Opinions on gaming's paths (PC/Console to Phone/Tablet)

[Eleven19]

link removed

[Draylo]

A lot of those phone games are complete crap imo, I've never enjoyed playing them. It seems they are more towards people that don't game regularly at all, like old grandma's or little kids playing with their parents phone while taking a car ride (which they can play a DS, but not much difference between the two if they don't understand fully at that age.)

[Ratatapa]

Phone games are ok but will never get the full experience of a console or handheld game for me

[Kaisha]

Phone games are ok but will never get the full experience of a console or handheld game for me

This.

Phone/tablet is just appealing for publishers because it's very little investment, with larger return potential. It's the problem I see with 3DS/Vita. Why spend a few million developing for the standards of those two platforms, when you can do a weekend of Doritos and Mountain Dew for something on iOS/Android for a buck. Can shit out 50+ some games in that nature for the price of a standard console release. The only real problem with that market is that it's completely saturated, and highly trend based.

It'll never replace proper $40-60 games for me, but for the price they offer, I can't really argue much. I plan on getting a Nexus 7, and it'd be a means of complementing my overall gaming habits, rather than a replacement. Different devices for different purposes.

[Grey Jorildyn]

It's likely that the regular posters on this forum are not the target demographic for these game developers. We're a breed that will get less attention as they develop these games and people want them (but may never have a real choice anyway). They go with what makes money and sooner or later it won't be long console games. We've already seen how short games have becomes in the past decade as it is, as well as simple (heck even Skyrim was simple compared to predecessors). It's a sad reality that may come true some day.

[Kalmado]

Those games aren't for me at all. A friend recently asked, "do you have the game "Cut the Rope"? I'm like, um...wtf is that? He shows me and tells me I'll play for hours it's so much fun. I disagreed and we moved on. For some it is a great market, and not for others.

[Kisamoo]

Phone games are all the same basic physics engine finger swiping pieces of crap. It's just a fad. They're useful for playing while taking a shit, avoiding social contact when you're out with people you don't like and stealing your contact information.

[SephYuyX]

I dislike playing games on my PSP and 3DS, let alone playing on something even worse (phone/tablet).
I like my big screen feel, and along with that, the smaller media has a negative impact on visual and audio quality, not to mention how much depth a game can have.
Playing with a handheld just isnt comfortable for me; it's just not as enjoyable as a controller in your hand, leaning back and relaxing, without having to focus on a small screen.

If I had it my way, portable gaming wouldnt exsist.
Unfortuantly, the market and profit "99 cent" games can bring in disagree with me.

Dont get me wrong though. Down the road I wont have an issue with it, it's just right now that I dislike it.
When companies can perfect large TB storage devices in small/cheap media (and/or better cloud abilities), and I can swap back and forth from a handheld to a full screen TV with full HD+, 80+hr gameplay, etcetc, I wont mind.

[Pharaun]

I laugh every time I see people predicting the end of consoles/handhelds because of the tablet/smartphone market. Sure some of the free/$.99 are fun in small chunks of 5 or 10 minutes, but I've never found one that will hold my attention like a full fledged console title will. My coworkers complain that I never play casual shit like draw something or words with friends with them and I have to explain that if I'm going to play a game I want it to be a real game and not some freeware that can't hold my attention. The console/handheld market will definitely have to change and adapt to this new challenger, but I have no doubt that it will continue to exist because they offer something that tablet/smartphone gaming can't and most likely will never be able to provide.

[Eleven19]

Dont get me wrong though. Down the road I wont have an issue with it, it's just right now that I dislike it.
When companies can perfect large TB storage devices in small/cheap media (and/or better cloud abilities), and I can swap back and forth from a handheld to a full screen TV with full HD+, 80+hr gameplay, etcetc, I wont mind.

Interesting, I didn't think about that possibility. I guess we're sort of nearing that possibility at this point in time.

I half agree with you about the handhelds. I like the fact that I can take certain games with me.. but if I'm playing a hand held I tend only to want to play games like Pokemon or Mario Brothers. Take like Dissidia for instance. I could only imagine how that title could have been on a full console on an 55 in HD TV.

I've only played two games on cell phones. Peggle and Angry Birds, both of which got boring after like a week.

[Lonely]

Smartphone games have come a long way in these past 5 years and there is a very diverse market. Sure there is kiddie casual crap like angry birds, or temple run but there are also big titles like Final Fantasy, Mass Effect or Dead space and Grand Theft Auto, those aren't poor gimick ports either they are very well done, console quality pretty much, there are many indie devs putting out quality titles as well since that platform is incredibly indie friendly. Too many "hardcore" gamer will completely look down at the platform however and stick to their sony branded 250$ + 30$ 4gb memory card PSP Vitas with no games though, and just scream HURRRR TOUCHSCREEN CONTROLS, HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO PLAY ON THAT WITH MY PIZZA GREASED FINGERS.

I'm pretty sure if apple ever adopts a official universal gamepad and a seperate gamestore section it will be over for nintendo and sonys handheld division.

[Viq]

My phone is great for playing Chess and Jjangi (Korean-style Chinese chess) with friends online. While I don't have any interest in playing much on my phone, if they ported Culdcept to iOS/Android with online play then I would be on that shit all day err day. Given the choice, though, I would prefer to play any portable stuff on my Vita or 3DS.

[The Stig]

Trouble with these shitty (mainly) games is that I noticed it also spawned a new breed of people who tell me they are gamers simply because they play some simplistic game on their petty little device in comparison to say, a full blown/main stream game like SF4, CoD/MW/MOH/HALO etc etc.

So often I find myself in a situation that people think they can relate with me when they spend a bit of time playing all "hardcore" on their puny little game on their phone and think they can be on par with me when it comes to talking about proper games.

Out of politeness I engage with them but on a very light level.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Ideally, consoles would die out and we'd just have streamlined PC accessibility, since consoles these days are basically just PCs with a proprietary OS.

Thats not going to happen for a while if ever, though, because people don't understand that they're the same, and companies can make more money this way. Especially with console exclusives, which force those of us who do know whats up to get consoles anyway if we want to play those games.

Phone and other mobile games... Angry Birds, Tetris, varying forms of Solitaire, Plants vs Zombies are all decent mobile games. I think Mobile games fill the niche that Arcades used to, as far as genres. Short, simple games. Like Arcades in a post-console world, I don't foresee Mobiles ever taking over. I don't think they'll become endangered like Arcades did though.

[Viq]

In fairness, the arcade analogy only applies to the west. Even with consoles, handheld systems and smartphones being abundant, arcades are still alive and well in many parts of Asia. Having lived in Korea, I can say that it's easier to find an arcade than it is to find a place that sells console games there. Different countries/cultures/demographics play differently, though phone games are universally gaining popularity.

[Lokus]

Funny you mention the arcade analogy. The only games that I have purchased for my iPad are in fact ports of arcade games (Mushihimesama, DoDonpachi, Deathsmiles, <other bullet hell shmup>). While they are good ports, I still much rather would play the arcade version or the console version. Aside from that, phone/tablet gaming does have it's place but I don't think those platforms are viable for the type of gaming that PC/consoles can provide.

[Jakson]

If there were more in-depth and long games that I could get a physical copy of and play on my iPod touch and/or computer, and games, in general, were always made to be compatible with controllers, I would definitely only play those types of games. As it is, the real things that stand in the way are friends who don't care or are to broke to keep computer systems up and, afaik, a lot of games don't have their own voice channels (have to go through vent or w/e).

[Callisto]

I guess I'm grandpas guitars but I can't stand touchscreens and motion controllers. I just want a regular-ass controller, arcade stick, or light gun in my hands.

[Priran]

The only question that really matters here is whether console players are changing their preference to smartphone games strongly enough to play consoles less. Personally, I usually play smartphone games when I would previously have been browsing the internet (at work or otherwise out of the house), and how much I play console games hasn't changed. Saying the gaming market is being taken over by smartphones is putting the cart before the horse. Three kinds of lies, etc. I don't think anyone who plays a free game for five minutes on a device they did not buy to play games but happens to have the ability to do so is a gamer.

As for inspiring aspiring indie devs? Eh, not so much. Steam does that. App Market/Google Play inspire money-grubbing Zynga clones to mass produce tripe like Insertboardgame with Friends and Miniclip/AddictingGames flash game from a decade ago: Movie Tie-In Edition.

Ideally, consoles would die out and we'd just have streamlined PC accessibility, since consoles these days are basically just PCs with a proprietary OS.

It's more than that. Console developers don't need to worry about testing compatibility across a wide range of hardware. Look what happens when Japanese console devs try to program for PCs.

[brozy]

Personally i think that 'smartphone gaming' should go burn in hell, if not for one reason and that is those annoying ass yuppies claiming to be gamers because they play angry birds on their phone for 10 minutes a day. Also i'm of the opinion that phones are for calling people (i'll include texting in there since tbh it is just as handy) all this other shit they've decided to attach on to them is just getting down right silly these days, everything should have its place, phones for calling people, mobiles for the same/texting, computers for busy work/gaming, consoles for gaming etc it just feels like they are trying to homogenize everything which while can be ok in small doses, trying to cram everything and their mother into one device isn't imo