house. These days as technology has advanced, so has the utter complexity and longevity of games. Wonderspark has it right - I look at titles like The Witcher 3 and GTA and foresee any long term involvement as nothing more than a pipe dream. Its no secret why mobile is taking off. Older gamers or even people who never played games before are the ones earning the coin whilst many of those persons also lack the exorbitant amount of time needed for non mobile gaming. It is refreshing to see some games we grew up with ported with care to iOS. Let's hope the trend continues.
I'm a 45 year old woman who fondly remembers a TRS-80 with a tape drive, Intellivision, etc. However, the thing I really have nostalgia for is something that would just never fly today -- text games like Zork, Adventure, and Hitchhiker's Guide. Infocom! Everything's about graphics these days, and I love XCOM as much as the next person, but after so many years have passed I still remember the maze of twisty passages, all alike, the dam, and a vorpal bunny. You really THOUGHT about the games.
Old? My first console was RadioShack Pong "Electronic Scoreboard" (whatever that meant.) Played it on a b&w TV, which didn't really matter because the game was monochrome. Unlike other Pongs, it came with a light gun shooting game that never really worked, but the peripheral itself was a molded plastic scale replica of .357 Magnum. It was so realistic, that I litteraly cut the cord and used it as a toy gun; had more fun with that than I ever did playing pong. Wish I still had the console though. What's missing in mobile gaming from the early days? It's what's not missing. Today there is near limitless selection and absolute availability. Back then, gaming options were based on what local retailers provided. Not until the Big-box and mall stores came along, was there any real selection. If it wasn't for the BBS "warez" scene and a 1200 baud modem, I wouldn't have played half the games I did.
I might be one of the oldest gamers on the forum as I came from the original pong system and quickly moved into the Atari 2600, 7800, nes, super nes, sega genesis, sega cd, game boy... The list goes on although I'm still stuck on the PS3 with mainly using the blueray, dvd, Netflix steaming features... The Apple TV is a close second for the PS3 features and the new version this September or holiday season might be a mobile and "console like" game changer with many people mirroring their iPhone & iPad games to our tvs. A feature I rarely use as I don't have a separate controller might become a bigger reality. While I like mobile gaming and love my iPad I realize that I play mainly on the iPhone (possibly it is that I have the iPhone 6 and my original iPad and first iPad retina which is now getting outdated)... I believe that mobile gaming is absolutely amazing for gamers and potentially very lucrative for many gaming companies. I am still NOT a fan of iap and have rarely given any of them much of a thought as I am still stuck in the mindset of give me a mobile reasonable gaming premium price and I'm in... As not a major online gamer I won't be buying the massive iap purchases that have led many gaming companies (handful in reality) to reach sales of sometimes several millions a day.. Rare yes, but happening non the less. Still amazes me to think about how much some companies are making off free games with IAP that have take gamers by storm mainly in online always games. I do believe we have access to a huge amount of varied game types from card, RPG, actin, adventure, strategic, racing... Amazing! The quality improves and the games keep coming! As an old school gamer I now look for quality over quantity since the reality is at the .99 - 9.99+ price range we are in an amazing era of gaming but selecting the actual few that I can play or get into will be the real challenge. I don't think of my self as a hoarder but realize now that with the amount of Interesting games that have come out each week or games that hit a sale price that can't be missed the backlog of games grows and the actual time to play them diminishes. It's great to have our e-devices (mobile phones and tablets) have larger sizes such as my 128gb iPhone and 128gb iPad especially when I think about my original apple II+ computer with floppy drive and original Palm treo smart phone but the reality is many of us are becoming "digital hosrders" maybe a new term that I just created or not but we are all likely moving this way as our devices can hold so much music, video, and games etc... As the works changes, we all change with it but I do hope to fund a way to weed out the real gems from the "just ok" games. This task or idea will become harder and harder and we will become more distracted with the newest game etc.... Sorry for long rant but excited to see other old school gamers!
I am loving this thread, I am 34 and first had an Atari and zx spectrum. I too have 2 kids, 5&3, so no time for my aching 360 anymore. I have got tonnes of IOS games now as I too love the buz of buying a new game, it's addictive! I just got Sid meirs starships, this war of mine another one I can't even remember the name of and now gridlock has gone universal!!! Arrr I will buy it but God knows when I will play it!!!! I love IOS gaming. Now all we need is a star wars battlefront 2 port and my life will be complete, imagine the online multiplayer on that old beauty!!!
Great Thread, good to know we are not alone! I was an Amiga kid for many years (12 disks of Monkey Island 2 anyone?) loved games like Elite II - (Galaxy on Fire 2 scratches that itch). Moved onto PS2, 360, later, sold them to go travelling and now iOS is all I have. iPhone is generally just for quick plays while waiting/passing time, ipad for 'proper' gaming. I do feel that I miss the immersive games of my youth - I only want to buy games that will keep me engaged and give me a full experience, but there aren't that many of those; Right now, I've gone back to San Andreas, I feel safe there!
I must admit i'm the opposite, i mostly use the ipad for reading. Play 99% of my games on my iphone. Must admit i always find it disappointing when people say mobiles just for simple gaming as i've read that quite a few times. I play Vice City/Baldurs Gate/KOTOR and many others all on my phone. Its my addiction to wanting everything on one device ! I dont feel comfortable playing a game on an ipad on a bus or train etc or waiting for someone in a cafe. Much prefer doing that on my iphone. Took a while initially to get used to a smaller screen for playing games etc but over time i'm very comfortable with it now. I have friends who think the only games on iphones are things like angry birds/candy crush and thats it, depressing. Often show my friends some of the deep RPG's or great arcade games available.
But we have Frotz, Lost treasures of infocom, games like "A dark room" and many gamebooks(Choice of Games ones are text-only), so I tend to disagree. We have games to fulfill different gaming tastes. And, let's be honest: app store has a huge library of games that don't rely on graphics. For every "x-com" there are 10 "retro" ones.
One of the best threads I've seen on here, and I've been here a while (I don't post a lot, but read a lot). I started with an Acorn Electron. My parents gave me the choice betwen that and a C64, and for gaming I definitely chose the wrong one. That said, I had a very tough time at school with bullying. One game helped me to literally lose myself in another universe, and that was Elite. I then progressed to an Atari 520STFM (later an STE) which again was initially fantastic. I was swayed by the amazing looking arcade conversions like Bubble Bobble, the graphic adventures like The Pawn, the Psygnosis games. I've always visisted arcades, from the first ones that had pinball, then Space Invaders & Pac-Man. The Fun Factory on Redondo Beach is amazing for older games, they even have an original Pong. Through to just-about-pass-as-arcades Dave and Busters, and I still enjoy playing games like Daytona USA. My first home console was a Sega Megadrive/Genesis and I also bought a SNES, Gameboy, Atari Lynx. I loved STUN Runner in the arcade, the Lynx version of this was very advanced for the time. After that I had a Playstation, Saturn, PS3 and now a PS4. I was happy to see someone else mention they had a GP2X, I still have mine although I don't use it now. I consider my nVIDIA Shield Portable a spritual replacement. I often get very nostalgic over old games. Indeed I just bought an Acorn Electron World DVD which has all the games, accompanying inserts, etc. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy many newer games, but my son trounces me on the faster paced ones (he's 11). I love the mobile gaming scene, there really is something for everyone - and thanks to TA the more quality titlles can be showcased. I've been into iPhone gaming virtually from the start (joined here in 2008). I don't have a big problem with iAP, if I don't think it's fair, I'll just delete it. There are many other apps deserving a place on my device!
I still have a working C64 and a working floppy drive for it. Have to puzzle out how to connect it to my modern displays! (Maybe running it through my ElGato EyeTV consumer USB stick that I use for recording video on Mac. A little lag added, but so be it.) The only console I ever played much was... an Intellivision (long gone). I'd buy a modern console if my friends all had the same one... but they don't. Eventually I will, though--partly for the Blu-Ray.
OMG. STUN Runner was one of my favorites. Totally forgot about that game. There was an arcade in Berkeley (CA) where you could pay $5 and play all day (back in the late 80's). My friend and I would bike out there, and only leave when we had massive headaches & we're totally dizzy. It was the best. Outrun motion cabinet, OG Street Fighter with the pads you actually had to hit hard, etc. Loved it.
My age is starting with a 4 # and i was playing a lot on C64/Amiga/PC (Turrican/C&C/Screamer/Doom/..). But since i do not have the time for playing a "big" game anymore i totally love the possibilities the app store gives today. I love playing games i can just give 5 minutes (this time was the boot time in the early years) so hunting highscores is my passion today instead of solving complex games. All in all i don't miss anything from the past #
Honestly. Some things about today's gaming is better and some are not. Like for instance back when I was a kid we would go to an actual arcade place with all the cool stand up cabinets. The lights, awesome sound effects, and smell of stale cigarette smoke are something I will never forget. So that time was awesome. Having a small slice of that at home with the first Ataris, nintendos, and play stations was the next step in gaming. And all of us remember the feeling the first time you beat Zelda or metroid or mike Tyron's punch out. So now. You're carrying around in your pocket the same dragons lair game that I used to see people stand in line for for hours back in the arcades. It's truly amazing! So really. Once the companies can figure out how awesome these mobile gaming devices can be then things will improve for all of us. Because let's face it. This iPhone in my hand is the future. Even Nintendo has finally decided to break their own rules and start making games for it! So it's a wonderful journey from the past and I'm excited for the future. The quality and quantity is changing daily. Hang on for the ride fellow gamers- because it is sure to be an excellent one!
Agreed... With the price point and sales it is hard not to buy the games that appear Interesting etc...
