What iDevice games do you feel are actually 'game console quality' and compete with the top DS/PSP offerings? The things to take into consideration are: Quality, Depth, and would you pay a console title retail price for the game ($20-$35) Here's a short list of games that I currently have on my iphone that I feel truly compete with the best of my DS/PSP games.j Drop7 (maybe) Peggle Sword&Poker Puzzle Quest The Quest GTA Chinatown Wars Battle for Wesnoth Hook Champ (maybe) Skies of Glory Jet Car Stunts Real Racing I'd love to hear others opinions on this!
I'd say Street Fighter IV and GTA Chinatown Wars. Top-notch production values that I have yet to see surpassed.
I agree that there aren't many that would make this list - but I strongly disagree that GTA is the only console quality idevice game. Of course GTA is one of the highest rated handheld games ever - so it's doesn't make much sense to make it the benchmark to judge all other games by.
*rolls eyes* here are go again with the DS/PSP nonsense. GTA:CTW is the ONLY modern console quality titles on the iPhone. The rest of the "good" games on the iPhone would be average or bad on the DS/PSP.
NanoMechs, look at the graphics and gameplay and it's pretty hard to believe someone got that working on the iDevice platform.
I agree with this, but only because, and I cannot stress this enough, iPhone/touch is NOT in the same market of the game industry as DS and PSP. The latter two are in the portable game system market, whereas iPhone/touch is squarely in the mobile platform market. Now, this mobile platform is a viable platform for games, but it is NOT a game system, nor a portable game system. Comparing it's titles to portable game system games is as foolish as comparing PC games directly to home console games, or, moreover, portable games to home console games. Different markets, different sets of consumers, different sets of consumer desires to fulfill. That's opinion, not fact. IMHO, something like Song Summoner would do well on DS, for instance. N.O.V.A would do well on both. So would quite a few of the Gameloft games, IMHO. Spider: Bryce Manor would do well. So would a lot of the hidden item games from Big Fish. Galaxy on Fire would fit quite nicely too. And, btw, if the games would be "average" on DS/PSP, then they'd be "console quality". That aside, the FACT is that the market is different. iPhone/touch is a mobile platform. The mobile platform game design paradigm is different from portable game systems similar to how the latter differs from home console game design. There are different types of consumers, different types of desires to fulfill. On mobiles it's really geared toward "minute gaming" as that's the typical amount of usage/play time.
I agree, yet people on here continue to try to prove that the iPhone is equal to the DS/PSP as a gaming platform, which is not true. Until Apple make an iDevice that's sole purpose is a gaming device that big developers take serious, it will be under the DS/PSP or whatever handhelds are out in terms of overall quality.
Puzzle Quest?? Battle for Wesnoth?? Peggle?? Real Racing?? NFS Shift?? Are you kidding me? There are many games that are as good or better than what's offered on the DS/PSP. Wesnoth destroys 9/10 of the strategy games on the DS. Maybe even all of them.
See, but you're not really "getting" my point: It's a different market. That's a fact. Attitudes concerning "quality" are subjective at best. And such attitudes that are formed by directly comparing different markets of the industry that are only in indirect competition with each other ignore the fact that it's a different market. And, btw, the "big" developers aretaking iPhone/touch "seriously". EA, Sega, Square-Enix, etc. But they're taking it "seriously" as a mobile platform. That the games they're developing and publishing "fit" the mobile gaming design paradigm more than what they'd do on the portable game systems doesn't denote them not taking iPhone/touch "seriously". To the contrary, the fact that they are designing games with the mobile market in mind shows that they are taking it "seriously" as they are "fitting" their games to the desires of said market, which is distinct from others markets within the game industry. Do you see? Put it to you this way: would Square-Enix have done a "The World Ends With You" on PS3? No. Of course not. That they did it on DS doesn't mean they don't take DS "seriously", but that they understand it's a different market with different wants and needs. You might see some PC developers that develop MMOs or RTS develop a game on the home consoles that aren't MMOs or RTS: does that mean they don't take the home console market "seriously"? Of course it doesn't.
Voice of reason, as usual. Thanks spiffyone. The interesting thing about this question is that the picture has become hazier recently by the introduction of PSP Mini and DSiWare games -- many of which either originated as iPhone games (iDracula is one of the most popular PSP Minis, along with a bunch of Gameloft titles) or have been ported to the iPhone (Blast Off is a recent example). You also have a number of DS-to-iPhone ports, including WireWay, Giana Sisters, Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, Brother's in Arms, Broken Sword, and the aforementioned GTA:CW, as well as forthcoming simultaneous releases like Red Star and Kick-Ass. An how about ports like Driver, Rayman 2 and THPS2 that have no direct portable console equivalent, and semi-ports like Hawx and Splinter Cell, which have much of the content of the original console versions, though made to fit a portable/handheld platform? Also, having beta tested Pocket Legends, I'm pretty sure that many a DS/PSP owner who have felt comfortable paying for that kind of MMO on their devices. And I would have been happy playing a game like Space Miner in my PSP or DS. In any event, the question is: what would people rather be playing when they're out and about? As someone who owns all three devices, I find it much more satisfying to play iPhone games when I'm not at home. I need to be on my couch to dig into something as big as Grandia or Legend of Zelda.
No I get your point and if I didn't respect the quality of a lot of iPhone titles are good mobile games, I wouldn't waste my time on these forums. I'm just responding directly to the original post and the fact is that "mobile games" are very rarely up to the quality of a full $30-40 DS/PSP title. GTA:CTW is an exception, but the iPhone version does have control issues (which is a issue with the platform of course). Look my overall point is this. There are a large amount of fun games on this platform, but it is a waste of time to compare this to the DS or PSP. Be happy with the device you own and games you play and stop trying to convince others that the DS/PSP are no better.
"iPhone/touch is NOT in the same market of the game industry as DS and PSP. The latter two are in the portable game system market, whereas iPhone/touch is squarely in the mobile platform market." The iphone is the first mobile device to truly blur the boundries between the two. I just sold my DS (and a lot of great games) bucause I find myself only using my iphone for handheld gaming, simply because I always have it with me. They are not in completely seperate markets. The markets are different, but there is an overlap. I totally agree that there are better, deeper games overall on the DS and PSP, but the fact that there are 'enough' good games to sink my time into on the iphone has made me care less and less for my DS. Maybe I'm just not 'hardcore' anymore.........
Lets take RPG's as an example. The average single player RPG on here is either a port from a Korean mobile game or similar style, either way all 16 bit era graphics/story. I have no issue with this as I love 16 bit era RPGs. Yet, when you compare this to the top quality JRPG's on the DS/PSP it doesn't even compare. Until the iPhone starts getting games of the quality of FFVII Crisis Core and others, it won't be a true portable.
