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Why iPhone Games are not like a PSP or DS?

U

umbilical

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 3, 2008
1,329
362
FL, USA
hi there, I love the iphone beacuse I have all in one thing... web, music etc... etc.. but! why the games are too simple? why dont have full games like PSP or nintendo DS, is beacuse need more graphics or ram o hd space... or something? I ask to experts... you guys ;)

thanks
 
My guess is that it takes time to develop working games with complexity and depth. The iPhone SDK is still very very new.
 
it's simple
because the iphone isn't solely meant for gaming.
It could, but I don't think it can rival PSP nor the Nintendo DS.

(The new Nintendo DSi is amazing btw.)
 
Most games for PSP and DS are between $20-40 brand new, and I don't think most people would spend that much for an iphone game. PSP discs can hold about a gig and a half of data, at that rate your iphone would fill up quickly. Also, the battery on the psp lasts about 4-6 hours of nothing but gaming and it is higher capacity than an iphone. So the iphone's battery would really drain under that kind of load and people would whine about it. Just my 2 cents :D
Edit: Another thing would be the need to control most everything via the accelerometer on the iphone, this works fine for simple games, but for more involved games a true directional pad and/or joystick are preferable. Trying to use on screen touch sensitive buttons for extra functions on the iphone isn't very practical for more involved games.
 
sv650s said:
Most games for PSP and DS are between $20-40 brand new, and I don't think most people would spend that much for an iphone game. PSP discs can hold about a gig and a half of data, at that rate your iphone would fill up quickly. Also, the battery on the psp lasts about 4-6 hours of nothing but gaming and it is higher capacity than an iphone. So the iphone's battery would really drain under that kind of load and people would whine about it. Just my 2 cents :D
Click to expand...

All good reasons.

Another reason is that iPhone games either:

1) Work solely with tilt control.

OR

2) Your fingers block parts of the screen as you play.

Now, there are plenty of games that can work well with this, but these factors are going to limit some designs.
 
Real Soccer seems to be a full game (though I don't like soccer so I don't really know).

It's possible. It's just mainly cause of people complaining.

People still think of the iPhone as a cell phone. Therefore, games cannot exceed $9.99 (if even).

Next is the graphics. The iPhone already has better graphics than the PSP or DS (excluding anti-alias...no idea if PSP or DS can do it either, though). But because of that, a lot of developers try to take advantage of that. It drains the already-worse-than-PSP-or-DS-battery making people complain.

The space required is also limited. Cartridges allow people to have many games without worrying about losing memory space.

Lastly, note that it's expecting to take about two years to release Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep on the PSP. Therefore, it would take about the same for the iPhone.

The PSP and DS currently have a more familiar market for making these games on. They wouldn't put that many people into developing for the iPhone only to sell the game at $9.99.
 
Dreamer2go said:
(The new Nintendo DSi is amazing btw.)
Click to expand...

Barring employment at Nintendo, how does one arrive at such a conclusion regarding a device that was only announced a few days ago? Do you mean the photos are amazing? The description? The name?
 
yes it can

I think that the timeline argument is the only capable argument to have. I would definitely download and play the full version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed over the one released for the iPhone/Touch. If a game like Sonic or Bionic Commander for the iPhone/Touch came out and cost $20 - $30 and was a full game with great game play and graphics I would buy it (granted it was a good game)! Sure you'd have to make room for the game on your device but its just like adding a movie or a few TV episodes, you have to manage your space. I'm sure you could turn off wifi and 3G to save on battery or put your phone on airplane mode and play without any worries of your battery being drained by other functions. Plus isn't there an add-on in the works that adds tactile buttons? Maybe they'll release something that also has a small battery extender.
 
thanks guys, but my conclusion is that "is a question of time" If I have a iphone I prefer pay $20 or $40 for a game and have all in my iphone that buy a psp or nintendo ds... I think that soon apple go to world of games... for iphone, I repeat is a question of time... soon! :)
 
umbilical said:
hi there, I love the iphone beacuse I have all in one thing... web, music etc... etc.. but! why the games are too simple? why dont have full games like PSP or nintendo DS, is beacuse need more graphics or ram o hd space... or something? I ask to experts... you guys ;)

thanks
Click to expand...

I think the hardware for the iPhone is comparable to the DS, maybe the PSP. But some of the reasons have been mentioned.

1) In-depth games take a long time to develop. It takes way more than a year to do a very in-depth game along the lines of The Legend of Zelda. I think they worked on Twilight Princess for 2 or 3 years. You also want to start small on a brand new platform to make sure you can make money. If games on the iPhone were a dud, it would've been dumb to sink a lot of money into R&D.

2) It's a phone. Most people don't buy phones to play Zelda-esque games. They want 10-minute time-wasters when waiting in an office for something.

3) Storage probably has a bit to do with it. You're limited to 8GB on most phones, 16GB on some, and most people don't want to use a ton of that for game saves or whatever.

4) There are no buttons to use. Developers have to figure out how to make games for the iPhone just like they did (well, do) for the Wii. If you have played enough Wii games, you can tell that some developers have good ideas for how to use the Wiimote (Pro Evolution Soccer) and other developers are just stupid (NCAA Football 2009).
 
umbilical said:
thanks guys, but my conclusion is that "is a question of time" If I have a iphone I prefer pay $20 or $40 for a game and have all in my iphone that buy a psp or nintendo ds... I think that soon apple go to world of games... for iphone, I repeat is a question of time... soon! :)
Click to expand...

That's pretty much the deal. It'll take some control pad attachment before you get the big games, and even then Sony and Nintendo will likely not develop for them. Most of your big games will come from EA it looks like.
 
http://www.icontrolpad.com <--- once this device comes out, you will begin to see games that rival the above listed platforms. Until then, it's pretty hard to compete when your device doesn't have standard gaming controls.
 
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