"Console Quality" In Relation to Handheld Games

[F0X]

kupomogli said:

F0X said:

I think people use the term console quality because usually, handheld games aren't as good as console games when it comes to gameplay, so people usually compare handheld games to handheld games when it comes to gameplay quality.  I've never seen the reason to do so.  To me though, whether a game is a dollar iphone game, or Killzone for the Vita, the quality is still going to be worse or better than [x].  Just because this game cost $1, $30, or $60 doesn't change the quality of the title, but people inflate scores for handheld games because they're under the assumption that because it's handheld, then it's allowed to get a higher score because it's worse. 

The same goes for indie titles.  Because [x] game is $14.99, and is really good for how much it costs, people will rate it higher than a $60 game that is only a little bit better.  Because people also inflate games now based on cost, a game with an 8.5 at $10 MSRP is not going to be of the same quality as a game with 8.5 at $60 MSRP. 

I agree with you in that price has no bearing on quality. It may have an effect on subjective value, but not much more (and quality is still a big factor there). However, I don't believe that quality is 100% relative to the platform a game releases on. Consoles and PC may be a better fit for some genres (like FPS) because of fewer hardware limitations, but that doesn't preclude, say, a high quality platformer, RPG, or action/adventure game from being released on a handheld. A smaller, more focused title doesn't inheriently make for a worse one. A title with lower production values can have better gameplay and level design than a title with better production values. And, even when gameplay is still not up to par with console games, I still think that the convient nature of handheld hardware (now more so than ever) is a balancing factor.

But, ultimately, determination of quality is most often based on extremely subjective notions in addition to the objective ones (and, potentially, outweighing them on a person-by-person basis). I can name several handheld games that I've played in the past several years that are among the best games I've ever played. Better than most home console games I've played, and I've touched hundreds of them. In my mind, they're equal, and that's where the term "console quality" begins to break apart for me.