Microsoft fires the first shot in the "NEXT" generation.... - Page 55

In the past casual gamers were kids, hardware bought by their parents. or 20-30 somethings that grew up on atari and nintendo and probably don't have as much time or as much interest in gaming as they did. Casual as it is now, since the Wii and DS and ipad have come out are mom and grandma. Those people were never part of the "casual" gamer crowd before.

Casual means something different today than what you're guys keep referring to.

After watching Battle los Angeles, I couldn't help but think how awesome a game set in this universe would be, especially if it used the Frostbite 2 engine. Thing is, even a high end PC would struggle to handle that much action at times. It would be an increadible showcase for the engine however....

And yet, games outsell everything else on the phone app stores by a huge margin.

There's a decent chance the iPad installed base will be larger than the Xbox 360's by the end of the year. If not, soon after. And games are the most popular apps for the device.


True. But they don't need to. They have what they want on their phone.

Most people aren't looking for some dedicated game box. They just want a few games here and there. Phones really fit that perfectly.

*psst* Nintendo cares. Have you seen how soon they're releasing a new console after the casual market they won over stopped buying games? Have you seen that they are pushing this next console as a core gamers console? You think those casual gamers are gonna buy a new Nintendo console when they have a perfectly good wii collecting dust? Nope. It'll be the Nintendo faithful that's been buying there systems for years. And even some of them might not buy it because of the lack of software for the wii.

Games cost up to $7 or something on those machines. That's why they sell more. They also don't take millions to produce the game. Again, these are devices that also play games. People aren't buying a $500 tablet to play games. They buy the games because after you surf the internet that's about all there is left to do on it. Phones are different because pretty much everyone on earth has one. Nobody is racing to the stores to play angry birds, or the new "game system" called the iphone 5 to play games.

I don't know why were even talking about phone/tablet games. They don't even compete with xbox/PS/wii. The closest competition would be XBLA/PSN/whatever wii's network is called.


If they wanted to compete with them they would sell some ****** little $2 games. Actually the user made games on XBLA are already those types of games. But the big companies aren't trying to compete with them. They are still selling million dollar production, $60 games.

Tablets/phones aren't stealing away xbox/playstation customers.

Nintendo definitely doesnt care about DVD or BR. The WiiU supports neither.

That couldnt be any less true when it comes to Handhelds. My iPhone killed my PSP. So yes.. a phone (or tablet) can absolutely steal a Playstation customer.

When it comes to the bigger home consoles, I'd agree that the Xbox 360 & PS3 seek a totally different market than the phone & tablet devices do. One is portable, one is not.

Yes they do, that is what I am saying. People only have a certain amount of time for gaming. Everything is competing for that.

Look, I want a game box hooked up to my TV and I don't mind spending money on games. But some people, you know, they don't need that. They are fine with $5 games on their phone.

Granted this affects the PSP/PSV/3DS more than the consoles. But it does affect the consoles, especially as phone games get more elaborate. Console makers now have to convince people that their phone games aren't sufficient. I do know, believe it or not, people who have all but abandoned their consoles because they get their gaming fix on iPhone.


Yea, a lot of people have a basic phone but smart phones are pretty much small computers. They cost extra. Do you really think that decent games are not driving smart phone sales at least in part? Angry Birds blows up on every platform it has moved to.

You actually bring up another great point #1. I believe the iPod/iPhone/iPad all have a direct out feature that will mirror anything on the screen to an external screen over HDMI. Essentially ANY game you are already playing on your idevice.. you can be playing on big screen with a simple adapter. Driving games, Angry Birds, etc can all now be played on the screen where your console used to control.

While its not popular yet.. I can imagine as the phones get more powerful, more storage and games get more detailed.. that the phones/tablets really could provide competition to the home console. Lets also not forget the WiiU controller.. it IS essentially a tablet.. thats made for gaming and has added hardware controls.

That's easy, they offer HD, 5.1 surround sound games that last 10+ hours to beat that doesn't involve stretching a bird on a rubber band lol. Those tablet games and Phone games are meant to occupy you while your sitting in the Doctors office and the DMV or to let your kids play those games while waiting in those places to keep you sane!

you kinda answered your own statement in that last sentence also... that game blows up on every platform it moves to, not the platform blows up that its on... I didn't buy my HTC inspire 4G phone because it had angry birds... I got angry birds because it was available on my HTC! Actually, I never bought it, I just took the free version with ads. Outside of angry birds, what other games is there that is as big? I dont know any myself.

you mean... like this?

It's case by case. Having access to the IOS apps, especially games, was a very big reason why I bought the ipad. In fact, I'd say the most important reason.

While Angry Birds has certainly emerged as 'the' game so to speak, I can tell you there's some legit games on the app store. Not games that will replace Uncharted or Halo, or replace my console experience, but software that has dulled my urge to run out and get a 3Ds or whenever the PS Vita comes out. In fact, I had the chance to buy a used 3Ds last week for $150 with Street Fighter 4 3d, wound up passing on it. Just couldn't be bothered....

For one, the size of the ipad is large enough for me to immerse myself in games in a way the dedicated portables can't. Second, price. Most games cost less than an overpriced cup of Starbucks, and most go on sale after a month. I had a 50 dollar itunes card, and have spent about 14 dollars on around 12 games, the most expensive being $1.99.

And most important, with the way my life is now, wife, child, mortgage, yadda yadda, I spent more time ipad gaming than I do xbox/PS3 gaming. My days of sitting up in front of the TV and immersing myself in a game for 4 hours are few and far between. With my ipad though, I can get in a quick game waiting for dinner, or while my wife is watching HGTV, or during my lunchbreak, or while travelling. In fact it's overall less intrusive to my family life, hell my wife will often sit next to me and want to get a game in herself.

No, that game has none of the feel of the movie, nowhere near enough enviromental distruction and not nearly enough ambiant action...

Now this is crazy. Engadget just posted an article in the past hour arguing the exact same thing a few of us are arguing. That the tablet/smartphone is DEFINITELY a threat to the videogame console:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/15/c...e-the-industr/

Who cares about ancient history? If you're a gamer you should, because it's happening again. This time, though, its console gamers lobbing the same lamentations at Angry Bird players, Words With Friends addicts, and ever-sneaky Fruit Ninjas. As smartphones and tablets get more powerful, the dedicated gaming machine looks more and more quaint. Where once software supported hardware in one big, happy family, it's all becoming rather more... disjointed. For a gamer like me, that's a little troubling. If app gaming does for consoles what those consoles did to the PC scene a decade ago, a lot of big game studios are going to be in trouble, and a lot of gamers are going to be pining for the good 'ol days.

I just dont see this happening....
when you have to attach a mouse, keyboard, or joystick to your mobile device, and use hdmi out to your TV. Then what do you have? A console

I doubt this someone would be considered a gamer then. Someone wants to play angry birds instead of gears of war isn't a gamer. It's someone that might play some games because they are bored.


If they wanted to target the phone market they would start selling $2 games on xbox.

Or the devs would just start doing games on those platforms. I know id is doing phone versions of doom.

I Still think these are 2 different markets.



Bluetooth.

Not to pick an argument with you, but this is a bit of an elitist attitude. Angry Birds is as much a game as gears of war, obvious technical differences aside. If someone likes Angry Birds because they merely like more simplistic games, or you have someone who's more 'hardcore' so to speak, that doesn't mean one is 'more' or 'less' a gamer than the other. They're merely into different types of games.

I don't consider the person who'd prefer to game on their ipod touch any 'less' of a gamer than me just because I have 5 consoles sitting up in my house. Yeah, we can make the argument that it's two different markets here, though there is some overlap of those gamers who dabble into both the casual and hardcore stuff. But 'less' a gamer? Hell, there's plenty of times I fire up my consoles because I'm bored and have nothing else to do. So how would this differ from the iphone gamer who turns on a game 'because they're bored'?

Bluetooth to what?

Well lets just say I subscribe to a different definition of gamer than you.

I stopped buying into portable gaming machines after the game boy advanced. I'm just not into gaming on a tiny screen. Phones and tablets compete with those types of games, but I still don't think they are encroaching on xbox/ps3 territory.

People that buy an xbox/ps3/game pc are people I would call gamers. They want to buy a device specifically designed to play games. That, to me, is someone intent on playing the games we've come to know these days.

If we're moving the industry into games just like angry birds then I'll be looking for a new hobby. Angy birds is fun for a couple minutes, but I'm not going to be buying into gaming like that.


Now if they can supply a game like gears of war or uncharted with all the graphical fidelity of the current gen, and the same level of control, then I'll bite. I'm not into touch screen/motion gaming on portable screens.

I've always been open to all types of gaming platforms and laughed at the PC gamers that bitch about consoles dumbing down their games, and laugh at the idiots that fight for xbox over ps3, or vice versa. But if we're going to be killing off what I consider gaming today, with these new types of games. I'll join their crotchety ranks.



Bluetooth to connect all those devices you listed.

i get that but how would that make it any different? just because you use Bluetooth instead of a wire to attach it to a tablet doesn't change anything and it would still function just like a console would. I could just as easily just answered back with

Playstation 3.

I'm not arguing with you, if you read my other comments you'd see I'm against phones replacing our gaming systems. I just misunderstood your comment.

That's fine, as long as you stop painting in such broad strokes. To me, gaming is gaming, whether it's a game of Angry Birds or Halo. I simply don't subscribe to this theory that Angry Bird gamers are somehow lesser gamers. That's crazy.

I've been gaming for 25 plus years, owned just about every major console to hit the market. Do I want Angry Bird-style games to become the norm? NO. But why can't we have both in the market, to cater to different tastes, without the class-ism?? I can turn on my PS3 for an hour, switch to my 360, fling the wii-mote around for a bit, go retro with my Super Nintendo, Genesis, N64 and Dreamcast, then have a 30 minute Plants vs Zombies romp on my IPAD. IT'S ALL GAMING.

I swear, these people are/were big time gamers. But as they got older, they lost interest in what is on console and prefer what is on iOS for a number of reasons.

There are like 20,000 games on iOS. It's not all Angry Birds. There are great strategy games, adventure games, RPG's, etc. Square is working on Final Fantasy Tactics for it.


The Wii U is awkward and weird but I do think gaming is headed in that direction. Same with iPad mirroring... check out some vids of Real Racing with that. Yea it's weird but anyone reading this on AVS can see the potential.

Look at what Sony is doing with the PS Vita... that thing is about 85% of a PS3 in a handheld. And it's using basically, next year's cell phone hardware. Maybe 2 years. It's quite likely that tablets releasing in 2013 will be more powerful than Xbox 360 and PS3.

My point exactly. Angry Birds does not define IOS gaming apps, there have been some really nice games coming out, like the Real Racing 2 you mentioned. Are you kidding me? That is a LEGIT racing game.

anyone looking for a fun castle crashers like experience on android or iOS owes it to themselves to try out battleheart.... favorite smart/tablet game by far.

I'm still not sure what audience the Wii U is going for. So far, there's no software, only a bunch of tech demos. And everything I've seen/heard looks like it's just a bigger HD version of the DS. The promised "hardcore" games shown at E3 weren't especially "hardcore." Nintendo doesn't have a good track record with third parties, so I'm still not sold on the Wii U being for the "hardcore." They say it is, but that doesn't mean it actually will be (and I'm speaking as a stalwart Nintendo console player).


I agree with the basic history, but I disagree with the sentiment. The industry needs a major facelift. Big-budget AAA retail releases are mostly dull rehashes of the same **** that's been released for the past decade. If console gaming dies, it's because it deserves to.

I'm all for a new gaming paradigm that's based on mobile gaming and downloadable titles (Steam, XBLA, PSN). That's where all the most exciting, experimental, risky, fun games are happening right now. I say, bring it on.

Big studios have already died over the past few years, and many of those employees have gone on to set up small-scale studios for mobile, social, and downloadable gaming. There's a lot of talented former PC and console designers now making even more impressive and cutting edge games. And, from a gamer's perspective, these games are much cheaper, more abundant, take bigger design risks, have faster development cycles, require inexpensive hardware, and so on. Those are all good things!!

EDIT: Put it this way: Angry Birds is the only game that me, my sister, my brother, my dad, and my mom all play regularly. That's pretty f-ing awesome IMO.

Who gives a flyin F($K about iPad and mobile games???

Mobile games are all about making compromises. It is first priority is to be portable and consumed in quick sessions. If you don't mind small screens and making compromises in your gaming, go right ahead, play friggin mobile games, but don't bring that shat here.

We are talking about console games. Played on ginormous screens that puts you in the scenes, even in 3D. I play console games because I DON'T want compromises. I want the best possible gaming experience possible.

They are not the same. They don't belong here.

Lets get back to the topic in hand.

Since the release of Windows Phone 7, half of the people online on my 360 friends list are playing on their phones while I'm on my 360 console. Also, this thread is all about guessing, predicting, prognosticating, and armchair market analysis; mobile gaming is the fastest growing segment of the industry. It will certainly affect whatever MS does next with it's next console, next phone platform, and next big direction for Kinect. So that sounds on topic to me; I think you're just in the wrong thread.

Anyhow, most of your complaints about mobile games are pretty much the same complaints that the PC "hardcore" made about the advent of consoles in the mid-to-late '90s. That was the point of that engadget article linked above. And if you think Kinect labs and the Indie Games Channel (launched in November 2008) aren't direct responses to the App Store (launched in June/July 2008), you've got your head in the sand.

if you think that other companies are not looking at the LARGEST gaming company in the world and one of the most profitable companies EVER (47%!!) you are crazy..
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-s...ny-ever-2011-2

I agree here, this whole "gen" has been for the most part disappointment after disappointment for me. Every major "AAA" franchise has devolved into the same generic over the shoulder third person shooter crap.