Gamers Abandoning Portable Gaming Devices for Gaming Smart-Phones

[danDroid]

Recent market research indicates gamers are leaving the portable gaming devices like PSPs and Gameboys at home in the closet in favor of simply gaming on their smart-phone. A survey, first reported here by Yahoo, performed by a leading market research firm, Interpret, says, "Gamers appear to be defecting from their handheld gaming devices to phones to get their gaming kicks." Interpret's report, which polled 9,000 U.S. consumers, goes on to say. "A full 27.2% of consumers who indicate that they play games on their phones only (and not on the DS/PSP) actually own a DS or PSP, but do not actively use the device(s)."

This trend is becoming more apparent when you take a look across the many industries this would impact. John Carmack of iD Software, and Epic Games are both creating games specifically for the smart-phone market. Epic recently released the stunningly beautiful, "Infinity Blade" to the iPhone. They have confirmed that they have no plans to port it to the Android, but perhaps if we raise enough ruckus they just might. Indeed, even the most successful game in history, 'World of Warcraft', may soon be playable on a smartphone. We reported previously here.

Also, we've even recently shared stories about the upcoming Playstation Phone. And, if that doesn't have you convinced, it appears that Motorola themselves may be getting into "the game". This story at Phandroid says, Motorola has filed a recent trademark for the “Stadia” name, and while the name alone doesn’t do much to stir up excitement, the uncharacteristically detailed listing does. From the sound of it, the Motorola Stadia mark would be applied to a handset with a focus on gaming. From the description, Moto is aiming to use the name for a “handheld game device in the nature of hand-held units for playing electronic games for use with external display screen or monitor.”

This same article indicates the trademark filing also hints that the device will be used for exercise related activities. Could we have our first "Wii-Fit-style" smart-phones? Do any of you guys still game with a PSP or Gameboy, or have you switched to mobile smart-phone apps too? Sound off in the forums.

by dgstorm

 

[pinballwizard]

The real problem is that we need to portable gaming devices, the games on ds and ps3 havn't gotten old and we want something with more power, playabillity, and overall game quality before we can go back to hand helds. so until that happens of course were going to use our phones because the games are more fun, for now. Just waiting on psp2 :icon_ peace:

 

[Bilgediver]

Love the Original Droid picture

 

[ocdtrekkie]

Only one portable gaming console is likely to survive, and it's the DS series. For one reason. No matter who you are, and what games you play, no game franchises have ever surpassed Mario or Zelda in fun, ease-of-play, and pure awesome. Until the day Nintendo moves into the phone market, the Nintendo DS will remain supreme.

(Plus the number of Nintendo DS's that have been sold borders on the ludicrous at this point)

That being said, I love having GameBoid and the like on my phone, and I do purchase the legal games and consoles, but I love the ability to have the emulators and ROMs at my disposal too.

I can say for CERTAIN, that the gameplay on a DS surpasses the gameplay of ANY game on any mobile device. But with consoles like the PlayStation Phone coming, which will offer the same optimized control experience, this may change.

<- Nintendo and Android fanboy.

 

[linkboy]

Only one portable gaming console is likely to survive, and it's the DS series. For one reason. No matter who you are, and what games you play, no game franchises have ever surpassed Mario or Zelda in fun, ease-of-play, and pure awesome. Until the day Nintendo moves into the phone market, the Nintendo DS will remain supreme.

(Plus the number of Nintendo DS's that have been sold borders on the ludicrous at this point)

That being said, I love having GameBoid and the like on my phone, and I do purchase the legal games and consoles, but I love the ability to have the emulators and ROMs at my disposal too.

I can say for CERTAIN, that the gameplay on a DS surpasses the gameplay of ANY game on any mobile device. But with consoles like the PlayStation Phone coming, which will offer the same optimized control experience, this may change.

<- Nintendo and Android fanboy.

The problem with the PSP phone is if Sony is going to treat it like an actual device or are they going to ignore it.

Its also a different device then the PSP2. For the PSP phone to be equal to the PSP2 (and PSP) it will need an analog stick, a d-pad just won't cut it.

Nintendo, on the other hand, they're not going anywhere. As long as they've got their main franchises they're going to keep selling handhelds. They've also got the kid market locked up.

 

[DroidsRUs]

(Plus the number of Nintendo DS's that have been sold borders on the ludicrous at this point)
<- Nintendo and Android fanboy.

Yea but will the get to Plaid.

 

[Batman8]

No way!!!! I am a serious gamer who has owned almost every console and hand held to hit the market over the last almost 30 years and I will NOT be supporting Sony anymore on the hand held front.

I have 2 modified PSPs, along with a PSOne, PS2, and PS3 (and of course Microsoft products too etc., but we're not talking about those right now). Every since the release of the notorious PSPGo I have stopped supporting Sony. That system showed that they didn't give a damn about supporting all of their current loyal customers when it was NOT UMD game compatible, UMD Movie Compatible, could not use the 3 extra PSP batteries that I have, has a smaller screen, cost more money than the bigger models, and can only get games via slow ass downloads (which also means that an internet connection is MANDATORY!).

I have since then started playing all hand held games on my Droid 1 and now on my Droid-X which has the same size screen as the original PSP!! The HD titles especially play just as good as the PSP, have nice controls, allows me to now carry only one multi-functional device that runs thousands of apps, gets an internet connection anywhere, AND IT MAKES PHONE CALLS! So "Goodbye PSP" and Hello Android.

 

[Freezetron]

As serious gamer myself I say.... "uhhh no"

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[Shane RC51]

I run emulators on my Droid (OG). I play games on it all the time, but there's no way I could do it without a Game Gripper. Games designed for touchscreen phones are neat for passing time (Angry Birds), but they're no substitute for Super Metroid or Bionic Commando with a proper control pad. On screen virtual controls just SUCK. The day a dual core phone with a real gaming control setup is released, I'll be all over it. I don't care for a keyboard, I want a real game pad...

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

 

[Bilgediver]

Actually phones like the OG Droid work well because of the D-pad.

I was playing SNES games and Sega Genesis games no problem because of it. Maybe its because I'm used to playing emulators on my laptop that I had no problem with the keyboard as the "control" pad buttons.

 

[77Pat]

I could see this because of convenience. I have a ps3, xbox360, and wii, but do not feel I would game enough on the go to justify carrying around a dedicated gaming device. I was very tempted to pick up a GameBoy Andvance SP to play the classic NES games though. With my Droid X, I am already carrying it around as phone/media player, so I have tried some games on it. Right now I am playing Dungeon Hunter and I like the game.

 

[Trenton]

 

[jroc]

I run emulators on my Droid (OG). I play games on it all the time, but there's no way I could do it without a Game Gripper. Games designed for touchscreen phones are neat for passing time (Angry Birds), but they're no substitute for Super Metroid or Bionic Commando with a proper control pad. On screen virtual controls just SUCK. The day a dual core phone with a real gaming control setup is released, I'll be all over it. I don't care for a keyboard, I want a real game pad...

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums App

Incredibly so.. for some fun try playing Tecmo Bowl with touch only controls...

 

[geoff5093]

The problem with gaming on phones is that the batteries are way too small to last a significant amount of time. After a couple hours of game play your battery is more then likely to be almost dead, now unless you are near a charger you won't be able to use your phone to actually make calls.

 

[640k]

oh, hai thar