iPhone: The New NES

[Veylon]

A key difference is that the NES was exclusively a gaming platform, while the iPhone isn't. Anyone who picks up a yen for gaming on Apple's platform is going to have to jump ship to the PC or a console to get much more complicated games. And there's nothing wrong with that.

As for the limitations of a touchscreen, there's this:

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like much and costs $75. Apple should put their zeal for polish to work and embrace the gamers they have by making their own controller add-on.

 

[FalloutJack]

All games are intrinsically for fun. That is a fact, unchangeable.

However, not all devices capable of playing games are technically made FOR it. The iPhone is a dynamic multi-functional device which can fit gaming into its venue. It is not, however, made FOR it. It holds the convenience of it as a feature. It's a phone with computing, gaming, etc/ wrapped around it in the same fashion that a Sony PSP is a gaming device with internet, radio, and movie-playing around IT. It is what it is. You don't buy an iPhone strictly for playing games. You don't buy a PS3 for its web browser, although you CAN use it. If you want to get your kids into gaming, buy them a gaming device.

 

[joest01]

I dont do Apple but from an Android perspective, I can agree on the jrpg clones. Zenonia is mentioned above. But even more the actual turn based ones. Symphony of eternity, Alphadia ...

In terms of a more "mobile" experience, Battleheart is definitely a jrpg gateway drug.

But those games are few and far between and honestly? Angry birds and cut the rope are to gaming what a stepper in front of the basement television is to sports.

 

[Strazdas]

I disagee. I know a lot of people that started thier gaming career with Starcraft, HOMM 2 and Settlers 2, me being one that started with Starcraft.

 

[MikeWehner]

Whether you like Apple products or not is irrelevant. Those of us who first got into gaming with the Atari, NES, etc. didn't have such a bias, we just wanted something fun to play and that's what those systems provided. That's exactly what the iPhone is providing to millions and millions of people who have never touched a dedicated home console or portable system in their lives.

And yes, other smartphone platforms ? namely Android, and to a lesser extent, WP7 ? offer similar experiences, but Apple's marketplace and GameCenter are so perfectly melded with the devices that it has taken off above all others.

Being a touchscreen device has its drawbacks, for sure. And anyone who spends their nights playing an Xbox 360 or PS3 is going to immediately feel like there is a lack of proper control for many titles, but the same could be said about many NES or Atari games. People who start gaming on their smartphones and then move on to bigger and better things won't see the touchscreen as a burden, but rather will look back on it in a decade and see its flaws as part of its quirky charm, just as hardcore gamers look back on the two-button NES controller with rose-colored glasses.

 

[Dastardly]

iPhone: The New NES

The iPhone, like the NES before it, will be what gets a whole new generation into gaming.

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Love the article.

I think a lot of the "backlash" toward this type of gaming is the "grown-up gamers" forgetting that new gamers are on their way in every year. We grew up with gaming, and it grew up with us... but that doesn't mean we can shut the door behind us.

What if adults decided that, since none of them are babies anymore, no one should make baby food? Or that since all the adults know how to ride bikes, there is no reason for anyone to manufacture training wheels? After all, the baby food and training wheel factories could be put to better use making more things for us. (I don't mean to indicate that players of these games are "babies," or anything of the sort. This is about the attitude of the "haters.")

And above all, what I think we're really afraid of is that this new generation will be bigger than us. That means we'll lose our "majority share," and the bulk of the gaming market won't be centered around our wants and wishes anymore. Rather than recognizing it as evolution branching out, we see it as evolution closing in...