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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Apple thinks they are competing with DS/PSP, launches Game Center

Ail said:
Kinda funny to see some of the reactions...

Most of the arguments people are throwing at Apple have been thrown at the Wii for the last 3 years..........

So true.

You could see Nintendo borrowing a lot of ideas from Apple with the DS and the Wii. The tight integration of hardware and software, the focus on user experience over feature lists, and a fascination with white plastic.

Now it seems that Apple's cribbing notes from Nintendo. Historically, Apple devices have been fairly powerful. But the iPad is based on smartphone-level hardware when it could have been based on netbook- or even notebook-level hardware. But the smartphone hardware in the iPad is 'good enough' and yields benefits in reduced cost and power consumption. Much like the hardware from another company I know.

That's not to say that both companies use exactly the same tactics, but I can definitely see where they've picked up ideas from each other.



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Ail said:
Kinda funny to see some of the reactions...

Most of the arguments people are throwing at Apple have been thrown at the Wii for the last 3 years..........

 

Same thing happened year ago when PC gamers were belittling people who played console games.

 



Anyone can guess. It takes no effort to throw out lots of predictions and have some of them be correct. You are not and wiser or better for having your guesses be right. Even a blind man can hit the bullseye.

Plaupius said:
rutea7 said:
Apple needs to either release a real gaming system or GTFO of the gaming world, thats how i feel.

they obviously have no gamers working at apple to tell them how to do it properly, they are obviously not concerned about quality or value, they only want a quick buck from casual gamers.

Ahem. Apple is building a gaming platform, piece by piece. It's the 3rd parties that make all the games. With regards to gaming, Apple has so far provided two frameworks specifically for games: one for wireless communications for multiplayer games over bluetooth or wi-fi, and now the Game Center. So I think it is fair to say that Apple has not been making a gaming system, it is the developers and gamers who are using the devices for gaming.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Apple makes pennies out of the App Store sales, they are not after a quick buck from $0.99 sales.

they dont need the profit from the apps store cause they make like 100% profit from their products alone. The "gaming" functionality is just a lure. thinking they are competing agaisnt two gaming handhelds that cost less than half of what their product costs and have a real focus on gaming and a good library of REAL games and not crappy stuff.

 

what gamer spends 500 bucks on a thing to play cheap looking games? if someone gets it its for the other functionalities, i can get that, i understand. but saying it competes against true gaming platforms is a joke.



This Game Center already existed in the iTouch platform in the form of OpenFeint/Plus+, it's only know that Apple wants a piece of the pie and like always to control everything.

This platform isn't competing with the handhelds but the mobile market (JAVA, Symbian, BREW). It does take your time, but so does a book, movie, cooking, cleaning, sleeping. Though one has to remember something that they show us at school, you can never compare apple with oranges. So the apps are not comparable to DS/PSP games; budget, time developments, ..., it's all completely different. It's mobile market vs handheld market.



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yanamaster said:
I don't know if you can see it as competition. Somehow i just can't see people thinking whether to spend their money on ipad/iphone+games or nintendo ds/sony psp. For me, they're not fighting over the same buck.

What do you guys think?

Wrong, looads of people now use their iphone/touch/ipad as their main portable gaming platform, me included, it has fantastic games at amazing prices, plus sooo many more features than the ds and psp combined.



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Kenryoku_Maxis said:
They can have over a million games. They still need to make them popular. And if all people do is download a 'racing' game and get bored with it after 5 minutes because it controls horribly and its 2 levels long, then they aren't going to go and download a second racing game.

The reason people come back to the DS is because they get addicted to games like Mario and Warioware, and want more.

Wow, have you now seen the sales from the appstore? gaming is huge, it isn't just the odd game here and there, people are using these as gaming systems hence the big push for more gaming features for os4 announced today.

I iphone/touch gaming market is already bigger than the psp market, that says it all considering that happened in less than one year!



You don't buy an Iphone to game.
You buy it as a phone and internet surfing portable and then you discover gaming on it thats why the price comparison is meaningless...

The Iphone is a phone that does gaming on top for almost free, if you look at it that way the price comparison isn't so bad anymore...

The people they will mostly attract are those new or coming back to gaming, the same way Nintendo did with the Wii.

Apple won't steal current DS and PSP customers, they will steal the future ones...

In that sense they are not so much competing with the DS as with the successor of the DS...



PS3-Xbox360 gap : 1.5 millions and going up in PS3 favor !

PS3-Wii gap : 20 millions and going down !

FKNetwork said:
Kenryoku_Maxis said:
They can have over a million games. They still need to make them popular. And if all people do is download a 'racing' game and get bored with it after 5 minutes because it controls horribly and its 2 levels long, then they aren't going to go and download a second racing game.

The reason people come back to the DS is because they get addicted to games like Mario and Warioware, and want more.

Wow, have you now seen the sales from the appstore? gaming is huge, it isn't just the odd game here and there, people are using these as gaming systems hence the big push for more gaming features for os4 announced today.

I iphone/touch gaming market is already bigger than the psp market, that says it all considering that happened in less than one year!

Yes I have seen the sales of games on the iphone.  And you know what the iphone is really cutting into?  The sales of things like the PSP and other Cell Phone devices.  The DS has hardly seen an impact from the iphone.  And its not hard to see why.  Its a similar comparison to Wii and the HD systems.  People aren't going to stop buying things like Mario 3 or 'My Aquarium' off Virtual Console and WiiWare simply because XBOX Live exist.

But I know a visual aid speaks louder than words.  So here.  http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/23/apple-increases-gaming-share-at-the-expense-of-ds-and-psp/



Six upcoming games you should look into:

 

  

Ail said:

You don't buy an Iphone to game.
You buy it as a phone and internet surfing portable and then you discover gaming on it thats why the price comparison is meaningless...

The Iphone is a phone that does gaming on top for almost free, if you look at it that way the price comparison isn't so bad anymore...

The people they will mostly attract are those new or coming back to gaming, the same way Nintendo did with the Wii.

Apple won't steal current DS and PSP customers, they will steal the future ones...

In that sense they are not so much competing with the DS as with the successor of the DS...

Indeed, Sony and Nintendo just got some real competition in the handheld market. This is to compete directly with 3DS and PSP2, Sony and Nintendo need to come out with something, and fast, Apple will beat them to the market, they have the power of their exclusive 1st parties, will be interesting to see. Sony needs to completely revamp the PSP, needs improvement in almost all areas. Nintendo will be the least powerful HW again and it'll bet on 3D being the diffentiator.



We'll have to wait and see what impact Apple has on the gaming industry. My guess at the moment is not much.