Handhelds Are Losing Ground.

[Terminator02]

Lets not forget what kind of kids are playing Video Games these days. Just the other day I hacked a psp for a 10 year old kid.
I said "Hey, why not get this kid some REAL games, and not these mindless 99 cent games and FPS Shooters". So I got him a few RPG games for some SNES emulators. As soon as he stared playing some of the games he was like "WTF I have to read to know what I am doing?" And he just kept mashing buttons expecting cool explosions and what not. It sickened me. And thats exactly what people want these days. Mindless disposable games that involve no thought process. Thats exactly what these cheap Android and Iphone games are catering too. I hope this is just a phase

This is a 10 year old kid, what do you expect?

Also handhelds are dying to smartphones with games, you can deny it but that won"t change a thing.

 

[Goofy Time]

More of this nonsense from yet another developer who hasn't contributed once to a good handheld game...

 

[Quietlyawesome94]

Lets not forget what kind of kids are playing Video Games these days. Just the other day I hacked a psp for a 10 year old kid.
I said "Hey, why not get this kid some REAL games, and not these mindless 99 cent games and FPS Shooters". So I got him a few RPG games for some SNES emulators. As soon as he stared playing some of the games he was like "WTF I have to read to know what I am doing?" And he just kept mashing buttons expecting cool explosions and what not. It sickened me. And thats exactly what people want these days. Mindless disposable games that involve no thought process. Thats exactly what these cheap Android and Iphone games are catering too. I hope this is just a phase

This is a 10 year old kid, what do you expect?

Also handhelds are dying to smartphones with games, you can deny it but that won"t change a thing.

And 20 year olds who play remake after remake of games like Call of Duty are any better? First Person Shooters these days are mindless. you aim. you shoot. I even went to a friends house and played Black Ops. (I don't normally play FPS's)
And my friends couldn't believe how much I was owning them at their own game. Why? because you aim. you shoot. thats it.

It's mindless entertainment. And that's what people like these days. I am afraid that's where the gaming industry is heading to sadly enough.

 

[wolffangalchemist]

And 20 year olds who play remake after remake of games like Call of Duty are any better? First Person Shooters these days are mindless. you aim. you shoot. I even went to a friends house and played Black Ops. (I don't normally play FPS's)
And my friends couldn't believe how much I was owning them at their own game. Why? because you aim. you shoot. thats it.

It's mindless entertainment. And that's what people like these days. I am afraid that's where the gaming industry is heading to sadly enough.

if i had a dollar for every time my friends where playing call or duty on Xbox Live, i would be a very rich man.
the games don't even have decent story modes, and don't get me started on regenerating health.

 

[haflore]

Handhelds won't die. As has already been said, the two markets are very different.
Plus most smartphones lack, y'know, real buttons, which are important for, y'know, real games.

More likely handhelds will evolve to serve most PC functions, without compromising their abilities as gaming devices.

 

[mudassirul]

Angry birds makes me sick to the bone, oh how I detest that game, I love my android but the only games I have are with snes and megadrive emulators! However I see eveywhere, everyone has phones downloading their shitty minigames! But I guess these minigames are easy to play when your on the bus or tram and are very profitable since so many people own android or iphone. I saw the PSV taking PS3's MGS on the go and I'm guessing if handhelds get powerful enough then there maybe no differentiation between the games for dedicted handheld gaming devices and home consoles except for the graphics and mobile devices may be the platform where intuitive handheld games may take place!
Times change,

 

[relminator]

Just last week, I got hold of Angry Birds as a PSP mini and I thought it sucked (DS/PSP coders can make better homebrews). So I told my daughter to play it for a while (she was busy with the 3DS) and after like 10 minutes she told me she'd never play it again.

There are however very good games for the android and idevices. My sister's Samsung Galaxy S have some great looking racing games.


I just hope that the time of mega-budget games are not over. There's just no substitute for those games in the smartphone market.

 

[KingVamp]

Glasses free 3D isn't innovative? Thats Bull.

No, you have to literally throw everything into one portable device to be innovative.

Anyway, I know they failed(?) ,but one day we will just have a device that does everything.

A phone and a dedicated gaming device into one.

 

[FireGrey]

They're two complete different markets.
Phones - Social things you bring around with you.
Handelds - Game playing media devices.
Games on phones are just crap
Phones are being bought more because the phone market is improving.
Handhelds are dropping cause most people already have said handhelds...

 

[chartube12]

Now that android 4.0 (icecream sandwich) is going to natively support keyboards, xb360 and ps3 controllers, I fully expect there to be at least one tablet with graphics comparable to the 3ds.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Games on phones are just crap

most are but those are the most that sell you'd be surprised how many time waster games peeps buy so they can play while waiting for a bus/train!

 

[Arm73]

Sadly, that's the way the market is going with future generations.
Just 10 days ago, I hacked my 12 years old nephew's PSP and put a few games on it like Metal Gear Solid, Assassin Creed , PES 2011 and the two God of War games. He loved it and all, but after that he told me that he really wanted to get an iPhone for Christmas so he could play the latest games on it ( I think he mentioned Splinter Cell or something ).
I told him why in the world with free PSP and DS great games, he wanted to get a device that is a phone first, and then with some gaming capability tackled on ?. He likes serious games, so I told him that very few games are really playable without analogs and face buttons, and that most hardcore games are ported from handheld consoles anyway !
Get the iPhone if you think you will use it as a phone, but getting it purely for the games ? That doesn't make any sense to me, but sadly, that is what kids think nowadays and that's their idea of being " cool "

 

[raulpica]

Funny, I do remember getting an iPhone over the other smartphones thinking of all the nice games and ports it had.

And the funnier thing is that most of my handheld gaming is ACTUALLY done on my iPhone.

So, deal with it, that's the direction the market's going. With the even more powerful Tegra 3s and such coming our way, smartphones will be soon on par with the home-consoles in terms of graphical fidelity.

This will mean that most people will choose a 300$ tablet with AWESOME graphics over a 300$ homeconsole with similiar graphics.
Hey, I mean... a tablet is portable and can also browse the web, take pictures and upload them to Facebook. ...Can your console do that?

 

[hova1]

i played more games on my iPhone in the past several months then on my DS. I even stopped playing DQ6.
I see people playing games on their smartphones who would never ever play a videogame on a console or handheld.
The games are cheap too. The Penny Arcade comic is right. You buy one 3DS game for 40$
and i buy 40 games for 40$, let's see who has more fun.

 

[SamAsh07]

Stupid claim, handhelds are much more popular now than before.

Again, Smartphones and Hand-helds, different market, different pattern.

 

[SamAsh07]

a tablet is portable and can also browse the web, take pictures and upload them to Facebook. ...Can your console do that?

My DSi can browse the web, take pictures AND upload them to Facebook

Even plays Songs.

 

[heartgold]

As much as I like to deny it, smartphones will be the future of handheld gaming in the future, by the looks of it it'll be sooner than I think. :/

/

 

[shakirmoledina]

its about graphics thats all. ppl just wanna play games with good graphics but thats not a game anymore is it?
IMO, ppl are shifting to iphones and tablets bcz
1. its cooler
2. u can do more than games
3. great graphics
4. cheaper games
5. Diversity and ever increasing library of games
6. everyone is doing it

i think these 6 points are enough to sell non-gaming oriented devices like iphones and ipads.

if u are a gamer (and i dont mean a raulpica type gamer --- jokin bro) then there is no way u will enjoy an action, sports, advanced controls game on anything but a console or handheld with REAL buttons

even playing something as great as the gba emu on the iphone really is annoying. u just cannot do so unless u force yerself... then thats not fun

well again, its a matter of preference but I do not agree at all the handhelds are losing ground.

ppl cannot pay $300 for a great handheld but are ready to pay $600 for an (overpriced) iphone

EDIT: the points just keep increasing

 

[Redhorse]

I think a dedicated gamer (not necc hard core) willl play anything thier favorite game is on. Those used to dedicated handhelds will stay there but those new to gaming and the iphone being available as thier first handheld will choose that. Will the Ipod or Iphone kill the DS? not IMO. But if Nintendo continues to promote these minigames (and Sony too) they are in danger of converting those new to thier console, to a phone type device. I think these shallow games for a dedicated handheld are a bad idea. I don't mean puzzle style, I refer to depth of content.

I'll keep playing the DSi until 5 years after they have run out of releases...(Advance Wars Rocks!)

 

[raulpica]

a tablet is portable and can also browse the web, take pictures and upload them to Facebook. ...Can your console do that?

My DSi can browse the web, take pictures AND upload them to Facebook

Even plays Songs.

Sure, but any tablet out there can browse the web a LOT better than the DSi (I've heard that the internal browser is abysmal), take pictures at a much HIGHER resolution (not VGA) and use all the Facebook's functions

That's why smartphones/tablets are massively eating their way into the Handhelds market. Better value for money.