Why all the hate for the iphone for gaming?

[Zeckt]

There is one thing that seems to throw hardcore type gamers into a complete rage and that is the iphone as a gaming platform. Never have I witnessed such hateful mudslinging since the early xbox days. I think this is even worse! I visited a forum for the iphone and every other post has someone doing their best to shout at how awful it is trying to drown out the people who just want to talk about the games they are playing on it.

Don't get me wrong, I am hardly a casual gamer as I spend much of my free time playing and reading about console games to the point of obsession. I just don't see why people simply cannot embrace the iphone as simply another gaming platform rather then the device of ultimate evil.

I'll admit however that in getting the iphone my interest in ever buying a 3ds or vita went to nil, so could it be because it is a very strong form of competition against the brand they love?

The iphone is definitely my handheld of choice now. Why would I pay 40$ for dungeon hunter on vita when I can get it for 1$ on top of games being free or on sale with massive discounts every day?

 

[Kermi]

I see people shitting on the iPhone in general but not usually specifically for it's role as a gaming device. I personally like playing games on my iPhone, and it's cemented my disinterest in a dedicated handheld gaming device like a 3DS or Vita - I had a DS and PSP that I never used, but my iPhone? I'm playing Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja all the time, and those games cost me a buck each.

Sure the games on dedicated handhelds are going to have higher production values and whatnot, but handheld gaming is casual by nature. I'm not going to sit down with a Vita and play a 50 hour RPG. That's why I have a PC and an Xbox.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Well I don't own a smartphone or any handheld devices and would never buy one. I just don't game on the go, the whole idea perplexes me. If I am out and about, I typically am not gaming. If I am on some kind of long trip, I typically read.
That aside, I don't get why hardcore gamers would be bothered by it. I mean, just don't play the games, yeesh.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well the hate is mostly a counter reaction to the fanatic Apple fanclub.
Now if we look past the extremes 99% of those games are actually really horrific not even worth it if they were free, sad part is due to the blind fanaticism those games are viral marketing money cows... how the hell do you take that sort of platform seriously.

But generally smart phones have a very good position to overtake hand held consoles because they are simply far more useful, now if only someone made proper games, best things sofar have been old well designed games ported over.

 

[InfernalGrape]

There are really good games + there are tons of bad as hell games + there are good ports of awesome games

Yeah please people stop hating

I'm a student, i have my old ipod touch 2g, i play on it between subjects and lying in the bed

 

[klasbo]

Don't get me wrong, I am hardly a casual gamer as I spend much of my free time playing and reading about console games to the point of obsession.

Unless you're a progamer (or at the very least an amateur gamer), you're a casual gamer. You play games recreationally, and not as part of an organized event outside the game (see: playing football with friends in the park vs. playing for 5th division team vs. playing professionally).

The iphone is just another platform. What I think people think is the "problem" is that the platform has it's technical limitations on interfacing: small screen (little information from game to player) and touch-controls (little & inaccurate information from player to game), thus limiting the depth and/or scope of the game, and making any game reliant on the dexterity of the player completely void (as the touchscreen is absolutely horrendous). Maybe this is what some people see as a continuation of the "dumbing down" trend, as a result of creators wanting higher accessibility of their products.

Bad interfacing, simple games (as a result of said interfacing), but accessible & big market.
Different, not my thing, but not worthy of hate.

 

[Terminate421]

People get Angry because Angry Birds was successful instead of their favorite obscure indie game that no-one gives a shit about. My iPhone 4 is awesome

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Control scheme for me really. I need to feel the buttons/control pad/stick.

 

[FallenTraveler]

Don't get me wrong, I am hardly a casual gamer as I spend much of my free time playing and reading about console games to the point of obsession.

Unless you're a progamer (or at the very least an amateur gamer), you're a casual gamer. You play games recreationally, and not as part of an organized event outside the game (see: playing football with friends in the park vs. playing for 5th division team vs. playing professionally).

Even though that explanation does follow logically with other mediums/sports/hobbies, the terminology doesn't hold up for gaming. We regard people who play five minute games or simple games casual, and we refer to people who follow the medium and play numerous games as core, or hardcore gamers, because they play games more than most everybody. Just because someone is not directly in the industry does not mean they can't be a hardcore gamer. It means there are different levels in each category.

This would be like calling a passionate listener of music a "Casual music enthusiast" and telling them they can't appreciate music unless they make music in their spare time/as their career. And even further is to say that only successful or skilled musicians can truly appreciate their art form.

Your whole statement sounds pretty elitist.

OT: I've had a lot of fun with my kindle fire, I've even played the "shit versions" of all the top games, some of them are truly awful, some of them are really good. Dev's are getting better at recognizing what the issues are and how to get over them. Shooters are kind of awkward until you play them for a little bit. I've been playing that modern combat 3 online, it is truly fun, more fun than I've had with some of my pc/console games.

Ah, well, I don't necessarily like the iphone/android gaming thing as a platform, I especially don't like comparing the iphone to the xbox/ps3. give me some controls, give me something like the xperia play, but better, and I would be much happier to consider them a true gaming platform.

 

[3asytarg3t]

The answer to this is so obvious it makes even starting a thread asking it painful to see.

Talent wasted on development of anything on a phone is lost to developing on proper gaming platforms like the PC.

 

[malestrithe]

Not everyone hates the I-phone.

It is never all the hate. It is only the 10 percent of us the feel that way who are complaining.

 

[klasbo]

Don't get me wrong, I am hardly a casual gamer as I spend much of my free time playing and reading about console games to the point of obsession.

Unless you're a progamer (or at the very least an amateur gamer), you're a casual gamer. You play games recreationally, and not as part of an organized event outside the game (see: playing football with friends in the park vs. playing for 5th division team vs. playing professionally).

(1) Even though that explanation does follow logically with other mediums/sports/hobbies, the terminology doesn't hold up for gaming. We regard people who play five minute games or simple games casual, and we refer to people who follow the medium and play numerous games as core, or hardcore gamers, because they play games more than most everybody. Just because someone is not directly in the industry does not mean they can't be a hardcore gamer. It means there are different levels in each category.

(2) This would be like calling a passionate listener of music a "Casual music enthusiast" and telling them they can't appreciate music unless they make music in their spare time/as their career. And even further is to say that only successful or skilled musicians can truly appreciate their art form.

(3) Your whole statement sounds pretty elitist.

It's almost like you think I haven't thought this through. I've numbered your points, for the sake of organization.

(1): Where does the line between "casual" and "hardcore" go? Time spent? Type of game played? "Hardcore" is so immensely vague it's a pointless term.

(2): Someone who listens to music is not someone who plays/makes music. Your music argument is saying that "a passionate video game watcher can't appreciate video games unless they play video games in their spare time/as their career", which is more correct than you might have anticipated. Someone who watches Starcraft on TV doesn't become a gamer at all (neither casual nor pro) just by watching, in the same way someone who listens to music on youtube doesn't become a musician until they pick up an instrument.

(3): If using terminology that is inescapably correct is somehow "elitist", then so be it. The fact that less than 1% of a population fall in an arbitrary category doesn't make them elite, it just makes them part of a group we can categorize with proper terminology.

I don't suppose you also talk about "casual" and "hardcore" bookers, moviers, photoers, paintingers, etc.? But you talk about read/watch/review/write/create. It's the same with video games: you play, create, or even watch. And it's either your hobby or your job, and you spend differing amounts of time doing it.

PEDANTRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[chadachada123]

I don't hate the iPhone's silly little games.

What I hate is their insane profit margins, and the possible repercussions of this. It's the same reason that single-player for many shooters has gone straight into the tank: why invest money making a single-player mode if you can make more money pulling in the "hurr 12 year old Caw of Dooty" crowd (ala Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3).

That Angry Birds made more money than some of the greatest story-driven games in existence while spending a thousandth of the cost (and being nothing other than a cheap flash-type game) is scary, because developers might be more inclined to ditch making good games if they can make cheap money making cheap games.

 

[MasochisticAvenger]

Because whenever something new comes along in the gaming scene, some people try to fight it with everything they had.

When the Sony PlayStation came along people cried "But a gaming system targeting non-gamers is going to ruin gaming as we know it!"

When the Nintendo Wii came along people cried "But a gaming system targeting my grandparents is going to ruin gaming as we know it!"

It's the same with the iPhone, people are crying "games on a non-dedicated gaming system is going to ruin gaming as we know it!"

People are afraid if the definition of gaming changes too much, they'll lose what made it special for them.

 

[Bitcoon]

What annoys me, as both developer and gamer, is that most developers can't be arsed to make anything more than a shitty rip-off of something else. Seriously, "we made this game and we went through all this hard work and we think it really pushes the boundaries of what things are capable of and we really enjoyed getting together and creating this massive thing we think really changes a lot. Soooooooooooooo, it's basically Fruit Ninja BUT we added ZOMBIES! GENIUS! And you can cut their heads off or decapitate limbs instead of... fruit. BRILLIANT! We also added a couple new game modes. INCONCEIVABLE!!"

I see that kind of crap all the time and I just facepalm. That's not hardcore, that's not exceptional... that's hardly even worthy of talking about. What really grinds my gears is, half of these "wonderful" "must-have" app games are basically minigames. That's right, they're what real games stick in the middle of things to keep their main game fresh. Pipe rotating hacking minigame in Bioshock? Let's take that, facelift it and charge $.99 for it. Annoying sliding ice block puzzles in Zelda/Pokemon/AnyRPGever? Nope, it's Quell now. To their credit, these aren't all bad. Nor are they not worth buying. But who's taking iOS gaming seriously when the top games are all minigames, free Flash game ripoffs, and maybe one hour of content repeated ad nauseum with arbitrary numbers and progression tacked on?

I'm an oldschool gamer. I live for games like Metroid or Super Monkey Ball, which consistently challenge you more and more with new things and ever-changing gameplay and obstacles to keep it fresh. And I almost never see that on smartphones, even in the best, most highly-rated games. If it costs too much and doesn't get enough of a return for the investment to do that, that's not my problem as a gamer. It IS my problem as a developer but I'm working hard to turn that around and show others it IS possible to make a content-rich game that doesn't blatantly steal or sacrifice depth for replayability. Because if nobody does it, then smartphone gaming continues to be a joke and games like that continue to be the ever-rare vast minority.

 

[NegaWiki]

Let me clarify something: Gamers hate the iPhone, not other smartphones.
The iPhone is very expensive as a phone, has low quality, addicting games and is fragile. For gamers this is an awful combination. If you play a good game on it then your battery runs dry fast. You get mad and have the urge to throw your phone? $400 down the drain. Add in Apple's ToS and you get many gamers foaming at the mouth or laughing hysterically when you mention the iPhone as a gaming platform.
Other phones don't get that amount of hate. Phone gaming will be accepted eventually, the iPhone will start it but we'll accept it when some other company masters it.

 

[ElPatron]

I'm going to re-cap and add a few more.

- Because Apple and iPhone. A lot of people hate them.
- Most games are comparable in quality and innovation with flash games you can play for free. They are basically rip offs.
- Battery drainage
- Control scheme
- it's the same device you use for work, to talk to your parents, to receive annoying stuff on facebook, to text your girlfirend/boyfriend, etc etc etc... Perhaps when someone wants to play they do it on a dedicated console rather than something people associate with "work"
- The biggest reason of all. Mobile developers have adopted the "handheld consoles will die, hurr durr we will own the market, we are more innovative herp derp" - don't get me wrong, it's preferable to obtain a game for $1-$5 than to pay $10-$40 on the Vita for the same product. But many mobile developers/publishers want to kill of handheld consoles for no reason and they can't accept that both can co-exist peacefully - and they aren't that original or innovative at all!

I loved Angry Birds. Didn't like playing in on phones at all, I enjoyed it a lot more on the PSP.

People get Angry because Angry Birds was successful instead of their favorite obscure indie game that no-one gives a shit about. My iPhone 4 is awesome

It's because popularizing video games and bringing them to the masses to increase their audience will somehow result in the alienation of every single living being on the planet from wanting to play video games.

Ahhh. The usual "haters"/"it's too popular" argument. Do you people understand that hate comes from prejudice and unfounded blanket statements such as those, right?

 

[Mariakko]

Because it's an iPhone? Surely its sole purpose is to be a cell phone not a gaming platform. I see no reason to hate the idea of having games on it (it can give bedroom programmers something to shoot for I guess) but it should remain being a cell phone with games on it. For example, a calculator with a games programmed into it is still a calculator, not a gaming platform.
Either that or Sony/Microsoft fanboys are marking their territory.

 

[kortin]

I, personally, cannot stand iphone gaming. The games are horribly made or even when they're good, the controls are ridiculously wonky or the game is incredibly repetitive (I'm looking at you Angry Birds). I cannot take anyone who actually believes that the iphone is a viable gaming platform seriously.