Home
Thanks for always killing it Samir. I always enjoy the stuff you post man."
However, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. My brother and I have been trading a lot of emails and links to articles about the clash between dedicated gaming machines and "the new digital era" because he is a web developer/huge iOS fan and I think he likes watching me squirm when we get into numbers about our favorite devices.
If what you are saying is true and iPhone/iPods/Smart Phones are offering a similar experience to what 3DS and Vita are bringing to the table then 3DS should have fallen right on it's face...and though it had a rough start it's not doing too bad now. Sure maybe it isn't selling iPhone numbers but it is doing better than the original DS at this point. That is saying a lot considering the DS went on to slay the market for a little while - and this is in the face of competeing against the best smart phones to date.
I have been of the opinion for a long time that dedicated portable gaming devices are not really competeing in the same space as smart phones even though they are seemingly similar devices and seemingly offering similar expereinces.
My point about the 3DS makes it appear to me that these devices are going to co-exist at least for another generation. I think part of the problem is that people are stuck on thinking these devices must be played on the go...I do most of if not all of my iOS and DS gaming at home - of course I don't know about the rest of the world but I wouldn't be surprised if more time was spent with these devices in the home than most people want to admit or even realise.
To your point about games tailored for the hardware...the way things stand currently (apple mystery project aside) you are never going to see a twin stick shooter, a fighter, an fps title or even a platformer, that plays better on iOS than something like Vita. Well then, what does iOS do that is unique that Sony should be taking notes on? It opens the flood gates to individuals who are passionate and want to develop apps and games. People, like Sean Inman, Craig Adams, and others are doing incredible things with iOS. I am curious to see what could happen if Sony opens a similar floodgate for people to create games for Vita via Html5 or sony's new sdk...
Mostly I agree with you. I just hate to think of a world where someone isn't trying to make the most bad ass gaming hardware with us in mind."
Skull Girls is more than a fan service - it's the game Reverge want's to make with Staff members that want to make that game. One of the artists on Skull Girls is a girl and if you follow her blog it's easy to see one of her favorite things to draw is sexy ladies.
NSFW http://visublog.mechafetus.com/archives/author/kinuko
Does that make it suddenly okay to make all girls in every game from here on out hypersexualized? Of course not, but don't accuse a dev of conforming when they are actually making something really awesome - How many games with an entire cast of ladies in skimpy outfits actually has mechanics that could potentially stand up at an EVO or is even remotely playable? "
The sky isn't falling though.
You have to consider the developers point of view. If the free part of a free to play game is garbage nobody is going to pay for anything in the game. You have to get people to come into the "store" before they can buy anything. Even then it is up to the game to convince the player it's worth a dollar or two.
The app store has always been filled with shovel ware. I don't remeber iOS ever having some type of miraculous glory days where every game was inovative. The reason we see an ocean of people just trying to make money is because the barrier to entry for development is low. This also makes it easier for innovative people to rise to the top. We see this already (no thanks to the app store filter). People "just trying to make money" will always stick out like a sore thumb - and that really turns customers off.
I think the situation is more complicated then that. It's very likely people like us aren't even the target market for free to play games."
