somerandomguyO_O said:
This guy sucks at reviewing. The iPod touch is not a game system, neither is the iPhone. Comparing a handheld to a console? What??
This is a legitimate concern though. Even Nintendo is very concerned about the games on the Apple App store, which includes the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad. The games on there are very inexpensive relatively and again a lot of people already own these devices. Apple is Nintendo's first real competitor into the handheld market in years. A misstep at this juncture could really kill them. Whether you like it or not, developers are migrating over to companies that make games on Facebook and the Apple App Store. They're cheaper and more profitable. People are very very worried about Zynga and what its impact is going to be.
At this point the 3DS and DSi are competing in the same space as the iPhone and iPad and Android markets. Are people going to become price sensitive due to the fact that games on the Apple store are significantly cheaper than on the Nintendo platform? It doesn't matter if the games are 'better' on the Nintendo platform. People are going to EXPECT games are going to cost a certain amount, just like how iTunes made 99cents the 'standard' for buying songs. When that happens, Nintendo will be in a very tenuous position because you have to buy a new product (since most people own some kind of Apple product at this point) and the games cost 3x-5x more than on a product you already own.
Even the stylus comment is somewhat relevant. There is no other consumer device left that uses a stylus at this point. Everything is touch screen based. At the time the NDS stylus was a great idea. At this point in time though, having a stylus seems to be a bit antiquated when compared to the rest of the market. Yes yes I realise the 3DS is more of an 'evolution' on the NDS line than a total overhaul so yeah it needs a stylus.
Just to give reference, I was recently at PAX East and my friend who is an analyst came along for 'work'. We all had fun but he was somewhat surprised that Apple and Zynga had no presence there, since those were what most analysts think are the dominant market forces in the gaming industry are. Basically the people with the money and are advising people are looking in that direction. They could be wrong, but it's not wise to discount their opinions out of hand.
