Why Mobile Gaming is Now a Legitimate Platform

Adam looks into the world of mobile gaming and argues for the acceptance of the platform as a viable one for gaming.

[Agent_hitman]

Apple's Metal and AMD's Mantle tech APi are very promising especially in mobile gaming development. It is very efficient low level API, great for future gaming graphics.

So yeah I completely agree, Mobile gaming is a certified legitimate platform nowadays.

[NexGen]

Except for one minor detail: no real controls = fail. Every time.

[edqe]

Keyboard+mouse, gamepads, joysticks, etc. They all works on mobile devices as well.

Hardware is already impressive but getting better and better every year; for example just recently announced NVidia "Denver" K1 and Intel Core M.

OpenGL 3.1 + AEP and OpenGL NG will push graphics stack even further.

There are already great games for mobile devices like BGII, KoDP, etc. You hardly can find better RPGs for any consoles.

[methegreatone]

Thats not entirely true.
The issue isn't the absence of real controls. The issue is developers failing to take advantage of what is there. Touch screen, accelerometer. You can really do a lot of things with those. Games with virtual sticks and pads will always fail. That's not the way to make a good mobile game.
I'm a PC gamer, and I enjoy really good graphics and simulation, eg games like Crysis and Metro 2033, which simulate so many great gameplay mechanics and offer lots of depth. I also enjoy good console games. As far as being a 'hardcore gamer', I'm covered :P
There are great games on mobile though. Specifically on the iphone.
The Infinity Blade series, for example offers not only incredible visual quality, but also an insane amount of depth to it's gameplay. (At first I found it boring, but after reluctantly investing 15 more minutes in the first game, I was hooked) The RPG aspect is brilliantly done. Games like the Walking Dead by Telltale are ported to mobile, and they are perfect on this platform, maybe even better than other platforms because of the touch controls !

Take a look at Republique on iOS. Again, brilliant visual quality, top notch voice acting, intuitive gameplay. A great gaming experience.
With games like this, mobile is becoming a legitimate place to game. Although this is mostly true only for iOS, since that's where these games come out.

Other mentions - Real Racing 3. It's brilliant in it's gameplay and visuals and getting a new car really feels amazing. They all handle different, sound different and feel unique. It's like a watered down simulator on PC or something. Again, it's perfect for mobile. The reason I didn't talk about this one earlier is because of some questionable IAP implementations. Although it's very much possible to have a great time without IAPs. You just need to play some every day...

[Waffles11]

With sending pictures of my junk to random people and taking selfies with homeless, I have too short of an attention span to play quality games on phones. Maybe if its flashy and mindless, then I can play a game inbetween sending pictures of my junk to random people.

[Charlieholmes06]

It's not the API nor the hardware that keeps it out of the realm of legitimate gaming. It's the lack of quality. F2P, paywalls, crappy controls, shallow content, and GREEDY developers that make it terrible! Fix all those things and maybe you'll have something worth considering some day!

[GamingTruth]

it is lets just stop with the 'mobile gaming is going to overtake consoles' or 'mobile gaming is going to overtake pc and consoles' bs from now on please though, but i do believe mobile is good to play some games

[Funantic1]

People hate to admit that mobile gaming is making the most money right now. They must fear that must mean that their dear consoles will become second best. You get newer more powerful versions of iPhones and Androids every year but only get a new version of consoles every 5-10 years. That means for a while consoles remain stagnant for those few years while mobile phones evolve more rapidly. Processor chips are becoming smaller and more powerful. Eventually you'll just hook your phone to your tv and controller and play.

[OmegaShen]

Yet they can't get battery life to last longer, plus alot of copys of the same game (how flappy bird type of games?).

Mobile gaming is fun on trips to a point, it still lacks a really controller (Sony made a go gaming phone it did bad). So I don't believe mobile gaming is even close to be as want we get on systems made for gaming.

[lashes2ashes]

Why would you hook you're phone into the tv when all games in the next couple decades will be streamed directly to what ever screen is in front of you. That's why all the big gaming companies are messing around with cloud projects, the next evolution step in gaming is clearly steaming content just like tv, film and even print.

[OmegaShen]

Don't know about that, there is one huge thing keeping that idea from becoming real. The Internet speed worldwide, an most internet company's are no were near close to handling that.

Let alone some country's.

[ElementX]

So based on this article, legitimacy is based solely on the available games? A mobile plays Candy Crush but then because it can play some Valve games it's suddenly worthy of being considered a gaming device? I don't understand the reasoning.

[SkullBlade169]

Mobile gaming is a joke of a platform. Its like considering Flash as a legit gaming platform.

[methegreatone]

Nope, not a complete joke.
Especially if you have an iphone, there are a bunch of absolutely fantastic games to pick up, with brilliant quality and depth. They feel very much like 'hardcore' experiences because they fit perfectly on mobile and have a lot of great features.
Infinity Blade series, Republique are two exclusive iOS games that are simply brilliant.
Let me put it this way, if you know which games to get, you can find a 'hardcore' experience. Yes, most games don't cater to that (obviously), and even the more common 'hardcore' games like Modern Combat, Nova etc also kind of suck. They use virtual sticks and pads to aim and shoot. That's pathetic... but there are some really great games, like the ones I mentioned. Also really good ports like Walking Dead, XCOM... Many of these are perfect for mobile. Mirrors Edge on mobile was really good too.

[johny5]

A very flawed platform for a diverse set of gamers, besides ultra casuals....

[Gears_President]

I never game on my cell phone, if know Im going to be out with time for some quick gaming I just bring my Vita. Cell phone games and their controls are just not my cup of tea.

[Soldierone]

Besides the paywall crap, I still disagree because it's hard to find a decent game on mobile. We have a few gems that get popular here and there, then nothing. It's pages and pages of crap.

Basically it's just flash games you used to find on sites like Ebaumsworld or whatever and wasted ten minutes on. You never went to another friends house and went "yeah bro, these flash games will replace consoles one day!" So why is it when those same games hit phones it's different?

I go to "top mobile games" lists all the time and all these years still can't find a game that keeps my attention like Vita, 3DS, or consoles do.

[memots]

Flappy chopper say hi ....

[edqe]

Mobile games like BGII and KoDP are already incredible good. I would say better than pretty much all AAA RPGs released for a long long time.

There's no reasons why mobile devices couldn't be good for gaming as well. They support the same controllers as PC; K+M, joysticks, gamepads, etc, good hardware (NVidia "Denver" K1 and Intel Core M), they can be attached to TV/monitor, etc.

[MasterCornholio]

"Mobile games like BGII and KoDP are already incredible good. I would say better than pretty much all AAA RPGs released for a long long time."

That's because they are ported AAA RPGs. Games designed to be mobile games are a different story. Seriously you keep blabbing about those old RPGs but then you keep forgetting about Nvidias gaming tablet that's capable of playing Half Life 2, Portal and Trine which are games ported over from PC.

In order for mobile gaming to be viable they have to produce more AAA games than casual garbage like flappy bird for example.

"They support the same controllers as PC; K+M, joysticks, gamepads, etc, good hardware (NVidia "Denver" K1 and Intel Core M), they can be attached to TV/monitor, etc."

Well if your going to hook up a tablet to play console games on a TV why not just buy a console instead?

Mobile gaming = portable gaming.

Mobile isn't on the same level as console gaming nor will it ever be due to the size constraints of the hardware.

[Mexxan]

Music for the masses. Every game I've played has fallen short. Don't get me wrong some decent titles but overall I don't view it as a platform in itself.