iPhone to Nintendo DS and Sony PSP: Handheld Gaming Wars Have Only Just Begun
It’s no secret that the Apple App Store is just flooded with games and entertainment titles – 21,178 to be exact.
As impressive as that number may sound, however, there is an old saying that says quality over quantity. Now don’t get us wrong, there are very impressive games that have hit the App Store but we think developers are just beginning to scratch the surface of the power of Apple devices. When the App Store was first introduced many developers just rushed to put apps together in a effort to simply cash in with some subpar apps. As time goes on we are seeing more and more impressively polished games arrive in the store.
Games such as EA’s Madden 2010, Assassins Creed 2 from Ubisoft (available November 11th), and a FPS called Nova from Gameloft are just a taste of what’s to come.
So we ask the big question to you, does Apple raise a serious threat to the likes of Sony and Nintendo? What are you using these days to get your game on?
September 11th, 2009 at 7:35 am
The only portables i’ve ever used to game with are smartphones.
But what i think as games and what i saw as demos at that event are two different things. Casual quick games or time wasters are what i like such as Bejeweled, Galcon, card games like wordace, chess, scrabble, etc. These (besides Galcon) are on other smartphones as well.
Anything more involved than that gets placed on a PC or console.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:35 am
The thing is tho only a certain type of game will work on the iPhone. FPS’s for instance so far have been pap! Assassins Creed was mediocre and could have been called running jumping splatting man for all the difference the name made. Dont get me wrong I want more than the plethora of puzzle games we currently have but mobile gaming need s shot in the arm to really take off.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:38 am
who is going to be on an iPhone blog and not use an iPhone for gaming? I just don’t even understand the point of polls like these. it’s like msnbc taking polls about how much do we love the president
September 11th, 2009 at 7:57 am
The Dave gets it.
I like football as much as anyone. Sports games are a major reason for me to own a console game. But i couldn’t imagine playing Madden or whatever on a small touch screen. I tried NFL 2010 out of curiosity and consider it a waste of money.
No d-pad & button controls = no amount of graphics power will help.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Have to say the last thing I thought I would be doing on my iPhone is gaming so much. But there are a lot of awesome hardcore games and plenty of pick up and play titles. I play too much and it kills my iPhone battery, I may pick up and iPod touch for trips so I don’t drain my cell phone.
I still would like 2 extra hardware buttons, like a call and back key that developers could use to their liking for gaming buttons and one virtual stick. Then I think it would really be the third portable system people talk about. Just look, Sony is dumping the UMD drive and openning an app store to push cheaper downloadable games.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:24 am
I have always believed, ” You get what you pay for.” And the same is for games. If I spend $5 on a game I expect a $5 game and if I spend $35 on a game, well , I expect a $35 game. Apple can try all it wants to be the next big gaming platform but it will take a huge swing of favor and a massive drop for the others and it wont come in a $5 package.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:48 am
@John Remember though that at first Apple (or Steve Jobs) did not see the iPhone or itouch as a gaming platform. And I don’t think they’re (meaning Apple) really trying as much because after all it’s all about the developers.
I know for sure that accesories can be made to be used on the iPhone soooo why not a game controler?? I remember one cellphone on Sprint that was able to do that. Furthermore why not an accesory that has a flash for the camera? Of course apps would have to be built by the makers of such accesories…. Just some thoughts.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:07 am
The iPhone makes a horrible gaming device. I mean come on, it doesn’t have any buttons. Sure I play games on it from time to time but that is simply because it is always in my pocket. On my old WinMo phone with real keyboard I played NES games from time to time. I have an NES emu on my iPhone but the lack of real buttons makes it completely useless. There are only a handful of games that are useful on the iPhone. I really can’t see it impacting sales of dedicated gaming machines. If they gave the iPhone a dpad and two buttons then it would be more practical. But then it wouldn’t look as nice and you know how Apple is, design over functionality.
So in my book the iPhone is an incredibly good PDA, but not a gaming machine at all whatsoever.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Apple should make something like the mophie Juice Pack but also ad a dpad and buttons at the bottom.
Apple’s SDK probably has to many restrictions for game devs too. Heaven forbid they try to make use of the volume buttons or something like that. People may get confused… Oh my, is this game hijacked my volume buttons, how am I going to change the volume now.. Agggghh!! I am glad Apple is here to hold our hands.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am
“FPS’s for instance so far have been pap”
You say Modern Combat: Sandstorm is pap? It´s been highly aclaimed by showing FPS games WORK on the iphone when done properly! In fact, has an ex-psp owner, and ds owner, i cant tell you it controls better than any fps on the psp (lack of second analog kills it), and even better than on the ds (no cramps)
And regarding sports games, at least football (the real one, that you call “soccer”), works fine. Real Football, X2 Football, and soon FIFA show it works with no problems with touch controls.
Gangstar by gameloft showed a 3d GTA style game can work on the iphone/ipod touch, and titles like Real Racing and NFSU do the same for the racing game
September 11th, 2009 at 9:28 am
@Ermax18 That reminds me! There’s only one app I know that uses the volume buttons for something else. The camera zoom app uses it to take pictures. Yeah that’s no game but it’s the first time for me to see another use for them buttons.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am
By the way ermax18, your knowledge about iphone games seems to be close to 0, because all the games i mentioned, and more (mecho wars, castle of magic, zen bound, worms, doom ressurection, wolfenstein rpg, zenonia, minigore, blades of fury, spider, sentinel,UNO, doodle jump, tiger woods golf, etc), show the iphone is a GREAT gaming machine
September 11th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Oh apple, the games are cheap because the quality is cheap. I can’t see myself having grand games on here, stuff like FF Crisis Core, Monster Hunter, Dissidia, Metal gear Solid etc for being cheap and be very hard to pull off without controls. Don’t give me that MGS is already in the app store…I don’t regard that trash as a MGS game. Eck. Ahhh whats the point. The kool aid steve jobs gave out is in full force. (-_-)’
September 11th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Alive Forever is a great game…. =D
September 11th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Sorry… a gaming rig the iPhone is not. A multimedia and occasional productivity device, Apple should market the iPhone as.
And talk like Yoda, I am doing today. (Yoda giggle follows>
September 11th, 2009 at 11:49 am
yeah yeah right
September 11th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
What doesn’t Apple get? Input is everything in gaming and the Iphone only has a touchscreen. There is really no comparison.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
My DS used to go everywhere with me; since I got my Touch a few months ago it’s barely been powered up. And where the games on the two platforms are directly comparable (the Taito releases, for example) the App Store versions are just as good quality as the DS ones, despite costing a fraction as much. Some people don’t like the touch screen controls, and that’s a reasonable complaint but obviously many of us have no problems with them, trainwrecks like Duke Nukem notwithstanding.
The higher buy-in cost means Apple’s platform is unlikely to damage Nintendo/Sony sales overall but it’s inarguably a legit gaming platform and will only get better as the hardware improves.
September 11th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Lets put it this way.
iPhone will overtake the handheld market from Nintendo when OS X overtakes the OS market from Windows.
What gets me is that Steve is claiming no camera was added because the iPod is a “gaming machine.” Yet look at the DSi. People surely bought that gaming machine with a camera…
Then again…it’s Nintendo and the DS. ANYONE would’ve bought it no matter a camera or not, lmao.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Gaming requires buttons, especially a d-pad analog stick. Whatever it may be, there just HAS to be buttons.
I use my iPhone for quick pick-up-put-down games, but for more serious gaming, I have my PSP, DS, and PS3, oh, and the Wii. At least the Wii still has buttons of some sort.
I can’t do any hardcore gaming on my iPhone. I only load it with casual games.
Plus, there are all the exclusives that are on DS/PSP that probably won’t appear on the App Store – Final Fantasy series (not that crystal defenders stuff), Zelda, etc.
No matter what Apple says about gaming, I can’t take them seriously about it.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Another analysis on this issue: http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/note-how-apple-didnt-use-sales-numbers/
He makes great points. Although the iPhone has plenty of games, the design is in reverse. Nintendo and Sony set out to make portable gaming instruments. The design tries to maximize that task. the iPhone is designed to be a clean and button-less computing device. Of course games can be written for the iPhone, that is not the point. The point is to create devices that maximize the gaming experience. That is why Nintendo can get away with selling games priced much higher than the iPhone. People perceive that NDS games have higher value and quality.
September 11th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
@truth
what don’t you get? Lets see do i want to spend $40 to play a game on a tiny screen or do i want to spend $10? (speaking in terms of madden 10) What do i do? MMMM? is the gaming experience on the PSP somehow “better”? I think that’s subjective really. Its a freaking video game after all. unless it takes up your whole life i would consider a game to be something you do for the fun of it. $10 is a lot more fun than $40…
September 11th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@christyxcore
not everyone is interested in hardcore gaming. hence the success of the wii. thr fact is i haven’t touched my playstation in well over a year, yet i’m playing the **** out of madden on the iphone…not to mention other games as well. Apple never seems to know what they’re doing (ipod comes out and its too expensive not enough storage….iphone comes out and it doesnt have a real keyboard and this that and the other)….until we realize we’re the ones that don’t have a clue. There’s a reason steve jobs is who he is and the rest of us are just, well….us….not the ceo of a company worth billions
September 11th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
No buttons!!!!!!!!! the horror!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant use this thing for anything!!!!!!!!!!!!! what the hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO BUTTONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just figured out how to type on the damn thing now they want me to play video games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DAMN you apple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn you to hell!!!!!!!!!!!!! this will never take off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 11th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Off the top of my head, the three biggest problems with the iPhone as a gaming device:
1) No buttons. It has been mentioned ad nauseum, but some games play far better with physical controls. (The Dooms and Quakes on the DS are orders of magnitude easier/more fun to control than Doom on the iPhone, and Doom is one of the better twitch games on the iPhone.)
2) Battery life. I can play my DS for an entire cross-country plane flight. I can forget to charge it for days and pick it up and be confident it will play. On my iPhone…not so much.
3) External Media. No cartridges on the iPhone is convenient, but limits what a game can offer. Tiger Woods Golf has better graphics and far richer sounds on the PSP than on the iPhone — not because the iPhone’s hardware is incapable, but because EA cannot count on the iPhone having a GB of space just for one game, so they leave it out. A cartridge/UMD gives the game that much more room for content, be it better textures, sound, or more/deeper gameplay.
Despite these issues, I still think the iPhone will eat at the DS and PSP’s sales, because there are a lot of people out there for whom those factors do not matter. Those people are not going to plunk down $250 on a PSP when they already have/will get an iPhone. Even if the DS and PSP are superior as game machines, Nintendo and SONY should be at least a little concerned.
(And yes, Madden 10 is far, far better on the PSP than on the iPhone. Four times better? Depends on your POV, but it is close…)
September 11th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Lol. You guys CANNOT stop it : THE IPHONE IS READY TO DOMINATE THE PORTABLE GAME INDUSTRY.
it’s funny, because the more you guys are venting, the more people buy iPhone games. For exemple, I just got a $25 iTunes card, and I will download tonight : Madden, modern combat ( gameloft), the new sword game from gameloft ( I don’t remember the name ) , dj mix tour, the finger, and 2XL supercross. Ahhhhhhh what a crazy weekend
see you at the end of the year for a bilan, and you WILL how everybody will become crazy about the iPhone gaming plateform.
Muahahahaha ha ha ha ( Stewie Griffin’s evil laugh)
September 11th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
@iblackdude
finally. Someone who knes what the he’ll they’re talking about. Refreshing.
September 11th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Its kind of hard to compare iphone gaming to other portable platform like the psp , we have to remember the iphone’ primary functio is for communication and system like the psp are designed primarily for gaming . True , the iphone has the the best games out of all mobile phones but it will never be able to compare graphic and control wise to the portable gaming systems , now if apple we somehow able to work on the graphics system and a better control system for the touch screen then maybe it might ????? But then they would probably cost like 1,000 $ instead of the 700 some people are paying now ! And to think ….. How much bigger would the phone get ????
September 11th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Also …… If you havent noticed already , most of the iphones games are extremely short and very repetative . I dont think people want to keep putting out 7$ for a 3 hour game ? Just my opinion
September 12th, 2009 at 12:25 am
It’s probably been said before, but like 90% of the iPhone games are **** boring. IMHO, there has been only a handful of triple A titles. Gameloft has put together great games. Cooking Mama is good, would be better with updates though, and EA is pumping out a few good titles. Let’s not forget Rolando. All I’m saying is that until iPhone/iTouch is not quite ready to claim that they are dominating handheld gaming, but with enough quality games, it could come pretty darn close.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:41 am
@christyxcore
“Gaming requires buttons, especially a d-pad analog stick. Whatever it may be, there just HAS to be buttons.”
I think that very thing was said about cellphones.
@ fassy
I agree that the iPhone has notched a place in the gaming market.
The overall graphic quality or depth of a game is of less importance here. A game need not be expensive, lengthy nor feature rich for it to be a legitimate game. Consumers only need to find value to buy. So far, regardless of the graphics and physical limitations, iPhone gaming, according to the sales numbers, has been satisfying that requirement.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Apple senses complacency on the parts of Nintendo and Sony. Sony will fall victim to Apple yet again!
September 12th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Ridiculous.
“I think that very thing (needs buttons) was said about cellphones. “
-And that still remains true today. iPhone hasn’t shown that phones don’t need buttons. The best selling phones are 1handed use button devices even today. The best selling phone, by far, is a Nokia with 200 million sold. It has buttons. What iPhone has shown is that Americans and Apple users like PDAs. Look at the numbers of where iPhoen is sold well and who it’s being sold to.
The fact remains that button devices are far more suited for the use-case of mobility. The iPhone is a MID. It’s no more a gaming machine than my SE P1i or my E71 which has thousands of titles from MMORPG to 3D games. That’s like saying a netbook is a gaming machine because you can play close to a million games on it (from web & flash; and there are some fantastic games that netbooks can play) compared to only several thousand titles available for the xBox, PS3 or whatever.
Just because a horse can pull a wagon doesn’t make the horse a pickup truck.
September 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
@wansai
wether or not the iPhone is a gaming machine isn’t up to you. It’s not up to me. It’s up to the individual users. If the iPhone becomes the leader in portable gaming isn’t that a pretty good sign of it’s success as a gaming platform? Wether or not “real gamers” agree with it.
September 12th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
@wansai
” iPhone hasn’t shown that phones don’t need buttons.”
I’m sure you’re kidding.
Regardless of what you personally think is required for a device to be considered a gaming platform, sales of game applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch make a compelling argument toward their place in the gaming industry. I don’t think Apple finds that “ridiculous.”
September 12th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@therealtruth
You are a step ahead of me. I am saying the same thing.
September 12th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
@SpiceRak2
Of course iPhone games are legitimate — you may be misreading me as the gamer type who says “casual games” with a sneer. If you have fun with them, buy them and play them — I do. But I also recognize that, with its current hardware configuration, there exists a class of games the iPhone does not play well, or at least not as well as the systems Apple as casting as “the competition.
If I could draw a Venn Diagram here, it would illustrate that the iPhone game capabilities do not encompass all of PSP/DS capabilities, nor vice-versa. There is huge overlap, true, and I suspect the iPhone is going to chip away substantially at PSP/DS sales due to that overlap, but there is still a large segment out there who wants a different (better? worse? up to the player) game experience than the iPhone is capable of providing.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
@ fassy
I understand.
Do you think that Apple may find itself at a “crossroads” as to how to market and develop the iPhone and iPod Touch as time stretches on? So far, the iPhone has been the jack of all trades and master of…?
September 13th, 2009 at 12:53 am
@SpiceRak2
Well, the iPhone group is always at a crossroads, because they are still blazing new trails, so they have to pave their own roads
I think it would be a mistake for Apple to go after the “hardcore” gamers, because there are some game things (IMHO) the iPhone does not do as well, and a direct frontal marketing assault on Nintendo/SONY would just highlight those. More to the point, Apple does not need to go after the hardcore gamers to be a phenomenal success. Addressing any of the things I saw as flaws for a game device would probably compromise other functions of the iPhone, and the number of hardcore gamers who would welcome those changes is probably far smaller than the regular users who would hate them. With the balance Apple has struck, they can scarcely meet demand as it is.
I do not think games will be the iPhone’s moment of truth, anyways. That will come when a more “open” platform — be it Android, WebOS, WinMo, Maemo, Symbian, whatever — finally gets its act together and catches up. All other things being even close to equal, the more open platform will eventually win out, as the sheer weight of numbers eventually tips R&D, cool features, and killer applications in its favor. Those things are not equal now, because Apple’s focus made the iPhone the first, and (again, IMHO) still the best device of its kind. Other platforms have yet to figure out how to replicate its success, much less improve it. However, while crowds may not innovate as fast, they learn from each individual’s failure, so the gap between Apple and the others, while still large, has narrowed in the past year.
Apple’s crossroads will be when some more open device closes the gap enough that customers start to notice — at that point Apple can either open up, and let its rich developer community share more of the burden of making cooler apps that sell the platform, or Apple can retrench and close off, banking on a single company with focused vision and skills can stay ahead of the rest of the world all by itself.
Even for a company as talented as Apple, the us-against-the-whole-world strategy will eventually fail — to stay ahead of such a large crowd, you cannot make a single mistake, and that margin of error cannot be denied indefinitely. Despite initially great technology and leads, Apple itself failed spectacularly this way, almost snuffing itself out, in the war for the desktop. (The 1997 book “Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders” is fascinating reading, for fanbois and haters alike.)
Granted, the story might end differently for a phone than for a general purpose computer, but, one way or another, Apple will be facing its crossroads when the competition starts getting their acts together.
September 13th, 2009 at 5:06 am
@ fassy
I see what you mean and for the most, I agree.
If you have never seen the documentary, “Welcome To Macintosh,” rent it for an entertaining inside look at the culture of Apple and a look back through the company’s history within the tech industry. There are plenty of employee/engineer/executive interviews that will keep you smiling, IMHO. I was particularly amazed to hear what some of the executives really think about the iPod.
Thanks for responding.