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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Handheld consoles may soon go extinct

zorg1000 on 11 May 2014
Soundwave said:
One thing I know for sure is kids are freaking nuts over cell phone/tablet gaming.

Every time I'm in a store like Best Buy, the iPad section has 2 or 3 little kids around it, and an Apple Store on a Saturday is like walking through a day care center.

Kids just take to tablets/smartphones like fish to water, I'm not sure what Nintendo can really do. Parents encourage it too, because it's simply a helluva lot cheaper to give your kid a 5-6 free or 99 cent games on the tablet than buy them some new gaming device that's going to zing you for $40 a pop every birthday/Christmas.

Last year was the lowest for Nintendo handheld sales since 1997/98 which is just before the launch of Game Boy Color. For a year that had Pokemon X/Y, Animal Crossing, Zelda: ALBW, and other strong titles ... that's seriously troubling.

thats something Nintendo mentioned recently that they were going to experiment with cheaper prices for software, im interested in how much cheaper they are willing to go.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

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fps_d0minat0r on 11 May 2014
TheGoldenBoy said:
fps_d0minat0r said:
TheGoldenBoy said:
fps_d0minat0r said:
The problem is the price. Theres fewer grown ups interested in handhelds than kids and the higher the price, the less likely parents will buy their kids a handheld console instead of another toy.
Vita 2 needs to be launched at ~£160 and accept microSD cards instead of their own expensive ones.

Or their proprietary cards have to at least be able to compete with microSD cards in value. 

which they never will

I never had a PSP but I heard that their cards were priced competitively with microSD cards? I would assume they could do the same with Vita. It would probably help the sales as well—even if only a bit.

PSP used memory stick pro duo which was made by sony but it was a format which was used by other devices other than the PSP and sony could license the manufacturing of the cards to other companies. It was a larger scale operation so prices could be driven down unlike with the vita memory cards which only work with vita and are only made by sony.

Also, there were tons of fake memory stick pro duo's on the market so that disrupted the prices of the genuine ones too. With the vita memory, Sony basically has everything under control how they want it to be and I have a feeling thats gonna stay the same for the next handheld.



TheGoldenBoy on 11 May 2014
fps_d0minat0r said:

PSP used memory stick pro duo which was made by sony but it was a format which was used by other devices other than the PSP and sony could license the manufacturing of the cards to other companies. It was a larger scale operation so prices could be driven down unlike with the vita memory cards which only work with vita and are only made by sony.

Also, there were tons of fake memory stick pro duo's on the market so that disrupted the prices of the genuine ones too. With the vita memory, Sony basically has everything under control how they want it to be and I have a feeling thats gonna stay the same for the next handheld.

Never knew that about the PSP. They should still lower their memory card prices though lol.

@bolded: I somewhat doubt that they'll release another handheld, or at least a traditional handheld.



Lafiel on 11 May 2014
fps_d0minat0r said:

PSP used memory stick pro duo which was made by sony but it was a format which was used by other devices other than the PSP and sony could license the manufacturing of the cards to other companies. It was a larger scale operation so prices could be driven down unlike with the vita memory cards which only work with vita and are only made by sony.

Also, there were tons of fake memory stick pro duo's on the market so that disrupted the prices of the genuine ones too. With the vita memory, Sony basically has everything under control how they want it to be and I have a feeling thats gonna stay the same for the next handheld.

You expect Sony to launch another dedicated handheld console after the Vita?? I think the chance of that happening is below 5%.

I can see them release a high-end "gaming smartphone" with an included gamepad case and some first party software support as well as Playstation Now and PS4/PS5 streaming and PSP/PSV emulation.

One might say that approach already flopped with the Xperia Play, but that was a pretty bad attempt with the handset being mid range and only having playstation mobile support and no PSP compatibility etc.



fps_d0minat0r on 11 May 2014
Lafiel said:
fps_d0minat0r said:

PSP used memory stick pro duo which was made by sony but it was a format which was used by other devices other than the PSP and sony could license the manufacturing of the cards to other companies. It was a larger scale operation so prices could be driven down unlike with the vita memory cards which only work with vita and are only made by sony.

Also, there were tons of fake memory stick pro duo's on the market so that disrupted the prices of the genuine ones too. With the vita memory, Sony basically has everything under control how they want it to be and I have a feeling thats gonna stay the same for the next handheld.

You expect Sony to launch another dedicated handheld console after the Vita?? I think the chance of that happening is below 5%.

I can see them release a high-end "gaming smartphone" with an included gamepad case and some first party software support as well as Playstation Now and PS4/PS5 streaming and PSP/PSV emulation.

One might say that approach already flopped with the Xperia Play, but that was a pretty bad attempt with the handset being mid range and only having playstation mobile support and no PSP compatibility etc.

Yes I think they will and they will. They will cut the launch price but still make a very powerful console like they did with the PS4 compared to the PS3. It should also be able to get easier ports of PS4 games than the vita could get from the PS3 and the graphical gap will be closer to the PS4 than it was for the PS2/PSP and the PS3/vita.



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JazzB1987 on 11 May 2014

What I find very entertaining is that developers whined for years that PC is not profitable because of all the "pirates".

On mobile there can be as many pirates as on PC the reason there is not so much right now (iOS has not so many android has more) is because there is almost nothing to pirate because 99% of apps are shit anyways. If that changes more people will automatically do it.

I would e.g never buy something like GTA or DragonQuest on mobile simply because the controls suck. (and GTA is a great franchise and I love DragonQuest which is one of my fav franchises)

Especially because games like those cost 10-15 (for old ports) and being "digital only" as the whole marketplace is. That means no 66%% price cut or something at all ever. (steam does not count since steam has retail and digital sales and competes with retail, orign, etc...)

What I also not understand is this. Making DQ8 for mobile is harder than making DQ8 for 3DS. e.g you have to completely overhaul the controls because you have no buttons and you have to optimize the game (at least a little bit) for not only 1 but at least 4 or so devices (in case of android its even more) And yet the games release for 15 bucks.

If they would decide to release DQ8 on Vita or 3DS for the same price or lets say 20 so Nintendo/Sony get some piece of the pie. I bet then there would be as many sales on handhelds as on the mobile phones. But no the industry still insinst on the "1 price fits all" method.

The industry is digging up its own grave be it on handhelds VS phones or consoles with their stupid streamlining for people that dont even care about those games.
Instead of making the games the userbase wants they think they have to compete with Fifa and Cod and Madden for those mainstreamers that make up 90%+ of todays gaming population.



teigaga on 11 May 2014

I don't think extinct but next gen will probably be the last standalone gen for handhelds.

That is unless new innovations come in place. Nintendo is a given but I really hope sony releases one last handheld in a few years time.



Frogger on 11 May 2014
zorg1000 said:
Captain_Tom said:
spemanig said:
Captain_Tom said:
spemanig said:
As long as Nintendo still has Pokemon, handhelds will never go extinct.


Never say never.


Never.


LOL I told myself "He's going to say never and think he is clever."  Way to be predictable man.  Yeah and also good job ignoiring Pokemon's fairly steady decline in sales every generation...

Pokemon is not declining, Nintendo recently released official numbers for Pokemon gen 3 and up.

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire-16.22 million

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl-17.63 million

Pokemon Black/White-15.42 million

Pokemon X/Y-12.26 million (still growing)

When all is said and done Pokemon X/Y will be the fourth consecutive gen to sell in the 15-18 million range, so the series has remained pretty consistant for over a decade.


Ultra ninja'd.



VanceIX on 11 May 2014
fps_d0minat0r said:
TheGoldenBoy said:
fps_d0minat0r said:
TheGoldenBoy said:
fps_d0minat0r said:
The problem is the price. Theres fewer grown ups interested in handhelds than kids and the higher the price, the less likely parents will buy their kids a handheld console instead of another toy.
Vita 2 needs to be launched at ~£160 and accept microSD cards instead of their own expensive ones.

Or their proprietary cards have to at least be able to compete with microSD cards in value. 

which they never will

I never had a PSP but I heard that their cards were priced competitively with microSD cards? I would assume they could do the same with Vita. It would probably help the sales as well—even if only a bit.

PSP used memory stick pro duo which was made by sony but it was a format which was used by other devices other than the PSP and sony could license the manufacturing of the cards to other companies. It was a larger scale operation so prices could be driven down unlike with the vita memory cards which only work with vita and are only made by sony.

Also, there were tons of fake memory stick pro duo's on the market so that disrupted the prices of the genuine ones too. With the vita memory, Sony basically has everything under control how they want it to be and I have a feeling thats gonna stay the same for the next handheld.

If there is a next handheld (I really hope there is, the Vita might just be my all-time favorite handheld), Sony will probably just ditch memory cards completely and go with flash memory, or at least make flash memory the primary option. 



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AZWification on 11 May 2014
ToraTiger said:
Yep, then home consoles. You're only choices for gaming will then be: PC, Phone, or Tablet.





                
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