Garcian Smith said:
rocketpig said:
Garcian Smith said:
Reasons why the iPhone as a gaming device will never take off:
-Device limitations. The iPhone has no face buttons or D-pad and does not accept external storage media (flash cartridges, etc.) The device also has an imprecise touchscreen which requires the use of bare hands, making precise touchscreen effects (as the DS stylus is capable of) impossible.
-Little software support. The iPhone as a gaming device will not break into the Japanese market, since it's made by an American company, and Western developers have already picked either the PSP or DS to support. Finally, Apple does not have an internal game development house, meaning they're entirely at the mercy of third parties. (As a note, no company without an internal dev studio has ever succeeded in entering either the console or handheld market.)
-Too expensive. At $400 + a yearly contract, nobody will buy it for gaming when the alternatives are a $130 DS or a $170 PSP, each of which have a sizable game library to their credit. |
Apple doesn't want people to buy it for gaming. They want people to buy it, period. If the thing gets a few decent games, it will be the equivalent to a PSP with crappier games, better multimedia functionality, internet access everywhere, phone capabilities, and one of the best interfaces ever devised for a portable device. |
Except it probably won't even get "a few decent games." Why would any company develop a game for the iPhone, which has an install base of - what, 5 million? - with only a small percentage of those interested in buying games, when they could develop for 60 million on the DS or 30 million on the PSP? |
http://www.latest-mobile.com/articles/apple/4-million-apple-iphone-sold_4576
In january it had an install base of just above 4 million, so yep it has about a 5-6 M install base. It averages i think around 140k per week. in the U.S.
