Fez
07-02-2011, 07:47 PM
I think we're about to have the first proper handheld console war, one without all the annoying fanboys hopefully since there's nothing to really glue yourself to. We have Nintendo capturing the 3D market with the 3DS, which from what I've heard is that it brings a compelling 3DS experience and the development kits are frustrating to work with. It takes a long time to make a 3DS game, which pretty much brings us finally to the point where we can say that the 3DS will have less shovelware than the DS will ever have. It will be impossible to churn out content for the device that's basically disposable.
Speaking of disposable, I've always been a speaker against the iOS pragmatic for various reasons. Reason one: charging a pound or two pound an app creates a 'disposable' mentality in the consumer. Reason two: you often don't get your moneys worth with the apps you're buying with the rare cases of Angry Bird and Game Dev Story (both of which were GOTY contenders for me). Reason three: for such low prices but high audiences, they actually don't make that much money. It's good for small studios to take on, like the indie scene, but thank god a lot of publishers are just pushing out smaller people to make smaller games.
The NGP from Sony will no doubt have the best first-party support, the best technical framework, the best hardware overall and generally utterly fall into 3rd place like the PS3 because Sony sacrifices itself for the greater good of innovation. It'll be sold at a high price and given the competition between the giant Apple monster and the raging 3D tycoon of printable money... it will die early. I'm not saying Sony offer the best device in this race, I prefer it because of the potential of the technology, in fact I believe the 3DS to be the best device. Sony make the NGP to incorporate hardcore games found on consoles, not handheld games. When I'm on the train or on the go, I'll want to pull out my DS and get a quick game of Mario Kart in or clear that pesky Angry Birds level. I don't want to have to worry about saving or running to the nearest save station. Fun, quick bursts of compelling content is what makes handheld games what they are.
That's my opinion, if I want to go further.
The NGP will die in one-two years but have excellent software. 'Third place' so to speak.
The 3DS will be left to fight Apple alone and get a next foot in the handheld door with its impressive first-party line-up. 'Second place' so to speak.
The iOS will gobble everything up and proclaim itself king while offering nothing in the way of content and only rarely letting the little indie kids create a compelling piece. 'First place' so to speak.
NGP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXSuX0V6kI
3DS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZR_yFVETuU
iOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFrZkC07HBE
Speaking of disposable, I've always been a speaker against the iOS pragmatic for various reasons. Reason one: charging a pound or two pound an app creates a 'disposable' mentality in the consumer. Reason two: you often don't get your moneys worth with the apps you're buying with the rare cases of Angry Bird and Game Dev Story (both of which were GOTY contenders for me). Reason three: for such low prices but high audiences, they actually don't make that much money. It's good for small studios to take on, like the indie scene, but thank god a lot of publishers are just pushing out smaller people to make smaller games.
The NGP from Sony will no doubt have the best first-party support, the best technical framework, the best hardware overall and generally utterly fall into 3rd place like the PS3 because Sony sacrifices itself for the greater good of innovation. It'll be sold at a high price and given the competition between the giant Apple monster and the raging 3D tycoon of printable money... it will die early. I'm not saying Sony offer the best device in this race, I prefer it because of the potential of the technology, in fact I believe the 3DS to be the best device. Sony make the NGP to incorporate hardcore games found on consoles, not handheld games. When I'm on the train or on the go, I'll want to pull out my DS and get a quick game of Mario Kart in or clear that pesky Angry Birds level. I don't want to have to worry about saving or running to the nearest save station. Fun, quick bursts of compelling content is what makes handheld games what they are.
That's my opinion, if I want to go further.
The NGP will die in one-two years but have excellent software. 'Third place' so to speak.
The 3DS will be left to fight Apple alone and get a next foot in the handheld door with its impressive first-party line-up. 'Second place' so to speak.
The iOS will gobble everything up and proclaim itself king while offering nothing in the way of content and only rarely letting the little indie kids create a compelling piece. 'First place' so to speak.
NGP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXSuX0V6kI
3DS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZR_yFVETuU
iOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFrZkC07HBE