Your individual personal usage does not define what market a product falls into. You can use your home PC ONLY for playing games, but that does not make it a part of the video game home console market because there's a slew of consumers out there who use their home PCs for things other than gaming, and quite a great deal many who don't game on PCs at all. But not many who buy a Wii, 360 or PS3 buy those to not game on them.
But, see, even if it DOES get some of those games, it still won't be a "true portable, 'cause it isn't a portable game system. DS and PSP could get a few iPhone/touch games as well via Minis and DSiWare, but until I can edit a spreadsheet, photos, videos, read e-books, etc. from the jump PSP and DS will always be portable video game systems and not mobile platforms. The vast majority of consumers who buy a PSP and DS for gaming above all else; the vast majority of consumers who buy an iPhone/touch buy it for reasons other than gaming, even though for a great deal many gaming is a huge bonus. It's like the PC market; yep, there's a good PC gaming market, but people generally buy PCs for other things in mind, even those who know they're gonna game on the things.
Yes - and all in one gaming devices are becoming a thing of the past... Not yet, but soon. Why would I carry around a DS/PSP if my phone can give me a similar experience? Why would I have an XBOX or PS3 when I can stream any of my games from the cloud onto any of my devices?? (of course were not quite there yet, but we will be very soon) The boundries are breaking down because technology is outgrowing the dedicated console. And the iphone is the first device to seriously challenge the dedicated gaming handheld. I dont see this trend changing, only growing. BTW... My own personal usage may not define what market a product falls into. BUT the personal usage of MANY MANY people does. I would guess that if i'm fed up with dealing with multiple devices to play games on, then many other people are too. That's part of what makes the iphone so appealing.
Have to agree with you there. The graphics in 'NanoMechs' are definitely "Console-Quality" and are very nice indeed
Personally, I dont think its the quality of the device or the question of weather or not there is a market for console quality games on the iphone. I think the market is there. I think the pricing structure is what is keeping Bigger devs from delivering the same experience as the DS/PSP. How do they justify selling a $30-$40 game for $6.99 on the iphone? This just pisses off their core customers on other platforms and degrades their brand. Unfortunately, Apple has allowed the low ball pricing structure to destroy the possibility of big devs pouring big $$ into the iphone. I wish this would change, but dont see how it will. Apples making waaaay too much $$ off of it the way it is.
I can't disagree with you on that. The wave of the future is devices that can more than one thing. A PS3 is a great example. It serves as my all in one media device for the living room. I play DVD's (which upscale greatly), Blurays, Netflix streaming content, and I have a PS3 media server set up on a couple laptops to stream any video content off the web directly to my HDTV. All with one device. If you look at the PSP, they are desperately trying to increase its multifunction capability (comic book reader etc..) as well. While this is wave of the future, the iDevice platform just isn't there yet in my opinion.
I wouldn't state that "all-in-one" is the wave of the future, or rather, I wouldn't state that there is no market whatsoever for focused products in such a future. Wii is still outselling 360 and PS3 by a HUGE amount, and it is a FAR more game-focused device than either. Same with DS and PSP. If you wish to directly compare the portable game system market with the mobile market (and I typically wouldn't, but will do see here to make a point) you'll see that DS sales by far eclipse iPhone/touch sales quarter in, quarter out. And another issue with "all-in-one" platforms is that, although competition with applications that are not games still falls under the "indirect competition" heading, it is far more direct than on a focused platform like a game console because even said indirect competition is virtually non-existent on those game consoles. If you're a iPhone/touch user, and you choose to buy an e-book reader, or mini-photoshop app, or whatever, that's less money to spend on a game...and it's on the same platform. And there is a huge chunk of the consumer audience that isn't interested in games whatsoever. On a targeted/focused game platform, however, there's one thing above all that the ownership base of said platforms pine for: games. "All-in-one/do all" products have their place, but so too do (and most likely always will) focused/targeted platforms.
Quite simple. Lower entry costs for game development, no costs associated with physical distribution, and Apple's 30% off the top is lower overall compared to how much of a chunk is taken out of developers/publishers on other platforms when all associative costs are factored in (royalty/license costs, distribution, marketing, etc., etc., etc.). Games on things like PSN for PSP should be lower than the physical store bought copies, but Sony usually keeps prices artificially high on PSN so as not to anger retailers. *points out that support from devs like EA, Square-Enix, Sega, etc. has INCREASED over the life span of the App Store.
I disagree with that statement profoundly. Rockstar and Activision are making a killing selling their products at $10 on the app store. The fact that apps are solely digital distribution provides a HUGE cost savings to developers and publishers. On the console side they have to print manuals, create boxes, burn the games onto the correct media device, sell to retailers and ship the games to stores. All that is a massive cost that shows up in the fianl cost of a game. You want to know why the PSPGo is an epic failure? Because they are offering digital downloads for the same price as copies in the store an consumers are smart enough to realize they are getting the shaft. One of the beautiful things about the App store is that it is a free/open market. Prices are predetermined and set in the console world, but in the App store, it's more based on supply and demand as it should. Why should crap games sell for the same price as higher quality titles? You don't get that in the console world, but you do get that in the App store.
Top "Console Quality" (to me, and anyone with brains) means it is as good as a console game (360, PS3-- you name it), yet I see stuff like NOVA, Street Fighter 4 and other games mentioned? So basically, you guys are saying the aforementioned games match the quality of, I dunno, say, Super Street Fighter 4, Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2, etc? Nonsense.
Still, I think is kinda unfair to compare iPhone games to DS/PSP games. Like someone else said, stuff that shines on the Apple platform (Tilt to Live, Minigore, Canabalt, Soozis, etc.) would be considered average at best on the other platforms. On the other hand, decent games on DS like Knight on Nightmare or Shin Megame Tensei Persona Portable (PSP) would be considered GOD on the iPhone. Spider though is actually a game that I would consider excellent on any system out there, but I can't say that for any other game on the appstore.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Final Fantasy I and II (If you like classics) Tap Tap Revenge 3 (Like Guitar Hero: World Tour in your pocket) Real Racing GT Racing ATV Offroad Ace Combat Speed Forge Extreme Labyrinth 2 (Not exactly console but it's top-notch quality) Bust-A-Move (YES, it was console) Assassin's Creed II Adrenaline Golf Online DDR S+ Ravensword Gangstar (If you want a more modern GTA console feel) Glyder 2 Pool Pro Online Dungeon Hunter (Good graphics but don't pay for than $2.99 for it) Anrufen (Like a mini-Runescape) Zen Bound Eliminate Pro N.O.V.A. Warpgate (When it arrives for the iPhone...) Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Ray Man 2 Mega Man II Call of Duty: World at War Zombies (3G S only) The Sims 3 Rock Band Spore Creatures and Spore Origins Street Fighter IV Brothers in Arms 2 Resident Evil: Degeneration Hope you enjoy some of these cause I look for the same thing you do! Made my favorites bold.
I find that zenonia and zenonia 2 can easily compete with a lot of ds/PSP games. And don't forget about robocopalypse or whatever, it's a great port from the ds. I also think that pocket legends will like blow away a lot if competition, and maybe even IMO.
>OMEGA F I agree with a majority of your last comment. The BEST of the DS blows away 99% of the app store's offerings. But I do believe that there are a few iphone titles that would do very well on the DS, and get good reviews even at the standard DS retail price. All I want is ATLUS to start bringing thier killer franchises over to the iphone. I could care less for most of Nintendo's first party software.... I know, I'm strange.
