Apple is pulling a Nintendo and carving out a huge stake in an entirely new market of casual-centric games with a few serious, bigger productions thrown in for shits and giggles. Gajillions of people are going to be buying iPhone apps, but it won't dominate the portable gaming market, because the iPhone occupies a parallel market to the one that the PSP and DS are trying to capitalize on.
Such hostility in the iPhone articles, and to be quite honest it's rather pathetic to see so many of these strong definitive negatory statements such as "iPhone will NEVER compete with DS/PSP" or "iPhone will NEVER have the library to compete". Sounds kinda familiar... "The Wii will NEVER compete with PS3/360" or "The Wii will NEVER have the library to compete"
....I guess what I'm trying to say is, deny all you want, the fact of the matter is this mobile phone that Apple designed and released is a game-changer, just like the Wii was.
To address the statements made:
"The iPhone will NEVER have the library that the PSP or DS have."
Both the PSP and the DS have been out for almost five years now, and have had made great leaps and bounds in their library. The iPhone, in only two years, has grown a rather impressive library, both gaming and non, of applications that can be used on the device. With big publishers like EA and Konami, as well as independent programmers whom still receive pretty good profit, this library will get stronger as time progresses.
"The iPhone will NEVER compete with the DS/PSP with it's hardware."
I'd like to think that this device is meant to be played differently than the PSP or the DS. It's a pure touch-screen interface, but that doesn't mean you can't play these games (hell, how many Flash games have you played that required mouse, clicking?). That's why we have such a huge overabundance of tower defense games on this device...because it works pretty well on this.
Now, with that said, with the promise of peripherals coming to the system (which as far as you all know could very well just be a thin case that after installed would fit just like the PSP's setup), how can you make a definitive statement like "they will NEVER"? Get the blinders off your head when it comes to that..
One last thing: the reason for such large coverage of the iPhone in the last week or so? In case you didn't know, Apple recently announced a new model of the phone as well as released version 3.0 of the phone's operating system, which as this and many of the other articles on this site have shown, is expanding the capabilities of this device more and more.
As this article explicitly shows, people in the business of mobile gaming have expressed that the iPhone and it's accompanying App Store have been a phenomenon in the US. The PSPGo is designed with a lot of the same features the iPhone has, while still catering to it's strengths. Both the PSP and the DS are both putting energy and time into App Stores as well (which may or may not be in part to the iPhone's success).
Long story short...as much as you want to deny the iPhone's gaming credibility, tell that to the thousands of developers banking on their games for this device that are selling by the thousands each day. Sure, it may not be "hardcore," but seriously who cares? It's primary functions may not be gaming, but it's definitely making an impact on the gaming market whether you want to admit it or not.
Let's talk about games that are fun on the iphone. What have you played and enjoyed? I, personally, am still addicted to Flight Control. That new aircraft carrier map is so hard!
I always find it interesting how on sites like kotaku everytime iPhone talk comes up many jump in to repeat:
"iPhone is no gaming device, i´d pick ds or psp over it every day and oh, yeah, it has no buttons and dpad!!!"
Guys, the iPhone and iPod aren´t for people like you then obviously, no problem.
Besides that there are obviously many who like what it can do and what the app store offers and the potential in it, instead of always complaining about what is lacking, so yeah, to each his own, no?
A while ago i´d count myself a hardcore gamer if i´d like the term but meanwhile i have less and less time for gaming and when i do its usually when i take a day or two off and then i play several home console games from my pile of shame.
Regarding mobile gaming i used to play ds and psp for a while but now either i have time for propper lengthy playing in which i prefer doing it in front of the big home screen or i´m really on the go and then the often smaller and directly accessible iPhone games are ideal to me, also i just always have the iPhone with me, something neither the ds nor the psp can ever achieve.
I don´t say the iPhone is generally a better gaming device, it isn´t; but it gets way more gaming time from me than the ds and psp for quite a while and honestly what Sony and Nintendo are trying now with their hardware revisions and download stores looks like a laughable copying apple attempt to me.
@tomsamson: I understand where you're coming from but there's a bit of snake oil salesmanship going on here. Too many people swear the Iphone gaming can compete with DS and PSP gaming.
No
it
Can
Not
Time and again it has been said. Iphone doesn't have the proper interface nor does it have the library to compete. It's not even close. I own both a DS a PSP and a G1. I don't game on my G1 at all for the same reasons listed above. It's a joke to even try and compare Iphone and G1/smartphone gaming to DS and PSP when PSP is offering games like Wipeout and DS has The World Ends with You.
Like you I also have consoles. 2 PS3s and a 37in 1080p Vizio connected to a 5.1 surround sound system in my living room. Iphone STILL wouldn't even be considered as a gaming alternative if I needed a break from that. Its just annoying because people swear the Iphone should be taken seriously in comparsions to the PSP and DS when it's painfully clear it shouldn't be for obvious reasons. then we have the annoying arguments for Iphone as if dedicated DS/PSP/consoles gamers don't know what they're talking about.
Look, I'll put it this way, when I can get a Monster Hunter Freedom or a Final Fantasy Dissidia that looks better than the PSP games on Iphone come talk to me...
oh wait you STILL don't have any damn buttons, so who would you play it...
I haven´t said things in the vein of "dedicated DS/PSP/consoles gamers don't know what they're talking about"
I´d disagree with someone who would say something like that.
I actually said the iPhone / iPod is not comparable as gaming device to the ds/ psp.
What i said was listing why i, personally, meanwhile play more on iPhone than on psp or ds.
Sure, as long as it has no dpad and buttons the iPhone/ iPod will never be ideal for some game types as much as the ds or psp are.
But still there are many game types that can be done well on it and well, for many people like me its obviously more important that they can have lots of small games for few money and play them in between on a device they always carry with them then going out and buying games for 20-40 bucks that they maybe then wouldn´t play that long anyway.
I totally understand people prefering a ds or psp, i played both a lot while i was an employee a few years back and drove to work by train each day, but yeah, those days are over now for me.
Really, to each his own.
I just think it doesn´t make sense to always argue against the iPhone or iPod by comparing it to the ds or psp cause it is something different with own pros and cons and it clearly has a huge market of its own which doesn´t get smaller by always bashing it.
@tomsamson: again, I understand where you are coming from. These types of stories and articles have been on the interwebs for months now and have only gotten worse. I understand your personal preference too but how would one talk about Iphone gaming (with a headline like the "great white hype") and NOT talk about the competition? Especially when so many people believe Iphone is as good as the competition when it clearly isn't.
I view the idea of "Iphone gaming being as good or better than DS or PSP gaming" with the same apprehension as the idea of "Wii has defined the future of gaming with motion..."
If the Iphone is the future of portable gaming then the future is not bright.
Also, to PSP and DS's favor, you don't have to spend 20-40 bucks on every game and if you want similar, smaller straight to the point games those are available as well, especially on PSN for the PSP. Quick pick up and play games aren't new to the PSP or the DS either. but as you said, to each their own. I cant take the Iphone seriously.
the iphone is a phone that plays games. It doesn't matter who is making what for it or how many developers swear it's the second coming, I don't see how the Iphone can be taken seriously without a proper interface. even Nintendo wasn't stupid enough to tell us DS didn't need face buttons and a D-pad.
Also, it's doesn't matter how many games are being made for it, the iphone has absolutely no answer for the DS and PSP's best games. God of War: CoO, Metal Gear: Portable Ops, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, Syphon Filter, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime: Hunters, the legions of FF and DragonQuest games...it goes on and on.
How many times has it been proven in this industry that better specs don't always translate into a better gameplay experience? Iphone is a phone with a good spec trying to be shoehorned into a portable gaming device. Great for those that don't know any better, lousy for gamers that DO know better.
@dkgshiz: Uh, Nintendo already got the "white, sterile, underpowered, overpriced and marketed to casuals" thing going. What approach could Apple possibly take now?
Imagine taking the buttons off the DS. Even if you gave it power greater than the PSP at that point, it would be moot because it would be gimped with ONLY the touchpad... Even multi-touch doesn't make up for that. People are tactile, and buttons > flat plastic.
@bobtheduck: Oh, and for me: I'd take a 2Gen shuffle (the clip ones with the circle buttons) and a PSP with me on a long trip (like, say, to Korea or Japan) and that will be all I need.
@branny: I was waiting for someone to say this so I could agree. :D
The PSPGo has been in development for a long time, certainly before people started coo-ing about how amazing the iPhone is as a gaming device. It doesn't surprise me that the CEO and founder of an iPod focussed game company would say this though.
If we step back and look at this comment in context, why would the PSP, a console that retails new titles at £15 ($25) minimum, and older, republished titles at the £5ish ($9) mark, feel the need to respond to a device whose game prices average out at approximately £0.88 ($1.44) source:[apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com] The iPhone and PSP (or other handheld console) are totally different markets and, as can be seen by the vast number of "I've got an iPhone" posts, owning an iPhone rarely, if ever, precludes owning a PSP.
It seems to me that the PSPGo is (a) Trying to be smaller than the DS making it more portable. and (b) Attempting to combat piracy, in the same way the Nintendo have done by including an SD card slot on the DSi. It is not chasing after the iPhone.
Having owned an iPhone for an entire year, I can safely say that there's no way it'll replace the PSP or the DS as my mobile platform of choice due to the control scheme.
Not to mention the pitiful battery life (it has less than a damn PSP) and the general laziness involved in developing games on the platform. It's a nice "also have" platform, but the DS and PSP are both considerably better systems with far, far larger volumes of good games that make the iPhone basically useless unless you like puzzle games.
If you're an RPG fan, the iPhone is about as useful as the original XBOX, for example.
@Archaotic: WHOAH!!! slow down!!! Slooowwww down!!! The only thing similar is the fact that they, for the most part, run off some form of the D20 system. Other than that, NWN, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and KoTOR are very different experiences. Even Mass Effect and KoTOR feel very different despite design similarities
@PeteyCoco: I really don't find much differentiation between BioWare's games aside from the settings they're placed in. They always feel very similar, mainly because BioWare is total fucking shit at developing a competent combat system. That's one thing you can count on with BioWare; awesome dialogue, shitty combat.
@PeteyCoco: I'm not a D&D fan. At all. That should explain why I don't like the combat in most of BioWare's games. Mass Effect's was pretty bad too, since it was just "generic third person shooter" but without any good weapons or interesting special abilities (aside from Singularity, which most classes don't GET).
@Archaotic: And all this time I thought I was a weirdo because playing Mass Effect was like shoving needles into my spine....I could only tolerate 2 hours of that game.
@Machzy: Oh, don't get me wrong, I beat it. Beat the HELL out of it. Same way I beat the living piss out of KotOR.
That does not excuse it from having a shit combat system though. Would it have killed them to put some sort of awesome sci-fi melee weapon in there? Seriously?
@cipotefello: Kotaku is a gaming news blog. The iPhone has games and it's undeniable that Apple is trying to expand that aspect of the device. Therefore, methinks this qualifies as gaming news and, therefore, belongs on Kotaku.
You guys seriously can't just keep scrolling for half a second longer to get past an article you aren't interested in? Get the fuck over yourselves. Geez.
I agree with this. I'm kind of annoyed with a lot of the "IPHONE IS THE NEWEST BEST GAMING TOOL" when we don't even know if it will be successful or not.
@Nitro378: There's a rather obvious line between constructive criticism and inflammatory tirades, the latter of which is often preceded by the blazing neon Here There Be Flames precursor of "no offense, but..." Besides which, even if the self-victimizing Big Brother fantasy were applicable, it's their damn site, inasmuch as Gawker invested them with the handling of it, and if they don't like your ass or your mouth they can ban you. This isn't the UN or the EU or somebody's precious Town Hall Meeting. They have power and you don't. Ranting about it seems as frivolous as those Linden Labs protesters wanting to wrest control of SL away from the company that made the game in the first place. Save the human rights campaigns for situations where there are actually rights being violated.
@Đipic: I see the iphone as a phone, which can play games.
I don't see it as a gaming device whatsoever.
If it is, then it should be subject to proper criticism other devices that are meant for gaming are subject to.
first of all, the touch screen is insanely inaccurate and hard for my fingers to fit on. It messes up a lot with multiple touches at once. The games for it are subpar compared to other gaming devices right now. The list goes on. Get my drift?
@cipotefello: @Joshua Bell: This is a post about mobile gaming in an opinion column directed at the biggest news of the week.
The fact the you're so annoyed by a dozen posts out of roughly 350 speaks volumes about your perspective.
If you dont care about mobile gaming, or playstation gaming, or xbox or wii gaming, then don't read those articles. Going into a post to whine and not contribute to the conversation is a sure way to get banned.
@zachncheeze: That's the problem. You don't see it as a gaming device but evidently a lot of other people do. We can argue semantics, or what qualifies as one for gaming but like it or not, the iPhone has become a popular device for playing games.
@cipotefello: I agree, do people even read all of this endless babbling?
I hear about it all the time, but from just one person, my boss, a huge Apple fanboy.
Today she bought this program where you use the internet to check people's phone numbers, addresses, etc. I wondered why she didn't just use the yellow pages or something that is already on the web.
Then she went on about how great the new update was, apparently you can now send mms and use it as a mobile modem.
I had to stop her right there and ask if she was fucking kidding me.
06/20/09
06/19/09
....I guess what I'm trying to say is, deny all you want, the fact of the matter is this mobile phone that Apple designed and released is a game-changer, just like the Wii was.
To address the statements made:
"The iPhone will NEVER have the library that the PSP or DS have."
Both the PSP and the DS have been out for almost five years now, and have had made great leaps and bounds in their library. The iPhone, in only two years, has grown a rather impressive library, both gaming and non, of applications that can be used on the device. With big publishers like EA and Konami, as well as independent programmers whom still receive pretty good profit, this library will get stronger as time progresses.
"The iPhone will NEVER compete with the DS/PSP with it's hardware."
I'd like to think that this device is meant to be played differently than the PSP or the DS. It's a pure touch-screen interface, but that doesn't mean you can't play these games (hell, how many Flash games have you played that required mouse, clicking?). That's why we have such a huge overabundance of tower defense games on this device...because it works pretty well on this.
Now, with that said, with the promise of peripherals coming to the system (which as far as you all know could very well just be a thin case that after installed would fit just like the PSP's setup), how can you make a definitive statement like "they will NEVER"? Get the blinders off your head when it comes to that..
One last thing: the reason for such large coverage of the iPhone in the last week or so? In case you didn't know, Apple recently announced a new model of the phone as well as released version 3.0 of the phone's operating system, which as this and many of the other articles on this site have shown, is expanding the capabilities of this device more and more.
As this article explicitly shows, people in the business of mobile gaming have expressed that the iPhone and it's accompanying App Store have been a phenomenon in the US. The PSPGo is designed with a lot of the same features the iPhone has, while still catering to it's strengths. Both the PSP and the DS are both putting energy and time into App Stores as well (which may or may not be in part to the iPhone's success).
Long story short...as much as you want to deny the iPhone's gaming credibility, tell that to the thousands of developers banking on their games for this device that are selling by the thousands each day. Sure, it may not be "hardcore," but seriously who cares? It's primary functions may not be gaming, but it's definitely making an impact on the gaming market whether you want to admit it or not.
06/19/09
06/19/09
"iPhone is no gaming device, i´d pick ds or psp over it every day and oh, yeah, it has no buttons and dpad!!!"
Guys, the iPhone and iPod aren´t for people like you then obviously, no problem.
Besides that there are obviously many who like what it can do and what the app store offers and the potential in it, instead of always complaining about what is lacking, so yeah, to each his own, no?
A while ago i´d count myself a hardcore gamer if i´d like the term but meanwhile i have less and less time for gaming and when i do its usually when i take a day or two off and then i play several home console games from my pile of shame.
Regarding mobile gaming i used to play ds and psp for a while but now either i have time for propper lengthy playing in which i prefer doing it in front of the big home screen or i´m really on the go and then the often smaller and directly accessible iPhone games are ideal to me, also i just always have the iPhone with me, something neither the ds nor the psp can ever achieve.
I don´t say the iPhone is generally a better gaming device, it isn´t; but it gets way more gaming time from me than the ds and psp for quite a while and honestly what Sony and Nintendo are trying now with their hardware revisions and download stores looks like a laughable copying apple attempt to me.
06/19/09
No
it
Can
Not
Time and again it has been said. Iphone doesn't have the proper interface nor does it have the library to compete. It's not even close. I own both a DS a PSP and a G1. I don't game on my G1 at all for the same reasons listed above. It's a joke to even try and compare Iphone and G1/smartphone gaming to DS and PSP when PSP is offering games like Wipeout and DS has The World Ends with You.
Like you I also have consoles. 2 PS3s and a 37in 1080p Vizio connected to a 5.1 surround sound system in my living room. Iphone STILL wouldn't even be considered as a gaming alternative if I needed a break from that. Its just annoying because people swear the Iphone should be taken seriously in comparsions to the PSP and DS when it's painfully clear it shouldn't be for obvious reasons. then we have the annoying arguments for Iphone as if dedicated DS/PSP/consoles gamers don't know what they're talking about.
Look, I'll put it this way, when I can get a Monster Hunter Freedom or a Final Fantasy Dissidia that looks better than the PSP games on Iphone come talk to me...
oh wait you STILL don't have any damn buttons, so who would you play it...
06/19/09
I haven´t said things in the vein of "dedicated DS/PSP/consoles gamers don't know what they're talking about"
I´d disagree with someone who would say something like that.
I actually said the iPhone / iPod is not comparable as gaming device to the ds/ psp.
What i said was listing why i, personally, meanwhile play more on iPhone than on psp or ds.
Sure, as long as it has no dpad and buttons the iPhone/ iPod will never be ideal for some game types as much as the ds or psp are.
But still there are many game types that can be done well on it and well, for many people like me its obviously more important that they can have lots of small games for few money and play them in between on a device they always carry with them then going out and buying games for 20-40 bucks that they maybe then wouldn´t play that long anyway.
I totally understand people prefering a ds or psp, i played both a lot while i was an employee a few years back and drove to work by train each day, but yeah, those days are over now for me.
Really, to each his own.
I just think it doesn´t make sense to always argue against the iPhone or iPod by comparing it to the ds or psp cause it is something different with own pros and cons and it clearly has a huge market of its own which doesn´t get smaller by always bashing it.
06/19/09
I view the idea of "Iphone gaming being as good or better than DS or PSP gaming" with the same apprehension as the idea of "Wii has defined the future of gaming with motion..."
If the Iphone is the future of portable gaming then the future is not bright.
Also, to PSP and DS's favor, you don't have to spend 20-40 bucks on every game and if you want similar, smaller straight to the point games those are available as well, especially on PSN for the PSP. Quick pick up and play games aren't new to the PSP or the DS either. but as you said, to each their own. I cant take the Iphone seriously.
06/19/09
Also, it's doesn't matter how many games are being made for it, the iphone has absolutely no answer for the DS and PSP's best games. God of War: CoO, Metal Gear: Portable Ops, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, Syphon Filter, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, Mario Kart, Metroid Prime: Hunters, the legions of FF and DragonQuest games...it goes on and on.
How many times has it been proven in this industry that better specs don't always translate into a better gameplay experience? Iphone is a phone with a good spec trying to be shoehorned into a portable gaming device. Great for those that don't know any better, lousy for gamers that DO know better.
06/19/09
06/20/09
06/21/09
Good Point.
06/19/09
So thats why you've actually been joining in and asking people about why they think they iPhone is a terrible gaming platform.
It all makes sense now.
06/21/09
No buttons.
Imagine taking the buttons off the DS. Even if you gave it power greater than the PSP at that point, it would be moot because it would be gimped with ONLY the touchpad... Even multi-touch doesn't make up for that. People are tactile, and buttons > flat plastic.
06/21/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/22/09
The PSPGo has been in development for a long time, certainly before people started coo-ing about how amazing the iPhone is as a gaming device. It doesn't surprise me that the CEO and founder of an iPod focussed game company would say this though.
If we step back and look at this comment in context, why would the PSP, a console that retails new titles at £15 ($25) minimum, and older, republished titles at the £5ish ($9) mark, feel the need to respond to a device whose game prices average out at approximately £0.88 ($1.44) source:[apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com] The iPhone and PSP (or other handheld console) are totally different markets and, as can be seen by the vast number of "I've got an iPhone" posts, owning an iPhone rarely, if ever, precludes owning a PSP.
It seems to me that the PSPGo is (a) Trying to be smaller than the DS making it more portable. and (b) Attempting to combat piracy, in the same way the Nintendo have done by including an SD card slot on the DSi. It is not chasing after the iPhone.
06/19/09
Not to mention the pitiful battery life (it has less than a damn PSP) and the general laziness involved in developing games on the platform. It's a nice "also have" platform, but the DS and PSP are both considerably better systems with far, far larger volumes of good games that make the iPhone basically useless unless you like puzzle games.
If you're an RPG fan, the iPhone is about as useful as the original XBOX, for example.
06/19/09
Off the top of my head; KotOR, KotOR 2, Jade Empire, Sudeki, Fable, Morrowind, PS:O. All pretty amazing games, imo.
I agree with everything above the last sentence, though.
06/19/09
06/19/09
Assuming you already have a JRPG game, continue playing it. Considering they're all the EXACT SAME GAME EVERY TIME, I don't see it as a loss.
06/19/09
See? JRPG fans can generalize too.
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
That does not excuse it from having a shit combat system though. Would it have killed them to put some sort of awesome sci-fi melee weapon in there? Seriously?
06/19/09
06/19/09
Gizmodo is even worse. They only talk about Apple.
06/19/09
06/19/09
You guys seriously can't just keep scrolling for half a second longer to get past an article you aren't interested in? Get the fuck over yourselves. Geez.
06/19/09
Honestly I hate gaming with my ipod touch.
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
06/19/09
I don't see it as a gaming device whatsoever.
If it is, then it should be subject to proper criticism other devices that are meant for gaming are subject to.
first of all, the touch screen is insanely inaccurate and hard for my fingers to fit on. It messes up a lot with multiple touches at once. The games for it are subpar compared to other gaming devices right now. The list goes on. Get my drift?
06/19/09
There you go everyone. Now stop yer cryin!
06/19/09
The fact the you're so annoyed by a dozen posts out of roughly 350 speaks volumes about your perspective.
If you dont care about mobile gaming, or playstation gaming, or xbox or wii gaming, then don't read those articles. Going into a post to whine and not contribute to the conversation is a sure way to get banned.
06/19/09
06/19/09
I hear about it all the time, but from just one person, my boss, a huge Apple fanboy.
Today she bought this program where you use the internet to check people's phone numbers, addresses, etc. I wondered why she didn't just use the yellow pages or something that is already on the web.
Then she went on about how great the new update was, apparently you can now send mms and use it as a mobile modem.
I had to stop her right there and ask if she was fucking kidding me.
Every day man.
06/19/09
I was able to use my old RAZR as a mobile modem 2 years ago ... and other phones before that.
And iPhone NOW does this?
12/03/08