[cosus]

Apple did say that they are after the portable gaming market, but beyond the $0.99 games and "Gameloft" (I just think most of their games tend to end in disappointment), can Apple be serious competition?

There's the "Nintendo 3DS" which as far as I can tell is really a hot seller, far superior graphics than its predecessor, and (see the mihty Oxford comma in use) glasses free 3D is really neat. Unfotuately the #D effect can give you a headache and requires a precise angle to work. big advantage as it is already released compared to the "Playstatio Vita".

December (I think) will be the debut of the "Playstation Vita" that fixes all issues of the PSP, has multitoch screen (I guess Apple lost the multitouch copyright lawsuit), and (second use of the Oxford comma) additional controls on the backside, nifty OLED 5" screen, and (another use of the Oxford comma) quad core A9 processors supposedly reprouce PS3 quality graphics. However I don't know if the feaures turn out to be gimmicky. Seriously a 3G edition exists (locked to at&T) which costs $29.99/month.. it's just a handheld gaming system, 3G is overboard even with Skype.

Though, if Apple is consistent, the iPad 3 should be out first quarter 2012 and who knows what it will sport. Personally Im skipping on getting the iPad 2 andwaitig for the iPad 3, seems Apple makes big upgrades every other generation. What Apple has is convergence, the holy trinity (games, organizer, and media player. iPhone's screen is smaller, but I have not heard any complaints when people are playing games. Same goes with iPad except for the screen resolution, an issue I'm sure they will address idealy in the iPad 3 (dreams of A6 skipping 4 cores and jumping into 6 cores... idealy enough power for a "Retna"display.

It's my opinion that the simple fact that the iPhone/iPad are convergence devices that you always cary around that wins. Apple forsaw the end of the dedicated mdi a player and is now going after the gaming market. The competition isn't Sony or Nintendo, in their world we'd have have four devices on us, media player, portable gaming device, a cellphone, and PDA.

I see that ultimately the competion isn't with Sony or Nintndo when it comes to gaming, but rather Android and Nvidia. Apple knows gaming is big on all these devices, but what will they use to compete with likes of Nvidia? Android's biggest weakness is the fact that they have to deal with different hardware configuration.

Can Apple beat Sony and Nintendo on their tur? Will Android beat Apple to the punch?

[turbulentfurball]

I'd say that people buy iOS products because of their multiple function capability, and gaming is certainly a part of that. Do people buy iOS products just to play games? No.

PSP and DS products will be better at games because that is their core purpose, but since they are catered mainly (not solely, since these devices too are becoming multi functional) at gamers they will be a smaller market and Apple will win by default. More people will play games on iOS devices because they happen to have one.

That said, just because Apple has a bigger market doesn't mean that the games will be better. Most are pretty rubbish really, with a few exceptions.

I'd go so far to say that portable video games will become more niche as people with convergent devices would probably skip the discreet gaming device since their iPhone/iPod/Android can 'do' games, even if not as well as a 3DS or PSP.

In fact, iOS in the mobile gaming world has some parallels with the Wii. For specific types of games Wii excels, but for the more traditional video games you'd want to stick to an X360 or PS3.

[curiousuburb]

No Beer option?

[torifile]

There are lots of good non-$.99 games out there. In the end, I think that each will find a niche, but I think that there's no contest about the casual market - Apple has it sewn up.

And Gameloft should just shrivel up and die. They do nothing but put out derivative title after derivative title. Pathetic.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by curiousuburb No Beer option?

Yes, I vote beer!

[joveblue]

The best portable gaming device is the one you have with you....

[Robo]

The best portable gaming device is the one that has fucking buttons.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Originally Posted by Robo The best portable gaming device is the one that has fucking buttons.

Yes! I can't game on my iPhone because my big thumbs block a huge chunk of the screen. Definitely game more on my iPad, but last I checked, Uncharted isn't releasing for iOS.

[dmegatool]

I think the best gaming device is the PSP Vita hands down. But it definitely won't be the most sucessful. iOS devices are unstoppable. Hope it will do better than the gimmicky 3DS.

[torifile]

I think that we're conflating casual games with more immersive experiences. They are different things with different needs and I think that some platforms will work better than others.

The casual game market is, IMHO, much bigger than the traditional one and Apple's got that one won, hands down.