3DS and Vita Face Tough Battle Against Smartphones [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

An article at the Opposable Thumbs blog looks at the struggle between portable gaming devices and smartphones with access to a plethora of inexpensive games. "...most games simply have to be 'good enough' and convenient. If you already have a smartphone and an hour to kill, plenty of top-notch games can be downloaded in a minute for a dollar. With the 3DS or Vita, you're being asked to buy expensive hardware and then feed it with games that cost $40 and up. Smartphones also present a compelling deal for small, adventurous developers: it's inexpensive to create a game for these platforms, and developers don't have to worry about physical storefronts, packaging design, or cartridge manufacturing. Sony is now pushing for a digital platform that relies heavily on downloads with the Vita, but Nintendo still seems to believe the future rests with expensive, physical carts. Trying to buy one of the few digital games available on the 3DS via the system's e-shop is a slow, frustrating process."http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F11%2F08%2F16%2F0257248%2F3DS-and-Vita-Face-Tough-Battle-Against-Smartphones%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3 Dfacebook) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=3DS+and+Vita+Face+Tough+Battle+Against +Smartphones%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FrpYiAp)

Read more of this story (http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/16/0257248/3DS-and-Vita-Face-Tough-Battle-Against-Smartphones?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zWqAZgBDalvu7VBxcNZ9lJpPu2U/0/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zWqAZgBDalvu7VBxcNZ9lJpPu2U/0/da)
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zWqAZgBDalvu7VBxcNZ9lJpPu2U/1/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/zWqAZgBDalvu7VBxcNZ9lJpPu2U/1/da)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/EOGtwTu899E

More... (http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/EOGtwTu899E/3DS-and-Vita-Face-Tough-Battle-Against-Smartphones)

[kupomogli]

Other than casual gamers who picked up a DS on a whim, 3DS and Vita don't really face a battle against smartphones as that's not their target audience. Most people who own a smartphone are probably not going to get a 3DS or Vita regardless, and most gamers are going to pick up a 3DS or Vita, regardless whether they own a smartphone or not.

You might purchas a $1 game on a smart phone, possibly addicting like I've heard Angry Birds is, might be crap, but whatever the case, you're out a dollar. Purchasing a $20-40 game on the 3DS or Vita is like purchasing a $20-60 game on any standard console. You're going to get much more than that dollar experience.

What's that saying? You get what you pay for(usually.)

[Nature Boy]

I agree they're in the same space, and it will be interesting how they compete with each other. I do think you'll see the $0.99 games popping up on the hand held consoles though. They already have the infrastructure to distribute them - they're not going to feast on $40 games alone just because they have in the past.

As always, it's we the consumers who win through sheer choice!

[Lanzo]

Being an owner of a smartphone and a 3DS I don't think there will be too much competition. Some smartphones games are cool but many are too simple and get boring real fast. There are some exceptions like Sega and Square Enix's offerings but then your usually not paying .99 for those games. I also don't see one as the substitute for the other either. Honestly the games I play the most on my Iphone are Sonic 2, Columns, and Chu Chu rocket all console games originally. I find Sonic 2 and Columns kind of annoying with the touch screen. For the Iphone at least IMO it's hard to make a really good game without actual buttons.

[Nature Boy]

Being an owner of a smartphone and a 3DS I don't think there will be too much competition. Some smartphones games are cool but many are too simple and get boring real fast. There are some exceptions like Sega and Square Enix's offerings but then your usually not paying .99 for those games. I also don't see one as the substitute for the other either. Honestly the games I play the most on my Iphone are Sonic 2, Columns, and Chu Chu rocket all console games originally. I find Sonic 2 and Columns kind of annoying with the touch screen. For the Iphone at least IMO it's hard to make a really good game without actual buttons.

Doesn't everything think that we that post here aren't exactly representative of the market as a whole? We're the so called 'core' niche - and I'd be more stunned if we *all* didn't have both types of devices (and multiples at that).

It's not hard for me to imagine games like Angry Birds, which cost little to make and have wide appeal, are *much* more prevalent than the types of games we like to play. Which isn't to say that what we play disappears, it just becomes a smaller chunk of a larger pie.

[Robocop2]

Doesn't everything think that we that post here aren't exactly representative of the market as a whole? We're the so called 'core' niche - and I'd be more stunned if we *all* didn't have both types of devices (and multiples at that).

It's not hard for me to imagine games like Angry Birds, which cost little to make and have wide appeal, are *much* more prevalent than the types of games we like to play. Which isn't to say that what we play disappears, it just becomes a smaller chunk of a larger pie.

I agree that to a certain extent we are part of the core niche but that core niche is what has kept gaming going all these years. Casual gamers would not support the industry as it exists presently. Have the contributed? Sure but they are far more fickle than traditional gamers. Of course we aren't the only community out there that is comprised of this niche.

We must also remember that the primary purpose of most Android/iOS items is as a phone sure a multi function phone that will probably someday be able to cook our breakfast from Guam but still the core use is as a phone that just happens to play games that are more advanced than they were in years past.

The controls don't lend themselves to traditional games very well; at least in my opinon as what I have tried is extremely difficult to control vs. a d-pad and buttons or even the stylus/touch screen on a DS game (though that is somewhat of a different issue)

I could see smartphones more something that is an additional product rather than a replacement for handhelds moreso.

[Aussie2B]

If you're briefly desperate for entertainment, sure, a 99 cent smartphone game could fit the bill, but the vast majority of mobile games are garbage. Even if you find one that's decently programmed and reasonably fun, don't expect a game that you can get 20+ hours out of like you can with many handheld and console games. Like take Me & My Katamari on PSP, which I've been playing lately, for example. Namco released a mobile Katamari, and that whole game is used simply as a little bonus game played during the credits of Me & My Katamari. If that doesn't show the contrast between the level of content in a mobile game versus a traditional video game, then I don't know what does.

[Nature Boy]

I agree that to a certain extent we are part of the core niche but that core niche is what has kept gaming going all these years

It's bad business to think your existing model is going to last forever, no matter who or how you got to where you are.

Games companies are in business to make one thing and one thing only: money. If it's simpler to make money creating iOS games then that's where the industry will head.

Probably not to the elimination of consoles games as we know and love them, but certainly possibly to the point where it's a fraction of the industry as a whole.

Personally I don't think it's a good thing or a bad thing: it just is what it is.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

It's bad business to think your existing model is going to last forever, no matter who or how you got to where you are.

Games companies are in business to make one thing and one thing only: money. If it's simpler to make money creating iOS games then that's where the industry will head.

Probably not to the elimination of consoles games as we know and love them, but certainly possibly to the point where it's a fraction of the industry as a whole.

Personally I don't think it's a good thing or a bad thing: it just is what it is.

If Nintendo doesn't embrace the digital download idea they are going to struggle. I am sad to say this, but I think in the next 10-15 years video games are going to become digitally downloaded, not bought at a store. 360 and PS3 (and Wii to a lesser extent) all have digital download features for a large part of the content of their games, such as map packs for Call of Duty. There have been prototype consoles reliant on digital downloads. Now, with smartphones and the PS Vita, I think we're seeing the final victory of the download format. Video game STORES like Gamestop will probably survive another 15 years or so. Classic gaming stores will last much longer, probably 30-40 years.

Personally, though, I will always keep and acquire classic games in physical form (: I've always had a certain appeal to hard-copy games, but if the market goes to digital download, that's how my new games of the future will be. Who knows, maybe classic digital downloads will be collected like 30-40 years from now. I really hope the collecting business goes on.