So with all the fuss around the next gen clearly taking up everyone's time on here, I thought this might serve as a nice little distraction and perhaps something we can discuss amicably. I read this article on Eurogamer earlier and found myself agreeing with it almost entirely:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...pers-need-to-look-at-dungeon-keeper-and-learn
I'll say it now: I don't like mobile gaming. I played Snake (as did everyone) back in the day, but from the time that Java games became a thing on phones to the present day where we've got full-3D stuff running in smartphones and tablets, I can't really think of anything that's held my interest for more than a short amount of time. Words With Friends was one, but they slowly eroded the quality of both the Android app and the game in general (with in-app purchases and ads, surprise surprise) to the point that I no longer wanted it on my device or attached to my Facebook account. Draw Something passed me by (I can't draw), Temple Run didn't appeal to me, and I'd usually end up helping everyone else with the logo guessing game because I seem to have a knack for it. There have been a few other games I've enjoyed but considering the sheer volume of mobile games out there, the very fact they're so few and far between is rather indicative of the quality of what's out there.
Does anyone else feel this way, or are people just so enamoured with mobile games that there's now no way back? The entire mobile gaming industry, as the article says, seems to just be a way of small businesses scamming a burst of money out of people with fairly minimal effort. There's no quality game design there, no sense of art, style, or even pride from the creators. Or if there was, it's soon lost under the sea of microtransactions, ads and other money-making methods.
Mobile gaming is obviously catering for a market that doesn't tend to play normal games. The people playing Angry Birds, Draw Something, Temple Run, Flappy Bird or whatever the hell else is out there aren't the same people playing BF4, The Last Of Us and Gran Turismo. They have relatively little appreciation for games as games, they're a distraction or a fun thing to play on the train or in a lunch break, and they're 'free' (to download, at least) so there's no commitment. The problem is that the companies involved in 'normal games' all want a piece of this mobile gaming pie, but don't seem to know how to do it. They're not catering to the strengths of mobile gaming as a platform, they're just using it as a way to make some money quickly on impulse. The detriment to the gaming industry as a whole comes with the fact that they're using their existing franchises (because that's all they have) to get into that market. That in turn attracts the people familiar with those franchises to these mobile games which aren't really designed to appeal to them. Or perhaps, they're designed to appeal solely so that they'll spend money before realising the game is crap.
Similarly, we're finding a lot of these trends seep back out of mobile gaming into console and PC titles. Dead Space 3 was the first to get attention for it, and then more recently Forza 5, although Forza Horizon had in-game purchases before both of them. When a game is free-to-play it's one thing to find ways of getting money from your players, but when the game costs £40 or more, it's just offensive.
Companies like Zynga and King aren't game developers, they're in it solely to make money with the attraction of bright colours and shiny graphics. They might as well be manufacturing fruit machines.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...pers-need-to-look-at-dungeon-keeper-and-learn
I'll say it now: I don't like mobile gaming. I played Snake (as did everyone) back in the day, but from the time that Java games became a thing on phones to the present day where we've got full-3D stuff running in smartphones and tablets, I can't really think of anything that's held my interest for more than a short amount of time. Words With Friends was one, but they slowly eroded the quality of both the Android app and the game in general (with in-app purchases and ads, surprise surprise) to the point that I no longer wanted it on my device or attached to my Facebook account. Draw Something passed me by (I can't draw), Temple Run didn't appeal to me, and I'd usually end up helping everyone else with the logo guessing game because I seem to have a knack for it. There have been a few other games I've enjoyed but considering the sheer volume of mobile games out there, the very fact they're so few and far between is rather indicative of the quality of what's out there.
Does anyone else feel this way, or are people just so enamoured with mobile games that there's now no way back? The entire mobile gaming industry, as the article says, seems to just be a way of small businesses scamming a burst of money out of people with fairly minimal effort. There's no quality game design there, no sense of art, style, or even pride from the creators. Or if there was, it's soon lost under the sea of microtransactions, ads and other money-making methods.
Mobile gaming is obviously catering for a market that doesn't tend to play normal games. The people playing Angry Birds, Draw Something, Temple Run, Flappy Bird or whatever the hell else is out there aren't the same people playing BF4, The Last Of Us and Gran Turismo. They have relatively little appreciation for games as games, they're a distraction or a fun thing to play on the train or in a lunch break, and they're 'free' (to download, at least) so there's no commitment. The problem is that the companies involved in 'normal games' all want a piece of this mobile gaming pie, but don't seem to know how to do it. They're not catering to the strengths of mobile gaming as a platform, they're just using it as a way to make some money quickly on impulse. The detriment to the gaming industry as a whole comes with the fact that they're using their existing franchises (because that's all they have) to get into that market. That in turn attracts the people familiar with those franchises to these mobile games which aren't really designed to appeal to them. Or perhaps, they're designed to appeal solely so that they'll spend money before realising the game is crap.
Similarly, we're finding a lot of these trends seep back out of mobile gaming into console and PC titles. Dead Space 3 was the first to get attention for it, and then more recently Forza 5, although Forza Horizon had in-game purchases before both of them. When a game is free-to-play it's one thing to find ways of getting money from your players, but when the game costs £40 or more, it's just offensive.
Companies like Zynga and King aren't game developers, they're in it solely to make money with the attraction of bright colours and shiny graphics. They might as well be manufacturing fruit machines.
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