3DS and PS Vita, you're still screwed (MyGaming Column)

Owning an iPhone 4, iPad 2, Nintendo 3DS and a PS Vita.

This is hogwash to me. The Nintendo 3DS is in a league of it's own and the Vita is pretty awesome. The gaming you get on smartphones and tablets is nothing near the quality you will find on the dedicated hand helds. I traveled to Europe recently and took all my stuff along with me. The Vita got the most usage ;) My iPad is now also useless to me after this experience and will never take it as long as I have my netbook.

$1 games just don't have the depth that the consoles offer.
 
This is an extract from a chat me and DC had in other Vita related thread and I think it works here too.

iphone/ipad/android phone/android tablet. - For me forking out for a dedicated hand held gaming device is a waste.

I meant for casual gaming,doesn't have to be something expensive.

Have my PC for general gaming and a PSP for when i'm not at home.

That statement is a contradiction; it doesn't have to be something expensive: so paying £140 for a DS or £199 for a Vita and then forking out between £20 - £30 per DS or Vita game isn't expensive? Using my phone, which I already have to have & use with a £0.99 app seems alot cheaper to me. For example I have pinball arcade on my iphone & wife's ipad. The app was £0.99 for 1 table. I have since bought 5 other tables for it and my total cost still hasn't exceeded £10.

Im not saying there is something wrong with handhelds or even that they shouldn't be. What I am saying is with most smart phones being able to run some pretty decent games - Max Payne Mobile, GTAIII Mobile etc - forking out for something that only plays games seems silly to me.
 
I'd be a sad panda if that came to pass.

I prefer dedicated portable gaming devices [having tried games on a Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4], and am unlikely to pay extra for a budget smartphone when I upgrade next month, but that is just because I have no need of anything more than the ability to make and receive calls and create and receive text messages.

In any case, I seldom pay full price for games, and would rather pay a little extra for something like Super Mario 3D World than purchase Angry Birds or Infinity Blade.

My 2c worth.
 
This may be looked at from the wrong perspective of gaming vs. More and more people are adopting smart phones because, well, they're phones. How many people do you see these days with a touch-screen phone? Most people have them. Having gaming on your phone is a bonus, but companies, like Epic, know that releasing an app for a few $ will bring in some big bucks.

Gaming on phones is a very real, no matter how many people to wish it wasn't. Gone are the days of Java-based Bubble Bobble clones.

It also comes down to taste. I game on my iPhone, yes, but I never purchase it for that reason. It was bought as a mobile office for myself. While I like and Vita and 3DS (okay, not so much the 3DS - DS was great!) I don't see myself purchasing either of these for a while. The iOS library offers me quick gaming while I'm in an industry where I don't always get to eat lunch (time constraints). I also love simulation games and cannot tell you how many hours I've managed to put into Kairosoft's Story titles on iOS.

Apple also isn't focusing on gaming. If they did, then Sony and Nintendo should be a little more worried.

Sorry - I may have lost the plot with this post.
 
This is an extract from a chat me and DC had in other Vita related thread and I think it works here too.

That's a good argument. But for me it would never work. having played Final Fantasy III on the DS and on the iPhone the lack of dedicated buttons gets to me after a while.

You also get what you pay for in terms of games. I don't see myself playing an iOS game for more than 100 hours like I have an many other portable games. I just think back to my youth with dragon warrior monsters and Pokemon on my Gameboy.

The main reason mobile gaming is taking off is because people get the phones on contract for cheap. How many iPhone users shelled out the R9000 for it? less than 5%? If I could get a PS Vita for R100 a month with unlimited data I would, hell who wouldn't? Microsoft's learned this and that's why they are pushing those new bundles/deals...
 
I have to agree with Omega, but I think we're comparing apples and naartjies here.

No serious gamer will be content with an iOS game, but taking my own iPhone gaming habits as an example (I play perhaps two or three times a week when I'm waiting in a queue, having morning coffee, etc.) it makes no sense to me to pay so much extra for a dedicated gaming console.

To me this is like when people say Android devices far outsell iPhones without acknowledging the fact that the sheer number of Android handsets far outweighs Apple's single handset; similarly, because of the sheer quantity of iOS games and their low price, naturally they're going to be popular because it's a cheap addition to a device you already own.

Now if someone could just whip up a decent Mario clone on iOS we could settle this permanently :)
 
I have to agree with Omega, but I think we're comparing apples and naartjies here.

No serious gamer will be content with an iOS game, but taking my own iPhone gaming habits as an example (I play perhaps two or three times a week when I'm waiting in a queue, having morning coffee, etc.) it makes no sense to me to pay so much extra for a dedicated gaming console.

To me this is like when people say Android devices far outsell iPhones without acknowledging the fact that the sheer number of Android handsets far outweighs Apple's single handset; similarly, because of the sheer quantity of iOS games and their low price, naturally they're going to be popular because it's a cheap addition to a device you already own.

Now if someone could just whip up a decent Mario clone on iOS we could settle this permanently :)

I guess if I had any deep desirer to play any of the games on any hand held console maybe forking out for a dedicated handheld but since I dont Im happy with my iOS games on the go, especially pinball <3. But yeah a decent Mario or Pokemon clone or even emulate would be epic. I mean Super SFIV on iOS is pretty decent.
 
With gaming on smartphone and tablets I think the games on those devices opened up new markets instead of cutting into handled held gaming devices. People who now have ios/android devices now have a platform to play games on while 10 years ago all you had was snake. So now you have billions of people with access to mobile gaming instead of just those few millions who have nintendo/sony devices. The market just expanded and now have more competition instead of just the gameboy, a couple of years ago.
 
With gaming on smartphone and tablets I think the games on those devices opened up new markets instead of cutting into handled held gaming devices. People who now have ios/android devices now have a platform to play games on while 10 years ago all you had was snake. So now you have billions of people with access to mobile gaming instead of just those few millions who have nintendo/sony devices. The market just expanded and now have more competition instead of just the gameboy, a couple of years ago.
I fully agree with this. More and more people are gaming, which is only a good thing.

Hey, people who play Angry Birds (seriously, it gets pretty difficult!) may then look to other platforms for different titles.
 
More and more people are adopting smart phones because they are phones? If that is all there is to it, why not just settle for the cheapest phone and text device instead of shelling out [sometimes unnecessarily] for a pocket computer [given sufficiently large pockets :-P ? While some there are those who can justify spending in excess of R150 a month for a smart phone, actually do use them to their full potential [mostly in the business and technical field] I have seen a number of people who take such devices on contract simply because they can....or because they were seduced by marketing, or because it is the fashionable thing to do if one wants to be part of the in crowd. Someone recently showed me the Samsaung Galaxy II she got on contract. Most of the time, all she does is make and receive calls. lol. This is just my opinion, of course, and I am not saying that any of you are wasting your money-you are all tech-savvy enough to extract the last iota of functionality from your smart phones, I am sure.....I just don't think that everyone needs one-especially if what they are looking for is a 'phone.

I qualify for an upgrade with Cell C next month, and will probably opt for the old tried and tested Nokia on Straight Up 30. :)
[I went to play with some phones at the Cell C Store yesterday--would like to get a device with a mini keyboard if it will fit my budget. Primarily, I use my mobile phone for sending text messages, and having that facility would make it even simpler for me.]
Come to think of it, I may just opt to carry on using the Nokia 2710 that was given to me after my Samsung Star packed up.
 
I played the so called "mobile" games on the iOS and phones and they cannot compare to the dedicated programming done for the 3DS and the Vita. The different approach to mobile gaming on phones and dedicated hardware keeps a very defined boundaries that the developers adhere to. Of course with hardware keep improving this comment will probably be outdated in the very near future, but till then unless its a port any game on iOS has a very different scope.
 
I'll say what I said in the previous article as well; people who want dedicated gaming devices will get the 3DS or Vita.

Saying that something that can be called, at best, casual games is going to knock a gaming device out of the market is like saying the release of the Citi Golf killed off BMW sales.
 
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