Avinash_Tyagi said: And how is any of this a threat to Nintendo? Gaming on Iphone and Android is an afterthought, not to mention, Nintendo has the games that keep bringing in people, not to mention, Nintendo is about to launch a completely new platform which will likely see explosive growth

  I haven't bought a single game for teh DS or PSP for over a year now mainly because there is just no point with the iphone and now ipad out.  

 

  Quite simply I can play really good games like mirrors edge which are at least on par with a lot of DS games and cost less then half as much and I can get them on the go.  I mean I bought a FULL version of Civilization Revolutions for 12 bucks on the Ipad, it has literally all the features of the 360 and PS3 game that was released at 60 bucks originally.  The games are very high quality now and I would contend better then what the DS has, in particular.

 

  The graphics on the DS are "dated" to be generous, with that date being somewhere in the mid 90s.  The PSP is better, it's kind of in between a PS1 and PS2 with some games like God of War looking pretty good.

 

  I would contend that the ipad's graphics are significantly better then both and some games like mirrors edge, NOVA and more look pretty stunning for a hand held.  I would put the ipad potentially around PS2 level graphics which is pretty good for a handheld (I can only assume the iphone refresh will get the same processor).

 

  If I can get really good games like plants vs zombies and all the rest for 10 bucks or less where is the market for 30-40 dollar handheld games that I have to go to the store to pick up?  On top of that to play them I need to carry yet ANOTHER device with me, while I have my iphone with me all the time by default and there isn't the stigma of being 20 and playing with what most adults consider a pure toy (the DS in particular) which gets weird looks at places like the DMV.

  As an aside, particularly because it has to support a ton of different hardware configurations android gaming pretty much sucks.  The iphone is also helped by the ipod touch using the same interface which gives Apple an installed base of almost 100 million units by now.  THere will be more ipod touches/iphone out in the world then Nintendo DSes within the year.

Avinash_Tyagi said: And how is any of this a threat to Nintendo? Gaming on Iphone and Android is an afterthought, not to mention, Nintendo has the games that keep bringing in people, not to mention, Nintendo is about to launch a completely new platform which will likely see explosive growth

Despite it being an afterthought, gaming on the iPhone and Android sure are growing at a breakneck rate.

Nintendo does indeed have games that bring in people - but so do many developers. If these developers start supporting phones seriously (and many have to success), then the phones will be very prominent gaming devices.

I'll gladly take on a bet with you: Android hardware will outsell 3DS hardware 2:1 after launch.

 

I'd say that Android isn't a threat to Sony so much as it is a tremendous opportunity. If Sony makes the PSP2 run Android it can effectively market it as a lifestyle/utility device to compete with Apple in addition to a gaming device to compete with Nintendo.

Qays said: I'd say that Android isn't a threat to Sony so much as it is a tremendous opportunity. If Sony makes the PSP2 run Android it can effectively market it as a lifestyle/utility device to compete with Apple in addition to a gaming device to compete with Nintendo.

Absolutely true.

If Sony could leverage Android as a distribution platform for PSP-quality games....It would be a massive win for Sony. Especially if they put the games on non-Sony phones as well, and ensure that they get a cut of the revenue. IMO, I see that as being the best 'endgame' scenario for Sony - create your own line of gaming phones, and distribute an in-marketplace app to sell PSN games to other Android users.

No it's not going to send the 3ds to its grave. An android is like $400! This same argument popped up in PS3 vs Wii speculation. "oh it'll have feature feature feature feature blah blah blah blah"

Doesn't matter, it's a different market. Yet another lesson (which miraculously no one has managed to figure out on these boards) this generation is that there are different gaming markets. It's not just "games" as one big overarching thing.

Same reason PSP is a massive, hilarious failure in the west. Different platforms need different games.

Now that's an interesting thought. I think Sony is going to be very, very careful about how much interaction they allow between the PSP and Android, though. It's in Sony's best interest to use Android as a way to make the PSP (and its assorted phone spinoffs) an attractive purchase, but I'll bet Sony is terrified that doing so will encourage developers to simply develop games for the Android marketplace instead of for the PSP, thereby denying Sony its royalty payments.

My bet is that Sony puts Android on the PSP2 but blocks it from accessing the games part of the Android app market, and that Sony does not allow any other companies' Android phones to play PSP games. They simply have too much to risk on that front: a superior gaming experience is the killer app that the PSP2 will have to differentiate itself from the iPhone (and from other Android phones, for that matter), they're going to want to protect that killer app at all costs.

cAPSLOCK said: No it's not going to send the 3ds to its grave. An android is like $400! This same argument popped up in PS3 vs Wii speculation. "oh it'll have feature feature feature feature blah blah blah blah" Doesn't matter, it's a different market. Yet another lesson (which miraculously no one has managed to figure out on these boards) this generation is that there are different gaming markets. It's not just "games" as one big overarching thing. Same reason PSP is a massive, hilarious failure in the west. Different platforms need different games.

Depends on where you live, my friend got one for free. As time goes on, the price of an Android device on a 2yr contract will drop on average. There are a few models out there for $100 or less, which means a lot of people can get them into their hands.

The real time when things change is when featurephones like the LG enV and other big sellers (which make up the majority of sales, as dumb and feature phones make up 85% of all mobile sales) which can be subsidized for free.

At that time, what do you think the average person that wants to play games will do - Buy a 3DS for $200 or get an Android on their parents contract for $10?

Good question, but yeah I didn't think about contracts. We'll see what it does but I don't think phones will be replacing portable game systems. Again, I think it's a different market. My guess is we'll see something like what we saw with the PSP--hardware sales, but why buy what you can get for free? So no software sales.

If it does and Nintendo ends up leaving hardware all together they're going to make a fuckton of cash making games for half a billion to billion units instead of a measly 100,000,000 or so.

Nintendo wouldn't leave hardware. You are correct in saying there is a ton of cash in it.

That doesn't mean that you have to produce the same device for the next few centuries, though.

If Sony is going the route of a PSPhone hybrid, then there is no reason that Nintendo could not do the same.

I'd imagine that they could do a better version of the DS (which is an awful lot like an enV Touch) with a Nintendo Marketplace running Android, and a nicer look, and would do very well. Apple makes far more cash for every iPhone than what Nintendo does per DS, and makes a decent bit of royalties off of iTunes, so it would be an easy assumption that Nintendo could manage to do something similar....That is if they had the cojones to do it.

That is tremendously stupid for anyone to compare Iphone sales to PSP and DS sales and use them to infer that they are any kind of threat to them. The reason being that most people buying them probably won't even buy games for them!

The very idea is as asinine as comparing PC sales to Wii, 360, and PS3 sales and using it as evidence that PC sales are a threat to game consoles.