So you're away from home and you want to play video game to pass the time. What do you want turn on?
The pro-smart phone/iPad/etc argument : You don't want to play full fledged video games on the go anymore than you want to watch a movie on the go. Save the movies and the big budget games for your living room. You just want some entertainment. You want some simple, mindless, bite-sized fun, don't you? That's where the smart phone excells. For a couple of dollars (or sometimes, for free), you get unlimited entertainment. You get your web browser, you get your movies, you get apps on top of apps, and you get video games. Are they graphical masterpieces or the deepest experiences? Not usually. Yeah, there are games from Camelot that do boast amazing graphics and there are versions of Street Fighter and even RPG's but most of what you are going to find are time wasters. Time wasters. And in the end, isn't that what you want? Isn't that what video games are?
The pro-portable console argument : You consider yourself a gamer? Then you know Mario. You know Pokemon. You know Kratos. You know you aren't going to get games of this quality from a smart phone. Video games aren't just time wasters, they're experiences. The graphics and sounds and even the stories pull you into their world. You want your music, movies, and browser? Portable consoles have that, too. And let's not forget one little thing--buttons! Since you were a kid, you've been pressing buttons. A touch screen is good but let's be honest. Suppose Nintendo released their next portable. Let's call it the Gameboy 3. It the Gameboy 3 were just a touch screen with motion controls and touch screen games, I would quit gaming. Those $1-$2 games are available on our PSP's, DSi's, 3DS's, and likely, our PSV's, too. But our Wipeouts, our Super Marios, and Mario Karts, those can only be done justice on a real portable console.
So which side are you on?
--Sentry/Void (aka d21!)
