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Forums - Gaming - Why are handhelds often seen as inferior or not as important as home consoles?

Ganoncrotch on 30 July 2016
thismeintiel said:
Well, they are inferior in terms of specs. Really, handheld makers can't exactly keep up with not only home consoles in terms of power, but also smartphone in terms of resolution. That's because gamers have shown they don't really want to pay more than $200 for a handheld, but will pay more than that for a good phone. They just value the devices differently. It's why the handheld market is shrinking drastically this gen, while the PS4 is still outpacing the PS2. And why I just don't see a NX handheld being very successful.

So you only game on a gaming PC then? Or how do you justify the PS4's existance or relevance as a platform for gaming?



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Ganoncrotch on 30 July 2016
kyprime said:
http://imgur.com/FrCVZMWm guess which is on a handheld and which is on a console

Guess which of these is on the PS4 and which one is from a handheld, Because ya know... it's simply a case of which looks nicer in a single game right?



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Pavolink on 30 July 2016

Where it is treated as inferior?
Because if I go to look at numbers, clearly the market does not see as an inferior product.



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fordy on 30 July 2016
Paperboy_J said:

I never understood this.  I'm a handheld gamer.  I do most of my gaming on handheld systems.  But in my 20+ years of being a gamer and active member of the gaming community, I've noticed that haldhelds are almost universally regarded as significantly less important than home consoles.  Why is that?

It's a video game system, built from the ground up for gaming.  It has its own library of games that you buy, plug into the system, and play.  It has its own buttons, features, the whole nine yards.  The only difference is you hold it in your hands instead of plugging it into your TV.  So why are they seen as inferior?  If anything, they're better than home consoles because you can take them anywhere!

Am I wrong?  Am I crazy?  Did I miss something?  What are your thoughts on this?  Why are handhelds seen as inferior?  Why is it when the Vita failed, it's no big deal, but when the Wii U failed, it's the end of the world?  Do YOU feel handhelds are inferior?  If so, why?

 

Side note: Please understand that when i say "handheld," I'm talking about dedicated gaming systems such as the Vita and 3DS, not devices that can play games like smartphones or tablets.

It's quite simple really. Consoles remove one of the major factors in design because it doesn't have to be limited by battery capacity or a portable screen. In that sense, consone games are seen to be more able to "push the envelope" with a greater availability of processor, gpu and storage resources.

I agree, and you're not wrong here. If console history has taught us anything, it's that extraordinary games can be made on hardware seen to be more limited in capability. Also, the portability factor adds to the immersion for some titles in particular. It shouldn't be seen as "inferior", more like "Apples and Oranges".

I think with the recent success of Pokemon Go, Nintendo might be looking to make handhelds make more use of their....portability. Then we'll see the distinction between portable and console titles become a lot more noticeable.



Qwark on 30 July 2016

Because they are not as exciting as homeconsoles in therms of competition, power and games.



Please excuse my (probally) poor grammar

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Uabit on 30 July 2016

Because they are inferior and not as important as home consoles. Besides smartphones are eating them (like PC is eating home consoles).

Consoles are inferior devices.



thismeintiel on 30 July 2016
Ganoncrotch said:
thismeintiel said:
Well, they are inferior in terms of specs. Really, handheld makers can't exactly keep up with not only home consoles in terms of power, but also smartphone in terms of resolution. That's because gamers have shown they don't really want to pay more than $200 for a handheld, but will pay more than that for a good phone. They just value the devices differently. It's why the handheld market is shrinking drastically this gen, while the PS4 is still outpacing the PS2. And why I just don't see a NX handheld being very successful.

So you only game on a gaming PC then? Or how do you justify the PS4's existance or relevance as a platform for gaming?

Simple, really.  Gamers have showed they are perfectly fine buying closed HW for not only its ease of use, but its jump power over the last gen of console they owned.  They also know exclusives will push that HW as much as possible.  Simply put, many people prefer home consoles to PC, and many prefer the opposite, so both models will continue to exist for quite some time.

What I wrote about handhelds is true.  The audience is also different for both markets.  While home consoles cater more to the core crowd, handhelds cater more to the casual crowd.  A crowd that have been taken away by mobile gaming.  That's not to say a handheld could never see success, again, just that it won't be DS levels (probably not even 3DS levels) and it can't be priced over $200.



 

hershel_layton on 30 July 2016
Ganoncrotch said:
hershel_layton said:

Only issue with OLED is that battery life worsens. Better picture quality, but at the cost of higher production costs.

Considering how Sony is probably done with handhelds, I wonder what type of screen the NXDS will have. LCD, LED, or perhaps OLED?

 

But I agree with you on handhelds. People who dismiss handhelds typically don't realize how great their libraries are. Just look at Nintendo. The 3DS got an entire smash game with great graphics(that is if you remove the ugly black lines). It has Pokemon; it got Kid Icarus Uprising, which is a console-level game. The Vita also has a large library of games.

 

Sure, obviously consoles are great, but handhelds are as well, especially for occassions where you just want to relax somewhere else. not only that, but you can live with a smaller resolution, as it isn't noticable for small screens

On a Nintendo platform weirdly enough you need to go back to the SNES to find a street fighter game on a console.

But the GBC had Street Fighter Alpha

GBA got Street Fighter 2 Turbo Revival and Street Fighter Alpha 3

3DS has an amazing port of Super Street Fighter 4

So I find it strange that some might think they aren't the place to sell mainstream games, when some publishers disagree completely.

Ah, and as much as I dislike Capcom for somethings, it's worth keeping in mind that one of the best Resident Evil titles, Revelations started its life off as a lowly 3ds title and then was just tidied up somewhat in the shadows and lighting departments to go onto the PC/X360/PS3

street fighter 4 was great on the 3ds. One of the best looking games.



 

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12/22/2016- Made a bet with Ganoncrotch that the first 6 months of 2017 will be worse than 2016. A poll will be made to determine the winner. Loser has to take a picture of them imitating their profile picture.

kyprime on 30 July 2016
Conina said:

kyprime said:
http://imgur.com/FrCVZMWm guess which is on a handheld and which is on a console

Totally fair comparison, especially with different genres, different art styles and heavy artifacts on the handheld picture!

Guess which is on a handheld and which is on a console?

Of course you can see minor differences, but each handheld generation the general look of handheld games came closer to the home console games.

you can see great differences, stop trying to lie, taking promotional art for the handheld games, take IN GAME SCREENSHOTS



kyprime on 30 July 2016
Ganoncrotch said:
kyprime said:
http://imgur.com/FrCVZMWm guess which is on a handheld and which is on a console

Guess which of these is on the PS4 and which one is from a handheld, Because ya know... it's simply a case of which looks nicer in a single game right?

gues which one is the console and which one is the handheld http://imgur.com/a/lJLrF

and BTW: yeah, a console can play handheld games, can a handheld play the witcher 3? no then they YA GO, A CLREARLY SUPERIOR FACT