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Let's pretend video games on console/PC are music albums. Let's pretend board games are live music. Let's pretend mobile games are ringtones. They're all "musi

by newobj 11y ago

Let's pretend video games on console/PC are music albums. Let's pretend board games are live music. Let's pretend mobile games are ringtones. They're all "music", but they're all very different products. Ringtones are cheap, disposable, mostly looked down upon, but still popular at the same time somehow. Live music is seen as requiring a greater level of commitment; perhaps a little more exerting or rough around the edges, strangely pricey, but generally worth the above-and-beyond effort you have to make. Music albums are ubiquitous, real effort went into many of them and they are not really disposable. There are a lot of sad "me too" attempts to capitalize on other trends created by first-movers. Most people have at least a couple they are into, and connoisseurs can dive into a pile of esoterica to unearth unappreciated artistic gems. Every once in a while, a major production turns out to actually be artistically important too, and people freak out. What's my point? The "game" in "mobile game" seems pretty weighty, implying a closer kinship with other kinds of games, but, really they're as distant in kinship as ringtones are from "music". They're another product altogether. And ephemeral. And dangerous to tie your long-term longevity to as a content producer. [edit: typos]

rrowland 11y ago
There's really no reason it needs to be this way. Obviously, some games require controllers with their complex controls and aren't a fit for mobile gaming. But there are so many great games to be made with minimal interfaces that can run on these amazing little computers in our pockets we call "phones". Phones don't just have ring tones anymore. I can listen to just about any song ever published on my cell phone with spotify or pandora or slacker. There's no reason we should only be writing garbage "ringtone" games for mobile.
- zanny 11y ago
  > we should only be writing garbage "ringtone" games for mobile. Nobody is buying non-ringtone games, predominantly because the ubiquitous exploitation of users through ringtone games has driven away any significant gaming crowd. Nvidia has interestingly been pushing for Android gaming for years, making handhelds and consoles for it, but I'd really wonder how their success is doing. It is a really fascinating behavior that consumers will buy Nintendo games on their handheld for incredibly high relative prices, but balk at spending a quarter as much on the Tegra Store for a more expensive to produce product.
  - fl0wenol 11y ago
    The Shield portable is a goofy looking PoS that you can't easily put into a pocket. For $200 the Nintendo or Sony options are a lot nicer. The barrier to entry for Android gaming is lower, but no one is going to develop for the form factor if the unit isn't going to be in a lot of people's hands. So instead we get games designed for touch that can optionally controlled with a traditional controller. Maybe. The games brought to Sony Vita and Nintendo xDS have higher budgets and teams targeting the features of the console, so they sell even though the cost is high. And touch is a pretty shitty input modality for anything beyond puzzle games.

by newobj 11y ago

rrowland 11y ago

There's really no reason it needs to be this way. Obviously, some games require controllers with their complex controls and aren't a fit for mobile gaming. But there are so many great games to be made with minimal interfaces that can run on these amazing little computers in our pockets we call "phones". Phones don't just have ring tones anymore. I can listen to just about any song ever published on my cell phone with spotify or pandora or slacker. There's no reason we should only be writing garbage "ringtone" games for mobile.

zanny 11y ago
> we should only be writing garbage "ringtone" games for mobile. Nobody is buying non-ringtone games, predominantly because the ubiquitous exploitation of users through ringtone games has driven away any significant gaming crowd. Nvidia has interestingly been pushing for Android gaming for years, making handhelds and consoles for it, but I'd really wonder how their success is doing. It is a really fascinating behavior that consumers will buy Nintendo games on their handheld for incredibly high relative prices, but balk at spending a quarter as much on the Tegra Store for a more expensive to produce product.
- fl0wenol 11y ago
  The Shield portable is a goofy looking PoS that you can't easily put into a pocket. For $200 the Nintendo or Sony options are a lot nicer. The barrier to entry for Android gaming is lower, but no one is going to develop for the form factor if the unit isn't going to be in a lot of people's hands. So instead we get games designed for touch that can optionally controlled with a traditional controller. Maybe. The games brought to Sony Vita and Nintendo xDS have higher budgets and teams targeting the features of the console, so they sell even though the cost is high. And touch is a pretty shitty input modality for anything beyond puzzle games.