There have been many articles in recent months about why portable gaming needs to go away. Not to be confused with mobile gaming which is booming at the moment, but portable gaming like the Nintendo DS, GBA, PSP and the upcoming PSVita. There are some good arguments to support these articles and some of them do make sense but should portable gaming really go away. In this article I express my opinion on why it shouldn’t go away.
One of the main points people point out with portable gaming is the price point. The 3DS cost $250 in the beginning, but received a price drop several months after to only $169.99. The PSVita will have a retail price of $250 with Wi-Fi and $300 with 3G internet if I’m not mistaking. In the past games would only cost $30 and it’s only with this generation of Handheld systems that games go upwards of $40. But with those games you are practically taking a shot in the dark because you could dislike the game and that’s $40 down the toilet.
With mobile gaming on an iPhone, we are talking about games that cost no more than $10 and those are the really expensive ones. Most games cost anywhere from Free to $3 whether it be on the iOS or Android. So even if you don’t enjoy the game you’re not losing much. An android or iOS device can run you upwards of $200+ depending on the type of phone that you get. Some of them even come with nVidia Tegra 2 which kicks ass in the graphics department.
Another point for the mobile market is that phones can do practically anything today and anyone could just log into the android market or App Store and download any title they want. Something Sony will include with their 3G version of the Vita. Many people make the argument that what the mobile market is trying or has already done is create an all in one device where the user doesn’t have to carry any extra baggage unless they have to and I think that’s where the problem lies.
First let’s talk about pricing. A handheld gaming unit cost as much as an iOS or Android device but remember you have to sign a contract which means you’re stuck with that carrier for 2 years and you’re paying an extra $20 - $30 bucks for the data plan that gives you only 2GB of Data. So as cheap as the games are on the Market, you’re paying extra somewhere else.
Battery life isn’t great on Handhelds but it also isn’t any better on mobile devices. If you’re lucky your battery will make it through the end of the day if not then you practically need to have or carru an extra power source and have a place where you can charge your mobile device. Talk about carrying extra luggage. So if your phone dies out in the middle of the day, you’re practically unreachable. I don’t know about you but I’d rather have my handheld device die out than my phone.
One main factor that I am noticing this time around though is the lifespan of phones. A lot of companies really aren’t pushing out content for the second generation devices anymore including the iPhone 3G which gives those devices a 2 to 3 year lifespan in the market compared to the DS and PSP both which were released in 2004 and are still going today giving them an almost 7 year lifespan. But you can always change phones ever 2 years right. That’s true but that’s another $200+ you’re spending on your all in one gaming platform. Single core devices are being replaced by Dual Core Devices and while a lot of games are still being made that support those types of devices, a few games no longer support them and the list will just keep getting bigger. So in my opinion I think it’s better to have a handheld console that has a 7 year lifespan where it’s guaranteed that games will keep coming out for it rather than having a huge list of games that my mobile device no longer supports unless I upgrade.
There are also a few little annoyances with mobile devices that bother me. The loading times on some games is just ridiculously long and that loading time can get interrupted by anything such as a call or a text message, even a notification from another game. Reject said disturbance and your game will have to load up again. Another annoyance is the lack of buttons. While touchscreen is fun and can simulate real controller buttons, you just can’t beat having to physically press down on a button. Press too hard and you might break your touch screen. Yes the Xperia Play was a major flop but think about it. How many developers want to invest the extra money to provide support for the Play? That is just one device that supports physical controls out of the hundreds of devices that opt for touch screen only. Of course developers are not going to shell out extra cash to support it.
Closing Comments:
Smart Phones are becoming all in one devices including gaming platforms. So does that mean that handheld gaming should go away? No. Yes, handheld gaming is losing ground but millions of people still use a handheld system and hundreds of companies support the market. A mobile device or smart phone is only good until it’s obsolete within a year’s time at most given how fast the market moves. At least with handheld game consoles you are getting more content per game, especially with the Vita coming next year. You get a complete gaming experience with a handheld device than you would with any game on the Android Market. When you really look at it only a few games on smart phones offer that experience compared to the 80% of the games that are handheld gaming.
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