The Good: -Powerful, flexible hardware -Lots of dedicated developers -Cheap, high-quality games -Constant game discounts and givaways The Bad: -No buttons, joysticks, D-pads, or triggers -Too many variables between devices (retina display, camera, game center, microphone, screen size, performance, OS, etc.) -80% of games are worthless crap How could Apple correct the problems the iOS systems are facing as gaming consoles? Does the good outweigh the bad, or is it the other way around? Please share your thoughts.
I have only seen a tiny handful of apps which are exclusive to the newer devices. Most apps released run perfectly fine on older devices. It's not really a big problem right now. I do agree that buttons/joysticks/virtual buttons/virtual joypads are problematic for people with larger hands. Honestly I wonder how it can be comfortable at all for others when it's barely enough for me-- 140 lbs and 5' 10", thin frame, so I have tiny hands. But people will just have to adjust. The device can't really be bigger or else it will forfeit portability/pocketability. It isn't necessarily something that Apple can correct. It's simply a matter of waiting for devs to come along and make things. The appstore is still incredibly young and so people are still testing the waters and learning more about what can and can't work, and how to stretch it to its limits. It can only get better the longer we wait.
check your figures OPINION-------------80% of the games on the app store are worthless crap. FACT-----------------80% of the games on any system are worthless crap. PS2 had thousands of games. IMO there were only about 20-30 good, quality games that were actually worth playing. If anyone can name more than 20 "QUALITY" titles (not just any title) on the PS2, I'm all ears.
Also, there are so many games on the App Store, that even if only 5% are good, then that's still a lot of good games.
The problem is that on the App Store, the costs to become a developer and Apple approval standards are so low that there are now thousands of tic-tac-toe apps, doodle jump ripoffs, bejeweled clones, and other assorted crap. On other systems with stricter guidelines and actual production costs, not every part-time programmer in their garage can release a game to the masses. The worthless crap on the PS2 is passable compared to the catastrophic mess flooding the App Store.
In my opinion: Pro's: So much variety, so many new games, all the time. Many many updates for games with out charge REALLY cheap games IOS updates with out charge Listening to music while playing Free multi-player Con's: Not the best controls Most games are highscore mini-games A lot of games don't work right with lazy devs No really big game company's take interest in making idevice games
VOVIN, for a senior member, you made a horrible and untrue statement. Maybe 2-years ago that would be the case. However, big game companies take serious interest in iOS. It gives their mediocre, underpaid, newbie programmers experience and practice with their craft while making a healthy profit. Trust me that Apple's 30% cut is much much cheaper than distributing it as disk-media: copy disks, box graphics and manual print, Shipping fees, pay-offs to drug lords (maybe not), and mass marketing. MY PREMONITION I predict that soon the iOS may be the one platform that gaming companies take seriously over all others. It is really starting to look that way now.
I think a lot of the problem with crapps is that people are naïve about them. If you go on the top 25 paid app section and find one with a 1 or 2 star rating the reviews are just 'crap' 'doesn't work' 'pointless' ect. but people just ignore these non-reviews and buy it anyway only to give their own bad review. So to get round this, Apple should have a better review system such as a minimum of 500 characters to state why.
I hope high quality games with a 10$ price tag prove profitable... For ten bucks devs can certainly make some cool games
Ya I don't know what they meant. You forgot activision, sega, and popcap. All big deva in their own regard
Yes, and BigFish, the major casual games company as well as Konami, Taito and so many more. I haven't forgotten them, just wanted to point out a few examples.
Claiming the PS2 had about 20-30 good games... R U DAFT, prolly just not a ps2 owner but there are hundreds of great ps2 games so I wouldn't go saying that, or believing it... get a ps2
Sorry, as much as I love iOS, some people here are either massive fanboys or just have no actual console as yes, playing iPod on a trip or in random patches or spare time/bed is great, but nothing contests to a console experience.
nobody is necessarily comparing it to a home console. We're comparing it to other portable gaming devices. The point being made though is that pretty much every system has a pretty poor ratio of really great games to cruddy games. The suggestion that there are "hundreds of great games" on the PS2 is idiotic really. Theres no more than 2 dozen truly great games on the system. Theres quite a few average-good games maybe, but not great. I own both a PS3 and a Wii. The PS3 has a nice library developing. The Wii is an utter mess. I doubt theres 10 games on the Wii I'd call great - and theres an avalanche of shovelware for the system. Pretty much the same can be said of the DS as far as I'mm concerned. I bought the DSXL a couple months ago thinking I'd be loading up on great games for it but I've been really dissappointed. I'm enjoying gaming on the iphone much more than either the Wii or DS. Theres more creativity happening there right now and for much less $...
pros: * iOS device is not just a gaming console! Does much more than just games * Games with all levels of immersion. From quick 2-5 minute games to 2-5 hours games * Games which make great use of iOS capabilities like the touch interface and tilt controls and camera. Some games really feel so perfect on iOS. Tilt to Live, Zen Bound come to mind * Cheap! While growing up, most console or PC games have always been too expensive to buy for me. PC/ Consolte games used to be priced at 30$-40$. It used to be a b*&^h to own an expensive console in the first place and then take months of saving before one could buy a new game. That used to be a lot of money (Am not from US). Especially for a student. Now Iphone games at .99$ games are universally affordable. I wouldn't have the heart to jailbreak my iPod just to get that .99$ game for free. * Great piece of hardware. Iphone is a very, very capable gaming device. And considering it started out as MP3 player or a phone... it's really outdone itself. * Great iOS community. While all gaming platforms have their communities... iOS community of developers and gamers alike is really... well... interesting. (Now this could well be just a fanboy perception. Guilty as charged) THe popularity of retro as a genre is a testament to that fact. * Games for EVERYONE. While I would never catch dead any of my esteemed business development manager colleagues with a PSP... they all love killing pigs by flinging birds on them on an IOS device. Every one from my mom to my girlfriend to my boss... has taken a shot at Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Virtual Pool and other games... and some of them have ended up buying an iPod touch because of the amount of fun they had. Now there might be just quick games on a PSP too... but no one's going to fish out a PSP in office to sneak in a few minutes of a game. But the iPhone's just calling to you from your pocket. In the end... yes there are disadvantages of not having buttons. Especially for someone who really likes platformers (That's the only type of games I struggle with the touch interface). But that's a tradeoff... And maybe the controllerorbust might be an answer. Time will tell. But it's a relatively manageable con. Also, the "crap" in App store is more of a problem for developers than for consumers. As a consumer we always have a online forums to see if a 10$ game is worth it. But for a developer, making his game standout from the crowd is a real task I would imagine!
its awesome. I was going out of gaming till I got an ipod touch. Just loving the sheer quantity, creativity and portability of games. The drawback is obviously the missing of buttons- virtual buttons are no substitute, and the sort of clones, instead of games tapping more what a touch-based portable casual kind of console can offer perhaps.
