Smartphones Revolutionise Hand-Held Gaming

[Maura]

According to a report featured on AppleInsider today, Apple’s iOS devices and other mobile phones are having a big effect on the future of handheld gaming, to the detriment of other handheld gaming devices, such as Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP. The report, by Interpret, called “The Phone Gaming Revolution: Do the PSP and DS Stand a Chance?”, finds that mobile phones make up 43.8 percent of the mobile gaming market, with the proportion of games played on phones increasing by 53.2 percent in the last year, while the number of games played on the DS and PSP has fallen by 13 percent in the past year. The survey also found that 27.2 percent of consumers polled who said that they only played games on their mobile phones also owned a DS or PSP which they no longer use.

“The proliferation of highly multifunctional smartphones and messaging phones is a very real threat to the dominance by the DS and PSP of the handheld gaming market,” said Courtney Johnson, a research and analysis manager at Interpret. “Devices which satisfy a variety of entertainment and utility are fast outstripping single-function devices as consumer favourites.”

The report points out that while smartphones have made massive strides forward in terms of graphics and processing power, the DS and PSP have remained largely stagnant. Of course the DS will always have the advantage of being able to feature Nintendo characters such as Mario that you can’t get anywhere else, and it is getting a major upgrade in Spring 2011 with the launch of the 3DS, which uses 3D effects without the need for special glasses, but it seems that many gamers are now drawn to the iOS platform by the amazing technology and the relatively low prices in the App Store. And for hardcore gamers, iOS devices have no problems with credibility, with the likes of John Carmack launching Rage on the iPhone and iPad, and classic gaming names such as Capcom, SEGA and Square Enix all doing great things on the iPhone and iPad for crazily low prices. The holy grail of mobile gaming must surely be Nintendo characters on iOS devices, or failing that, a Nintendo-branded smartphone. If that ever happens, it really would be Game Over.

Source: AppleInsider | Mobiles, iPod touch killing off Nintendo DS, Sony PSP

 

[bknewtype]

my psp has been collecting dust since.....what 4 years ago?
no one wants to carry extra devices they dont need to have with them.

 

[iGaz]

I remember selling my white psp fat not long after getting my 3G. Never really put two and two together until know...!