We Look Down On Mobile, But There’s No Denying What It’s Done For Gaming

EGMR writes: "Allow me to raise your eyebrows with the following statement: I dislike mobile gaming. I’ve long stopped dabbling with them, partly because they drained my phone battery, partly because they made me stop concentrating in lectures and partly because I just dislike the market and what goes on there, with reference to mass cloning, intrusive advertising and microtransactions being a core aspect of the experience. However, the fact that I personally dislike it does not mean that I’m blinded to its merits, or what it has actually been able to achieve for the gaming industry as a whole."

[darthv72]

I enjoy console, mobile and portable gaming. i can appreciate the mobile market for its convenience and quick to entertain nature of simplistic (yet prone to addiction) games.

Many may hate that mobile games are there but they are just a natural extension of portable games that now are able to be played on a plethora of devices.

hands down when i have the time i pick up a controller and spend a few hours going at it in the virtual worlds of the on screen action. when i am out or just casually listening to the radio/tv i will play a game or two on my phone.

Its entertaining to just relax with a game no matter what.

[zeal0us]

I've never been bother by mobile gaming. In plenty cases enjoy quite a few mobile games like DeadTrigger, FF3, Chaos Ring, Asphalt series and etc.

I think some gamers dislike mobile because they believe it lowers the bar for gaming itself. Some don't like it because publisher will use it as a means to revive old game for a quick cash in(Dungeon Keeper, RollerCoaster Tycoon 4, Tales of Phantasia). In some cases these very same publishers would choose making game from a well known AAA series for mobile instead of the 3DS or Vita(Deus Ex: The Fall, FF Agito).

[SteamPowered]

The Nintendo Game and Watch did more for portable gaming than any crappy Iphone.
I play my 3ds for portable gaming. I cant stand the endless shovelware on phones nowadays.

[mixelon]

Game and Watch? there is non-shovelware on mobile too.. It's not as if nintendo handhelds are lacking in shovel ware either!

[SteamPowered]

Iphone corners the market in shovelware. There is obviously some on every platform, but Apple rules them all.
Game and Watch was the original Nintendo handheld. It was revolutionary in 1980. They had single games on single handhelds. It actually was Nintendo's big seller before the NES.
#TheMoreYouKnow

[mixelon]

Lol i know what G&W was, i was questioning you bringing it up as it's pretty much irrelevant. G&W weren't consoles.

The game and watch was an inevitability, and was actually a whole range of different pieces of kit. Loads of other companies made similar lcd games too.. (I had a few)

The Gameboy would make more sense - that was the real big step in handheld gaming, and actually a console by the modern definition.

Also the iPhone has no more of a monopoly on shovel-ware than Android.. You just avoid the crap and buy the good stuff. Final Fantasy Tactics? Phoenix Wright? If you like trad Japanese games they'd catered for fine on mobile. Some stuff works just fine on a touch screen.. A lot doesn't though.. Handheld consoles have their place too. A lot of us enjoy both. :)

[hkgamer]

Wait, don't really understand this article. it doesn't really explain what mobile has done for gaming.

free to play micro transactions? kindastarted with mmo. Facebook social games like farmville took it to the next level.

indies? PC kinda started it off, but facbook also took it to the next level.

Only thing we have yet to see that is on mobile is in game advertisements or ad pop ups.

Also mobile gaming does not do anything for console gamers. All it does is make the industry bigger even though it is a seperate category.

It does affect us though, we would probably lose more and more great developers due to the viral successes of some mobile games. We probably start seeing more and more great developers(obviously not the ones that earn a ton of money) to move onto mobile gaming to try and make money.

[Minute Man 721]

I just hate the "Mobile games are the future/gonna destroy consoles" talk from these new experts on videogames

[mixelon]

People saying that have obviously been wrong..

Using mobiles/tablets as a secondary/complementary thing for "proper" games is pretty cool though. I loved the second screen functionality in Assassins Creed 4

[SpiralTear]

Mobile gaming isn't bad. It's when the negative aspects of mobile gaming start appearing in console/dedicated handheld gaming that it becomes a bad thing.