Will the iPhone kill traditional handhelds?

[Strategyking92]

Hisiru said:

 

"There’s more than twice as many developers making iPhone games as there are making games for the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP."

 

Which is not necessarily a good thing, since they can make mediocre games, good support isn't equal to quantity alone, but quantity and quality.

Which is not necessarily a good thing, since they can make mediocre games, good support isn't equal to quantity alone, but quantity and quality.

Did you noticed something? The Iphone is an incredible and strong device, but the lack of physical buttons is killing the poor device (as a portable gaming device). I can see it as a strong platform but not with a strong line-up (in general) if it doesn't works with some popular genres.

An impressive number of games doesn't mean an impressive number of quality and diversity, that's the problem with the Iphone.

Everything you just said completely applies to the DS and PSP regarding what games developers make. Escpecially your comment about EA and other such big name devs.

Yes, the lack of physical buttons hurts the device, but it doesn't mean good gaming experiences can't be had on it. It doesn't kill every game made on the device. But games adapt. For better or worse, like with the psp and it's missing second analogue stick.

 

But I am not saying the iPhone library is better than those libraries. In terms of new releases, iPhone has a load more variety than the psp does (that's what I meant by passing the psp). The iPhone gets new games every day. Psp is lucky to get a new game(s) a month. The DS has no problem. But I think that more Western devs are starting to support the iPhone over it in terms of big games.

 

I just think iPhone can other both hardcore and casual games on the device. And the digital distribution model is very, very attractive for devs.. It won't take traditional handhelds out soon, but in the future there won't be a need for them when every cellphone and multimedia device has some kind of game market. It's all about convenience. I'm not saying I support it, but in the future I can things going that way. Does it mean it will be a better device for playing games? Definetly not. But when everybody already has the system, you can see how dominance can be gotten.

Non-traditional handheld devices have the tech to support the games, and developers are throwing support at it.

oh yeah, iPhone is also getting the Phoenix wright series :-p