You’re right, it is a judgement call. But I’m hoping that manufacturers will continue to take into account the desires of dedicated gamers, instead of looking to make a cheap buck flogging fashionable but inferior gimmicks to the masses as their primary marketing strategy. In the past I would have absolutely counted on Nintendo at least doing this, but with the way they’ve handled the DS and the Wii, playing up the casual gaming side of them to make them fashionable for the general public at the expense of quality software, my confidence has been shaken. If gaming does become second fiddle to being the “in-thing” and making money, it will be a very, very sad day for everyone who has a serious love of games.

The PSP has lost the battle to the (far inferior in my terms) DS already – at great cost to Sony. The money and the market for something like a handheld Gran Turismo doesn’t compare to the market for “Brain Training 7 – Now with Pie Charts!!!!111!!!!”.

I guess we’ll see. Personally, I want to see better and better graphics in handheld games, and more and more computational power in the devices themselves. For me, that empowers developers more than a little plastic pointing wand. At the moment, that push and development from the market leader seems a couple of generations away, whilst we all get bogged down in little puzzle games and Mario clones.

Although…….aren’t Nokia touting that super-tech that allows massively increased portable computing power? I can’t remember its name.

All in all, it’s all moot once Football Manager comes to iPhone. Then I will be truly lost.

Darach, a Nintenphone would be pretty interesting. Heard those rumours for ages and I refuse to believe a company like them haven’t at least investigated it. If they did though it’d be the final proof that the industry changed, after all Nintendo are the last company to move their console away from games. Hell even the Wii doesn’t support DVDs!

good points tho man

I think devices like the DS still have a place but they have defiantly been marginalised (to kids i would say), whereas a smart phone is currently seen as a grown up device. Although as prices come down and iPhone devs start expanding what there games can do and if they can push the prices up to support complex development (pretty big IF thus far) Then maybe the DS and its ilk will snuff it.

We’ll just have to wait a few years and see…

Then, there’s the ergonomics. Mobile phones are too fiddly. They’ve gotten too small. The buttons on my current mobile are so small that every time I try to scroll to the right I accidentally hit the cancel button and shut down what I was doing. That’s never going to work for gaming. An iPhone doesn’t even have physical buttons. A DS has all the buttons you need to play handheld games as well as the touchscreen, and they’re laid out in a fashion that suits extended gameplay, and they’re big enough for anyone to use. I’m not fat, far from it, I just inherited my grandfather’s massive hands. I need proper buttons with some decent space between them. And I can’t be the only one.

Finally, downloadable games are just never going to be able to compete with physical media. With physical cartridges you can take as many games around with you as you like. With downloadable titles, you can only take as many as you can get on your device’s memory. Not to mention that most downloadable titles are complete crap, because of size limitations. For every good DS title there are a hundred rubbish ones. But for every good iPhone app there are a million rubbish ones, because of the distribution system, and because of the way they are developed. It’s all well and good to say that advances mean that future handheld devices will have much larger capacity and all, but those same advances in memory storage allow for cartridges of comparable exponential expansion, so the cartridge is always going to have the edge in how big and expansive and good a game can potentially be, compared to games that have to fit onto inbuilt memory and still allow space for others.

It’s an interesting read, and certainly a valid interpretation, but I just can’t agree with you on this one, because I think that handheld gaming will continue to evolve and adapt and carry on, and that the mobile smartphone fad will eventually start to pass. Before long, everyone and their dog will have a smartphone the same way they did with basic mobile phones. A dedicated handheld though is special, and will still be special to those with a passion for games. It’s a little unfair to say that handheld gaming is dying on the basis of the DS seeming dated, because it is old. It’s near the end of its development cycle. The GBA seemed very dated in its final days, and then the DS was released and sold millions and renewed interest in handhelds. Nintendo probably has a replacement for the DS waiting in the wings as well. Hopefully one which will avoid the folly of the latest PSP design and still support physical media.

When I saw the title I thought, “But it’s a massive industry!”, yet by the end you had me nodding along to myself and thinking you were absolutely right :D Good stuff.

One (small) thought tho; never ones to willingly walk away from money-making opportunities, could Nintendo fight back with an all-in-one of their own?
If it looked the part (i.e. unbelievably gorgeous), a Nintendo Phoneboy could be the first piece of must-have kit to give the iPhone a run for it’s money. Massive installed user-base, instant brand recognition, and (in Japan at least) a product for the whole family could give them the start needed to make it possible. Also, they’re still software kings, and they’ve got some killer IP :)

Anyway, ’s just a thought :) Good blog, man.