When I bought a Playstation it was a bit begrudgingly. I was a young guy with a spoonful of Nintendo in my pocket, and by gone it, I wanted to be loyal.
But the Nintendo 64 wasn’t giving me all the games I wanted. Slowly, though, I began to see the light as the Playstation just had realms of games. Games that I wanted to play. While the Nintendo 64 got less and less use, it still had its purpose and I was happy to have them both.
Now, the iPhone and its twisted brethren are coming up as the champions of handheld gaming. And Nintendo is clearly having issues with the 3DS due to not only their own mistakes but the iPhone and its App Store. I may soon have to live with another Nintendo 64.
But where is my Playstation?
I received a $50 gift card for the iTunes Store because my wife gave birth (I don’t know. I’m not complaining, though!). So I slapped it into my iPhone, started browsing the games and got confused. If this is where gaming is going, where are the games?
Not that I have any idea how to play.
I can’t say it’s all bad. A decent amount of my iPhone game time is spent in board game type games like Words With Friends or Carcassonne. This is something I can get down with. I get notified that it is my turn while I am waiting to pay for my son’s diapers and I make my move at my leisure. As it is becoming more and more impossible for me to actually play boardgames, I welcome these apps heartily. Someone get on the iPhone versions of Lunch Money and Culdcept.
But they do not scratch the entire itch.
Just yesterday I finished Ghost Trick on the iPhone. It is, I believe, the first game I played where I felt like I was playing a game on the iPhone like I would play on one of my more preferred handheld devices. Do I make a snarky comment that it is available on the DS? Either way, the point is that it worked and it was fun.
But the vast majority of other games that I have downloaded that are available on other consoles are embarrassing. Clearly quick jobs to try and cash in on the market. Sometimes I’m lucky enough and the bulk of the content is available as an In App purchase and I can find out how sloppy it is before spending cash (Hello, Wizardry.) Other times, I’m not so lucky.
I was lucky enough to possess this man's hat, however.
The rest of my time has been spent in, dare I admit this, visual novels. The iPhone is honestly the best device for them. Read a few ‘pages’ here and there, and the stories are fun enough. But then I realized I’m spending $30 for voice acting and pictures of women (girls) wanting to profess their love to me but wait, they’re really my sister so let’s see is that legal here? But that’s another article for another time.
At least it’s good for my Japanese?
Oops. This is a spoiler. Sorry.
I realize that a lot of the purchasers of iPhone apps wouldn’t be placed in the same “market” as me. I’ve been used to being a part of “niche gaming” for a good long time now.
But games are getting delayed or cancelled. Some games aren’t even getting made now. And I can’t blame the companies as they have bills to pay as well (Wait, yes I can. Make better ports.). Is my niche even going to be around in the next few years?
So, the title of this article isn’t facetious. I really want to know what you are playing on the iPhone that scratches the itch once done by the DS and the PSP. Or have these experiences replaced them for you?
With a child in the house now, my wife has been cracking down on my language. Even though I’m sure that if my son was dropping the effer there would be little repercussion as we live in Japan, it’s probably best for me to grow a larger vocabulary.
