iOS and Android Grab 58% of U.S. Portable Gaming Revenue

[fat phil]

This. If anyone think's that Nintendo is going down the drain, they don't know what they are talking about. Nintendo is going through product transitionary period. The games they are making a better and better, the platforms they are making are better, more immersive, more innovative. All that is needed now is they need to move away from their retail routes and work long on hard on getting an awesome online storefront. Cutting game prices to 30 bucks (just through the savings in manufacturing carts and retail cuts) will position themselves even better, and then u have eShop for your iOS style, cheaper, less immersive games. Win, win, Nintendo will adapt. iOS will continue to grow, Sony and PSP will continue to grow, and Android as a gaming platform will continue to falter.

+ Nintendo

Nobody can make predictions like these, because there are no precedents for the current climate. Sony Vita may change everything for Sony, and Nintendo may simply run itself into the ground trying to come up with new concepts that go nowhere.

The problem doesn't lie in the hardware but in the business. iOS and Android represent democratized development, distribution and sales. Nintendo and Sony (and Microsoft) represent barriers such as proprietary tools, complex license agreements, high cost of entry and direct competition from the very platforms they're selling on (especially Nintendo platforms).

I could argue that iOS and Android are killing the games business, because their lower barrier to entry has made a market for low quality content in massive bulk. But just because there's a market for it, doesn't mean that there isn't a market for higher quality, more difficult to produce product on Sony & Nintendos platforms.

The fact that there is "more to see" on iOS and Android has as much to do with there are more people out there who would never buy a portable console in the first place. The entire comparison between mobile and 'portable console' could be an illusion. Just because more people buy Fords doesn't mean Aston Martin are doomed to the trash heap.

Anyway, not arguing either way - quite the opposite...there's no such thing as a crystal ball.

 

[Javik]

\
why carry around another device when you're already carrying around a phone that can play games?

eh im not sure about u but I'm not going to be spending 50 od hours on ye ol SPY Mouse or Modern Combat.

Sure, the iOS gaming experience is awesome! You've got innovative touch technologies, gyro, awesome graphics. But it just doesn't have the breadth of immersive 20hr + titles that the likes of Nintendo and Sony have. You don't have developers like Square Enix or Gamefreak plying in all their resources in the mobile platforms.

I just feel that everyone get's this perception that dedicated handheld gaming is doomed. The bottom line is, the majority of games on iOS or bloody crap. Nothing compares to the finish of Super Mario 3D Land or Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. Sure, mobile have things like Infinity Blade and Real Racing, but nothing compares to the breadth of titles and experiences 3rd Parties give to Nintendo and PSP.

I love my 3DS AND iPod Touch. I know it's not just me but many people have setups like this (along with consoles, iPad's, PC/MAC) and they all enjoy the benefits each platform attribute to their lifestyle.

 

[janstett]

You guys are fanboys if you think Nintendo is going to go out of business because they don't make games for iOS.

Nintendo will be just fine. People buying 99¢ App Store games were never their customers anyway.

Nintendo was close to death when they threw up a hail-mary with the Wii. While it was successful for a time, it cooled off very quickly and now the console is stagnant as nothing new is coming out until the next gen Wuuiiiuuuiuiuiu hits the market. The Wii is dead in the water and the Wuuiuiuiu may be a bigger flop than the PS3.

Nintendo is toast.

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eh im not sure about u but I'm not going to be spending 50 od hours on ye ol SPY Mouse or Modern Combat.

Sure, the iOS gaming experience is awesome! You've got innovative touch technologies, gyro, awesome graphics. But it just doesn't have the breadth of immersive 20hr + titles that the likes of Nintendo and Sony have. You don't have developers like Square Enix or Gamefreak plying in all their resources in the mobile platforms.

I dunno, I think if you're playing 20 hour games that's what the big boy consoles (360/PS3) are for.

And some developers (such as EA) do put big resources into mobile. Regardless, one of my complaints with the big franchises on the consoles is that they are extremely stale, and I welcome the new crop of indies who are creating new and innovative titles.

As I look at what I'm playing on the 360, yet another Call of Duty, yet another Madden, yet another Forza... It's gotten to be a drudge, there's no innovation there because of the walled garden. I welcome the sandbox the indie developer has on the mobile platforms.

I think the handheld consoles are getting squeezed out by the portable devices from below and they already have a hard ceiling courtesy of the TV consoles.

 

[0098386]

The problem doesn't lie in the hardware but in the business. iOS and Android represent democratized development, distribution and sales. Nintendo and Sony (and Microsoft) represent barriers such as proprietary tools, complex license agreements, high cost of entry and direct competition from the very platforms they're selling on (especially Nintendo platforms).

If you have a solid game concept there are many console publishers out there who will fund development, that's the route I went down. Plus Microsoft has XNA which is as easy and cheap to get into as iOS app development.

Nintendo was close to death when they threw up a hail-mary with the Wii. While it was successful for a time, it cooled off very quickly and now the console is stagnant as nothing new is coming out until the next gen Wuuiiiuuuiuiuiu hits the market. The Wii is dead in the water and the Wuuiuiuiu may be a bigger flop than the PS3.

How elegant.
The Wii didn't cool off at all. For most of it's life it was the most sold console. And this big flop you're talking of is currently a couple of million units behind the Xbox and is now outselling all other consoles every week (worldwide). Mustn't be doing that bad, and bear in mind that it was released almost two years after the Xbox.

I dunno, I think if you're playing 20 hour games that's what the big boy consoles (360/PS3) are for.

Not at all. Sales of similar games (Mario Kart Wii and DS, New Mario Wii and DS) are very close. There are loads of huge games, games that play better on handhelds etc. I've thrown 200 hours into Dissidia for the PSP and there's nothing like that for the "big boy consoles", but it's a full console experience.

As I look at what I'm playing on the 360, yet another Call of Duty, yet another Madden, yet another Forza... It's gotten to be a drudge, there's no innovation there because of the walled garden. I welcome the sandbox the indie developer has on the mobile platforms.

There's a huge indie market on PC/Steam, PS3/PSP and Xbox 360. If you're playing Call of Duty, Madden etc then it's your own fault surely?

 

[*LTD*]

Call of Duty ripoff

Ugly port where the devs were too lazy to put player names on the back of the jerseys

Gears of War ripoff

no wonder they were only $5-7

Here's another port/ripoff, etc.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dead-space-for-ipad/id396019894?mt=8

iPad: 224 ratings and 4.5 out of 5 stars.
iphone: 510 ratingd and 4.5 out of 5 stars

Doesn't look like a lot of unhappy users forced to use horrid touch controls. Indeed, it looks like they've gotten used to them.

Visit that link again, then look at the platform. You're looking at the future.

Just don't forward it to Satoru Iwata. You'll only make things worse, and chances are, he's already loaded up on Bromo-Seltzer.

You can call these games every derogatory name you can think of. It won't change the essential fact that a) quite a few of them work great with touch controls, b) a whole generation is growing up with touch controls and has gotten used to them (since they are becoming the dominant method of interaction, and c) Nintendo still has no answer to this new platform that is taking gaming by storm and is here to stay.

Frankly, I'm quite surprised Satoru Iwata still has a job. Given that Nintendo has done nothing in nearly 4 years in answer to iOS/Android.

But I'll tell you what he *probably* did. One of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U

But perhaps in a more reserved, Japanese style?

A lot of industry giants thought it was all a big joke and that it would fade away.

Fast-forward a few years later and the newcomers now own the industry.

 

[Winni]

There's a huge indie market on PC/Steam, PS3/PSP and Xbox 360. If you're playing Call of Duty, Madden etc then it's your own fault surely?

It's not worth wasting your breath in this discussion, you're arguing against a very binary view of the world and that's an argument you cannot win.

People who are really into games are not binary, they own multiple platforms and buy 'their' games for the platform they think the game runs best on (for them). For example, I prefer the touch screen version of Plants vs Zombies over the PC/Mac version of the game and I can say the same about Jelly Defense.

But would I honesty want to play something like Doom or Wolfenstein on a touch interface? Definitely not.

Do I prefer Bioshock on the Xbox or the Mac/PC? It's definitely the Xbox version for me.

Would I play Civilization on an iPad or a console? No. The game was designed with a big screen resolution and a mouse in mind.

And those are just a fistful of examples. The gaming world is not binary, most gamers own multiple hard- and software platforms. If a game is an exclusive title for a certain platform, the hardcore gamer will simply buy the hardware to play the game. And if a game is multi-platform, the hardcore gamer will buy the version for the platform that he thinks fits best to the game.

It's similar with the Kindle, by the way. Most Kindle owners also own other gadgets -- their attitude towards hardware platforms is not in the least binary. They just think that the Kindle is the best device to read eBooks. Only the iPad owners on this forum here seem to believe that "their" device is the one and only answer to all the questions.

 

[fat phil]

If you have a solid game concept there are many console publishers out there who will fund development, that's the route I went down. Plus Microsoft has XNA which is as easy and cheap to get into as iOS app development.

Yep, I'm a "veteran" developer so I'm familiar with all the platforms, but XNA isn't an end platform, it's a toolset, and is only useful (if you're talking about cheap) for the XBLA Indy marketplace.

Getting a title on XBLA is not so straightforward, you need certification, approval from MS, maybe XDK...and then you need a slot - and there's a limited number of slots, so Publishers won't just take on any title - bear in mind Publishers think in terms of the future, and they are extremely choosy what they add to their release schedule/portfolio. If you get their interest, they'll do due diligence on you for starters to make sure you can make the game, and then lawyers get involved and contracts are drawn up... all of which basically precludes "cheap" before you've even got a signature on paper, and that can yet be months down the line, time during which you (and your team) are paying for food and rent from...somewhere...!

So you see, there are good reasons why there aren't 200,000 self-published console developers out there

But basically you're right in that it's possible if you have what a publisher's looking for - but how many good game concepts are there these days. Lots of the same thing, sadly.

 

[diamond.g]

Right. I'm sure that's what Satoru Iwata is saying as well . . . "Meh, COD ripoff, that's all these are, just lazy ports. Nothing to worry about."

Not.

Write off new market realities at your risk.

To be honest I am surprised that Activision hasn't gone after them (Gameloft) for the blatant IP rip off.

If you have a solid game concept there are many console publishers out there who will fund development, that's the route I went down. Plus Microsoft has XNA which is as easy and cheap to get into as iOS app development.


How elegant.
The Wii didn't cool off at all. For most of it's life it was the most sold console. And this big flop you're talking of is currently a couple of million units behind the Xbox and is now outselling all other consoles every week (worldwide). Mustn't be doing that bad, and bear in mind that it was released almost two years after the Xbox.


Not at all. Sales of similar games (Mario Kart Wii and DS, New Mario Wii and DS) are very close. There are loads of huge games, games that play better on handhelds etc. I've thrown 200 hours into Dissidia for the PSP and there's nothing like that for the "big boy consoles", but it's a full console experience.

There's a huge indie market on PC/Steam, PS3/PSP and Xbox 360. If you're playing Call of Duty, Madden etc then it's your own fault surely?

People say they want new and innovative games, then when they are released they don't buy them. Publishers see that and gravitate towards known IP (and their sequels) as a source of consistent revenue.

 

[layte]

the same old thing ad nauseam.

a) Nintendo revolutionised and brought touch screen gaming to 150million users. b) Exactly! They grew up with a DS and are now starting to purchase the 3DS. c) 340,000 copies of a single game sold in a few days in Japan alone, the best ever opening sales number for a 3D Mario platformer ever says otherwise.

The 3DS is outselling a console which has to date sold 150million units at the same stage in its life.

I realise that nothing I or anyone else says will change your ludicrously blinkered Apple centric viewpoint. But to think that the most innovative gaming company on the planet have no answer to mobile phone gaming is insane.

 

[farleysmaster]

You know what? I say this as some one who uses her iPhone as a "gameboy" and doesn't have any dedicated portable game player (and doesn't plan on getting one).

Do you guys cheering for iphone/android to win and Nintendo and PSP to go obsolete think that's really a good thing for us who do like gaming on our iphone?

Really?

Think about it. iPhone/android games can not charge much for the game cause no one will pay it.

They also don't need to pay for production and distribution of cases, cartridges and manuals.

Therefore the games we get are either going to be ones that they aren't going to spend a lot of resources making (Angry Birds), or, here is where it is important that Nintendo/PSP stay around, ports of games from Nintendo/PSP.

Angry Birds doesn't have a lot of resources spent on it?

Or alternatively forced to find some other way of making money... like say all the freemium crap. Go look at Let's Golf 3 or GT + by Gameloft if you want to see the future of games that companies spend more resources developing so have to make the money back. They're not cheap (you realize both games have packages that are 100 dollars to pay for and honestly if you play a lot you'll end up spending that much and more?), they cheapen gameplay though (paying to advance cheapens gameplay over *playing* to advance. Your reward is not even gotten by playing the game and comes too easy and you lose motivation for playing).

So... the fact that iPhone and Android are doing so well in gaming seems good at first until you look at long term affects.

What I'd be cheering for is all of them to do well (and iphone to do well enough to encourage them to send some ports over of the popular games. Kinda like squaresoft is doing a lot ). And for people to rebel against freemium and realize paying a little more upfront is a helluva lot better than emptying your pockets over time for a game that just isn't as rewarding.

Freemium is not so good, no, but I'm confused by this argument. Any increase of share by iOS/android is bound to decrease the share of other devices. Is the idea that PSP/DS users should subsidise iOS/android users gettign cheaper ports?

 

[TomaxXamot]

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Nintendo are in a transitional period. Wii sales are declining, while development of the successor is taking large amounts of resources. Plus, while the 3DS has had a rocky start (yet better than the DS in this stage of its life) sales have just had a huge kick up the backside in Japan due to the big N finally getting a solid gold AAA title out of the door (Super Mario 3D Land) with the likes of Mario Kart just around the corner.

I find it strange that many of the uninformed people hooting and hollering that Nintendo should sell up, or lower themselves to be yet another 3rd party software house, are the very same people that like to mock Michael Dell for stating that Apple should have sold up and given the money back to the shareholders.

^This.

I can't see the future, but neither could the people in the 90's who thought Apple should pack up their hardware business and license out Mac OS.
And for the record, I would never want to play Mario or Zelda with touch controls. Can't wait for Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7!

Also, this isnt the first time Nintendo has looked like they were about to crumble- look at the days post Gamecube and Gameboy Advance, pre Wii and DS.

 

[Renzatic]

Would I play Civilization on an iPad or a console? No. The game was designed with a big screen resolution and a mouse in mind.

Civilization on an iPad could be a beautiful thing if done right. I could imagine the hardware handing something on the level of Civ IV with a medium sized world, and 4-5 civs easily.

Or what about Alpha Centauri iPad? Hell, I'd almost be willing to sell a kidney for that.

In fact, the iPad could be a huge return to the glory days of PC gaming. Remember those old Infinity Engine RPGs that came out in the late 90's? Those style of games are tailor made for touchscreen controls. In fact, just about any overhead RPG, RTS, or city building game would be a great fit for the iPad.

Problem is, barely anyone's taking advantage of the inherent strengths of the device, and keep shoveling cheap angry bird ripoffs and cheesy flash games onto the thing, with the occasional awkward FPS and platformer thrown in for variety.

The iPad isn't a good device for all games. Anything that traditionally used a gamepad absolutely blows on it. But for some games, it's a beautiful machine. Unfortunately, those are the games we're seeing the least of.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

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^This.

I can't see the future, but neither could the people in the 90's who thought Apple should pack up their hardware business and license out Mac OS.
And for the record, I would never want to play Mario or Zelda with touch controls. Can't wait for Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7!

Also, this isnt the first time Nintendo has looked like they were about to crumble- look at the days post Gamecube and Gameboy Advance, pre Wii and DS.

Nintendo is one of the oldest companies in the industry and will certainly be around for years to come. I may not like the new name for their future system, but at least, they have some interesting ideas on interactivity. In fact, they are close to solving the problem with letting the new system allow two tablet controllers interact instead of one as it was mentioned somewhere on some gaming website, I believe, ign.com(?).

 

[the8thark]

And how much of this 58% is iOS? Most of it I think. Android customers are known not to be so willing to pay for apps.

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Nintendo is one of the oldest companies in the industry and will certainly be around for years to come. I may not like the new name for their future system, but at least, they have some interesting ideas on interactivity. In fact, they are close to solving the problem with letting the new system allow two tablet controllers interact instead of one as it was mentioned somewhere on some gaming website, I believe, ign.com(?).

And if Nintendo is looking like dying then the PSP/other portable (non iOS) console market is already dead. As Nintendo has outsold (gamewise) everything portable except iPhone games.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

Civilization on an iPad could be a beautiful thing if done right. I could imagine the hardware handing something on the level of Civ IV with a medium sized world, and 4-5 civs easily.

Or what about Alpha Centauri iPad? Hell, I'd almost be willing to sell a kidney for that.

In fact, the iPad could be a huge return to the glory days of PC gaming. Remember those old Infinity Engine RPGs that came out in the late 90's? Those style of games are tailor made for touchscreen controls. In fact, just about any overhead RPG, RTS, or city building game would be a great fit for the iPad.

Problem is, barely anyone's taking advantage of the inherent strengths of the device, and keep shoveling cheap angry bird ripoffs and cheesy flash games onto the thing, with the occasional awkward FPS and platformer thrown in for variety.

The iPad isn't a good device for all games. Anything that traditionally used a gamepad absolutely blows on it. But for some games, it's a beautiful machine. Unfortunately, those are the games we're seeing the least of.

Civilization is a classic and rightly so in that matter because old school games back in the day would fit in nicely with the iPad due to screen size and touch interactivity. Especially for strategic (RTS) games. It can receive a graphical boost, if not much on par with the PC. Although the biggest drawback is that Apple's iPad storage capacity can be a huge issue if porting a game that takes up a lot of memory.

"Out of this World" is another classic game from the early 1990s and ported nicely from what I heard and I suspect it's because it does'nt take up much memory because it was designed that way originally in the old days due to hardware limitations.

Right now, I'm assisting with a friend of mine on an iOS and Android game using the Unity engine. I don't code but am a storyboard artist/writer for the project. He wanted to go full 3-D similar to what you see in World of Warcraft, but the intensity and detail of the graphics would make the iPad 'choke', and he had to go a different route to reduce the rendering process in order to retain the 'cinematic' look.

Even then, large games taking up close to 1GB or more would take a while to download while casual games take less than 5 minutes. Hardcore games, I've noticed, with intense graphics take up longer to download, say SHADOWGUN for example, but would take seconds to load up on a home console.

Games like "Alien Space" or "Battleheart" have a very clean and simple look, even though they were rendered, from my understanding, on 3-D. The former is definitely a tribute to the 80s arcade shoot 'em ups like Sinistar. The latter is an amusing but repetitious formula that has a clever interface, and structured similarly to games like "Shining Force". Most iOS games are formulaic for simplicity while some may not be.

Re: Alpha Centauri. THE Sid Meier version? Old school classic! I never got the chance to buy or play it but I know of it. The iPad is perfect for this type of game.

But if you want a real game to give you a heart attack at night that no Apple fanboy can handle: ALIEN for Commodore 64, made in 1984 (I believe it was that year it came out).

Don't. ever. play. this. game. at. night. or. with. lights. out.

Yes, ALIEN based on the classic 1979 film. Graphics are cheesy compared to today's standards, but my god, it is scarier than Resident Evil. For a game that size, it won't take up more than 500 MB with graphical upgrades.

The point being is that older games can port nicely with some upgrades in the tablet market.

 

[tigress666]

You know, I already argued that we (those of us who like to game on our iphone) shouldn't want to see Nintendo or Sony to fail (but for all platforms to do well and iOS to do well enough to encourage them to port games from the dedicated handhelds to make extra money).

But I'll also argue against the people saying that you can't beat physical controls.

You're right, physical controls are better. But I've found the gaming experience is nice enough without them (it can be a little frustrating but it's not bad honestly) that that alone would not convince me to go pay extra money to have a dedicated device and carry around an extra device with me. WHen my iphone can suffice as my gaming device and I already have it so no extra money and less stuff to put in my purse.

And yes, I do play games on my iphone that would do better with physical buttons (Prince of Persia for example, Tomb Raider). And while I may not be the most dedicated of gamers, the point is most people aren't so sorry, physical controls alone aren't going to save dedicated systems (and I do consider how many games my phone gets as one of the important aspects of picking. If iPhone loses the gaming market and Android gets it, I'll be seriously considering Android).

But plenty of games actually don't even really need it for the better controls (JRPGs honestly can be better with touch controls rather than having to scroll through all sorts of menus or scroll through which enemy you wanted to attack you just touch the enemy you want to target, driving games which actually I'll argue tilt controls are better than physical buttons anyways, buttons were always a sucky replacement for a steering wheel, puzzle games of all sorts).

 

[Pilgrim1099]

And how much of this 58% is iOS? Most of it I think. Android customers are known not to be so willing to pay for apps.

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And if Nintendo is looking like dying then the PSP/other portable (non iOS) console market is already dead. As Nintendo has outsold (gamewise) everything portable except iPhone games.

Nintendo may have outsold everything and being challenged by the portable market, they'll still be around. You should remember that Sony and Microsoft are still going to come out with next generation consoles in the future. What they will be like, we won't know until they unveil them.

And I suspect in part of the new generation consoles, they will attempt to include features that deal with the portable gaming industry. The WiiU is a preview of what could be coming in the future, not just from Nintendo but what other competitors may have already been working on.

The biggest problem I see with the iphone and ipad is the lack of a memory card to expand on. With a storage capacity limitation, people are forced to compromise in what to install and not to install in the hardware. Even if they attempt to come out with a 128GB ipad or iphone, that device would be very expensive, otherwise it would be a long, long time before you see that number be available.

Storage capacity may be great for a lot of iOS devices, but storage expansion is nil and a weakness. I'm acutely aware of portable hard-drives designed for the iPad/iPhone to load off other apps to 'make room' or archive everything in one device off the grid and it's made by one small company.

And it's right there: http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-iPad-Hard-Drive-s/183.htm

Remember, Apple likes to have a FIXED storage capacity so that if you run out of room, you have to leave certain things out of it or if you hunger for more, you have to BUY another iOS device. That's how they gyp you for the $$.

 

[ftaok]

Is this revenue removed from traditional gaming, or is the market growing? Until you can prove it's the former, there's no threat. I play mobile games, sure. I didn't a couple years ago. I still do just as much serious gaming as I did before. I'm not going to sit on the couch and play Angry Birds for a couple of hours with my buddies...

Based on the information and numbers from the article, the overall revenue of the mobile gaming sector is growing, but not by enough to prevent Nintendo and Sony from seeing negative growth in they're sector revenues.

Using the numbers provided, the Sector Revenues are ($2.63B/$2.35B/$3.28B). Nintendo's revenues have dropped sequentially ($1.84B/$1.34B/$1.18B) while iOS/Android has increased.

So, in this case, the rising tide hasn't lifted all boats equally.

ft

 

[Dizzy11523]

Serious gamers, like physical controllers. Nintendo isn't going anywhere.

Nothing on the iOS beats Mario.

 

[tigress666]

Serious gamers, like physical controllers. Nintendo isn't going anywhere.

Nothing on the iOS beats Mario.

Unfortunately for "serious" gamers, they are nowhere near enough of the market to base a company's survival on (unless it is a small company).

As I said, physical controls are nice (for some games but not all games even suffer from lack of physical controls and some games, if done right, do better with touch controls once you get open minded enough to see that sometimes something new can be better), but touch controls are good enough for most people. It's still fun to play the game and that is the most important part. And it's really only some subset of games that really do better with physical controls. Hell... some games do poorly on even consoles (flight simulator anyone? And I mean true flight simulator?). They might even do better with touch controls cause you can touch what you need to change (instrument settings, what not. Do poorly on consoles cause you can't just keep scrolling through all the options you need to set. But on a touch screen you could just touch what you need to set and set it that way so there I'd say a flight simulator once the processors get there and probably on a bigger screen like an ipad would do better on a touch screen than a console).

 

[Pilgrim1099]

You know, I already argued that we (those of us who like to game on our iphone) shouldn't want to see Nintendo or Sony to fail (but for all platforms to do well and iOS to do well enough to encourage them to port games from the dedicated handhelds to make extra money).

But I'll also argue against the people saying that you can't beat physical controls.

You're right, physical controls are better. But I've found the gaming experience is nice enough without them (it can be a little frustrating but it's not bad honestly) that that alone would not convince me to go pay extra money to have a dedicated device and carry around an extra device with me. WHen my iphone can suffice as my gaming device and I already have it so no extra money and less stuff to put in my purse.

And yes, I do play games on my iphone that would do better with physical buttons (Prince of Persia for example, Tomb Raider). And while I may not be the most dedicated of gamers, the point is most people aren't so sorry, physical controls alone aren't going to save dedicated systems (and I do consider how many games my phone gets as one of the important aspects of picking. If iPhone loses the gaming market and Android gets it, I'll be seriously considering Android).

But plenty of games actually don't even really need it for the better controls (JRPGs honestly can be better with touch controls rather than having to scroll through all sorts of menus or scroll through which enemy you wanted to attack you just touch the enemy you want to target, driving games which actually I'll argue tilt controls are better than physical buttons anyways, buttons were always a sucky replacement for a steering wheel, puzzle games of all sorts).

Tigress,

However, analog controls will still be around for those who like the feeling of it and they are somewhat appropriate for certain games that require a subtle touch, kind of like me in fencing with my epee blade where I have to use sentiment du fer to feel for someone's blade for pressure and disengage their blade to make the touch. I fence locally and the motion controls for video games are NOTHING compared to the real thing. Not one bit.

Although, touch controls are appropriate for certain type of games that require interactivity and touching elements to drag and point out. Strategy games would work well with this such as Chess, in the most basic of examples.

On the other hand, I'm seeing strong possibilities of using actual objects to place onto the glass screen to interact with the game. For instance, Microsoft's Surface computer had a demo of a D&D rpg in session (I've seen the youtube clip) where students had a physical marker to place onto a virtual map in the forest and move the characters around, rotate the piece to activate a semi-circular menu to choose a command. It was very, very impressive. I've seen seen an ad somewhere that they have a game for kids with physical markers to place on the iPad.

I can't remember where it is, but I know I saw it. This is what's going to be expected for casual virtual 'board games' or educational applications.

And then there's Microsoft's Kinect. And YES, I'm acutely aware Apple is working on body motion camera tech for the iPad with a patent that was mentioned in an article somewhere on FlipBook (ipad app) but to game with a screen that small with body motion capture? I don't know about that.

I did see a video, where they had an experiment of using an XBox 360 game on Kinect but using virtual controls on the floor with real paintballs. Here it is:

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/the-ultimate-battlefield-3-simulator-has-been-created-20111031/

The results were stunning. Watch the video.

My point is that Apple will NOT be alone in this new gaming frontier and Microsoft already has a few years of experience with Kinect and Surface. I'm aware Apple is making a new tv and I've a feeling they are going to use motion detection built in to move the menu around similar to Microsoft's Kinect 360 model.

Motion based controls will happen as mainstream and standardized, but not immediately overnight. If you look at the film "Minority Report" by Spielberg, half of what you saw on motion controls via computer was real and the other half was all CGI. A real company was behind this technology and was mentioned in the TED talks last year. Very fascinating account.

What I'm saying is that Apple is not a gaming company and it's just one small part of their business. Most of Apple's business on the iOS devices are mainly two things:

1. Media consumption (games, movies, tv shows, books, etc)
2. Software apps (Pages, Adobe Carousel, Keynote, Facebook, etc)

EDIT: I found the D&D youtube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXsFNPO_gUM

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These iOS games disagree. And they were only $5-7 each.

Call of Duty: Modern Combat 3:
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NBA2K12:
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Shadowgun:
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SHADOWGUN is nice but it does have a GUI flaw .

 

[ReanimationN]

I've experimented with iOS gaming, I've bought a stack of games such as Chaos Rings, Dead Space, Plants vs Zombies, Angry Birds, Sonic: Episode 4 etc.

Out of all the games I've bought, Chaos Rings and Plants vs Zombies were by far the best. Chaos Rings was a great little RPG- it lacks the polish of DS and PSP RPGs, but it was a lot better than I thought it would be. On the other end of the scale, Dead Space was awful- it was repetitive and the controls killed it for me, they were an exercise in frustration.

My iOS purchases have completely trailed off- I haven't bought an iOS game for 6 months or so, instead I've been buying up PSP and DS games, since they're coming down in price towards the end of their consoles' life cycle. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker completely and utterly trounces anything I've touched on iOS. The difference in quality is absolutely amazing, it actually made me feel embarrassed trying to play Dead Space on iOS again- Peace Walker is that good. Anyone here with a PSP, PS3 or Xbox 360 (PS3 and Xbox 360 via the MGS HD Collection) should do themselves a favour and play Peace Walker- it will not disappoint.

 

[iEvolution]

There is simply no way touch devices will eliminate consoles or portable gaming devices.

I'm not going to the extreme and say touch is a fad but it definitely won't be replacing controllers or physical devices for a very long time, if ever.

Also, when you consider the quality of a game, there are far more shall we say "poor" games on both the App store and Android. You also have to consider the sheer amount of games, there are probably more triple the games for iOS/android than there is for the DS/PSP.

Statistics are pretty much garbage in my opinion, if they were all true we should all have a life threatening disease or condition.

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There is simply no way touch devices will eliminate consoles or portable gaming devices.

I'm not going to the extreme and say touch is a fad but it definitely won't be replacing controllers or physical devices for a very long time, if ever.

Also, when you consider the quality of a game, there are far more shall we say "poor" games on both the App store and Android. You also have to consider the sheer amount of games, there are probably more triple the games for iOS/android than there is for the DS/PSP.

Also like how they shoved the two together to make it look more dramatic. I mean aren't iOS and Android their own platforms?

I also don't think developing nintendo games for other platforms is going to hurt their hardware sales, the devices are still two separate entities. They really need to get up with times though, I mean the last upgrade was a gimmick at best (3D? come on). They need to do something in their hardware department because the graphics they use are Gamecube generation (2002?!).

Statistics are pretty much garbage in my opinion, if they were all true we should all have a life threatening disease or condition.

 

[SVegard]

You can call these games every derogatory name you can think of. It won't change the essential fact that a) quite a few of them work great with touch controls, b) a whole generation is growing up with touch controls and has gotten used to them (since they are becoming the dominant method of interaction, and c) Nintendo still has no answer to this new platform that is taking gaming by storm and is here to stay.

So what? You think that a "generation growing up with touch devices" is gonna choose that before everything else why? Even though it is worse compared to hardware controllers and buttons in most cases?

It seems like the concept of touch have gotten to some iBoys heads in ways that is a bit far out. An obsession with making touch tech replace everything else just because it is "new", cool and trendy. That does not make it "revolutionary" or the "next step in evolution". There have to be a real advantage if it should make any sense replacing something older with a new technology. And even there I see it time and time again. "Touch is above everything else, and in the cases where it isn`t it does not matter anyway because people will get used to it!". Where does this obsession come from? Was it something Steve said?........

Touch screen interfaces have its place and purpose for sure. There are some tasks that are better with it. SOME tasks. That is why the new touch screen thing is a ADD ON to what we used before, not a replacement.

 

[pic620]

I'm so very confused as to why people think that Nintendo has to "answer" to iOS gaming? iOS games are 99 cents and are worth about a week of gameplay (that's with a good attention span). Yeah, /real/ games on /real/ gaming consoles are more expensive, but they are also more emersive, have vastly more gameplay value, and they're well-put-together. I mean, does anyone actually think that legendary gaming series like Halo or world-renown characters that have been with us for decades like Mario, Donkey Kong, or Link, can be replicated by iOS apps that fall to the bottom of the chart in a month, and are forgotten about after downloading in a week? It's ludicrous. The iPad, iPhone, iPod, and even Apple TV are NOT gaming devices - they just happen to have games on them. They're no more gaming devices than the original click-wheel iPod.

Truth is: this just separates gamers from people who like to be casually distracted.

The gaming industry: Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft's Xbox, is around to stay. Cell phone, computer, and software companies have no bearing on that. Unless, that is, they become gaming companies.

I am a big Apple guy myself, but I'm not going to lie;

I have never played a satisfying game on an iOS device - not like I have on the DS, Xbox, PSP, Wii, etc.

Reason being is because real games do not have a large market in the app store. The only gaming market iOS holds is the cheap, accessible, and disposable. The rest will be handled by the gaming industry, by catering to actual gamers.