GigaBowser
The bear of bad news
many tried buuut nintendos undefeated in portable wars 8 GENS confirmed
portables the future its all true game over
portables the future its all true game over
Why is nobody talk about the portables war?
- Thread starter GigaBowser
- Start date
Analogue Pocket is amazing, clear winner right now in the portable debate.
On a serious note, Switch has kind of ruins the idea of portable gaming, I still love my Vita, and I wish there was a market for handheld games, specfically made for handhelds. I'd happily take a great portable at PS3/Vita or even a super GBA for 2D expereinces and psedueo 3D sprite scaler type games.
On a serious note, Switch has kind of ruins the idea of portable gaming, I still love my Vita, and I wish there was a market for handheld games, specfically made for handhelds. I'd happily take a great portable at PS3/Vita or even a super GBA for 2D expereinces and psedueo 3D sprite scaler type games.
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David Ricardo
Member
You answered you own question: if Nintendo is always winning in the portable market, what war is there for us to talk about?
DirtInUrEye
Member
Hmm, what's happening in the news this past fortnight vs why didn't the Atari Lynx really takeoff 
RetroGamingUK
Member
There is no portables war
There's Switch…
…then a bunch of PC-based handhelds no one buys.
There's Switch…
…then a bunch of PC-based handhelds no one buys.
vodka-bull
Member
Because there's no war? Just a lot of people liking every handheld.
I love all my handhelds equally.
I love all my handhelds equally.
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Grizzled Ghost
Member
Because it's not a war, it's utterly dominated by cellphones. Mobile gaming revenue makes about half of the total gaming market.
I collect VHS tapes
Member
I think mobile technically won the war, followed by switch
GigaBowser
The bear of bad news
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I collect VHS tapes
Member
you'd think with phone advancements, the lines will eventually blur
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Yep. I'd love to have new games made for portable gaming, but mobile has trained everyone (myself included) to want to pay as little as possible for those, even if they're full-fledged games and not touchscreen timekillers that you can play with one thumb. And nobody is going to go back making dedicated versions of Uncharted, Tekken or Wipeout for handhelds when you can have the much cooler version on your huge TV. There was a time when handheld Street Fighter was a godsend. Now people would laugh at the concept.
Because there is no war.
If we take portable consoles specifically, Nintendo holds the market tightly and the rest are not even close, so it is even boring to watch it, since there is practically no competition there.
If we look more globally and expand the concept of portable gaming, then everyone has long since lost to the mobile games market, it is so far ahead of all other game markets in terms of growth that, frankly speaking, it is not even funny anymore.
Therefore, there is no particular hype to follow the portable market. There have been no shocks or changes on it for a long time.
If we take portable consoles specifically, Nintendo holds the market tightly and the rest are not even close, so it is even boring to watch it, since there is practically no competition there.
If we look more globally and expand the concept of portable gaming, then everyone has long since lost to the mobile games market, it is so far ahead of all other game markets in terms of growth that, frankly speaking, it is not even funny anymore.
Therefore, there is no particular hype to follow the portable market. There have been no shocks or changes on it for a long time.
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Puscifer
Member
The one where we desperately trying to have another stealth vita thread.
GigaBowser
The bear of bad news
no i never did pal doctor says i will getting better
RetroGamingUK
Member
Crayon
Member
Hooooly shit. Sorry, I thought you had had gaf poisoning.
cireza
Member
TV games on a 5.5 inch screen. Amazing portable experience.
Spiral1407
Member
Because the only real competition Nintendo ever had was the PSP and even that ultimately got destroyed
HRK69
Gold Member
Oh wow, what a groundbreaking observation! You mean to tell us that a dedicated handheld gaming console has a smaller screen than a TV? Shocking
RetroGamingUK
Member
I wouldn't call any console that sold over 80m "destroyed"
Spiral1407
Member
The DS nearly sold double what the PSP did. PSP also struggled to move software due to piracy. I'd consider that to be an overwhelming victory.
It should imo. Phones nowadays are a ton more powerful than the switch and are even getting AAA ports.
Grizzled Ghost
Member
I would, when their direct competition sold over 150m and is one of the top 3 most successful consoles of all time.
cireza
Member
Tell my you have never played on a proper handheld console without telling me you have never played on a proper handheld console.
You are free to have low standards if it makes you happy.
HRK69
Gold Member
You have no clue what I played on lol
But now "proper handheld consoles" need to have a certain screen size to be valid? Guess the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS, PSP, and Vita were all trash by your logic. Those consoles defined handheld gaming for decades, but I guess they weren't "proper" enough for your high standards
But tell me, Mr. Gatekeeper, what exactly is a "proper handheld console" by your elite standards?
Unknown Soldier
Member
The only portable which ever actually was a real competitor to a Nintendo handheld was the PSP, for a few years
Other than that Nintendo has always completely dominated handhelds, there's nothing to talk about
Other than that Nintendo has always completely dominated handhelds, there's nothing to talk about
Impotaku
Member
PSP struggled because of the hardware and media choice Sony made. Later PSP models fixed some of the issues like the screen & battery capacity but my launch PSP had a fucking horrible screen with nasty ghosting so games like loco roco looked like a smeary mess. The battery life was shit too thanks to Sony's genius idea of including a umd drive that sucked the battery dry. The disks themselves were also flawed, slow as hell load times a stupid open window on the disk so dirt could get into the disks even though Sony already had umds that had sliding shutters to protect them like minidisks but decided they would leave them off to save money. The only reason I keep mine around is it holds 3 of the 4 bokunatsu games or I'd have ditched it years ago.
but I agree 80m for a handheld is not a total failure however if you take that figure with no comparison to other handhelds but in comparison to the DS yeah not in the same league. Once it got started the DS library became insane.
cireza
Member
Absolutely not. Further proof you have no idea at all on the topic.
"Elite standards" can be applied after "Common sense standards" come to exist. Issue is, when you push TV visuals, hud and UI on an 5.5 inch screen, you are already lacking common sense. No chance to even make it elite at this point.
Spiral1407
Member
Eh, most of that could be considered as worthy concessions to launch such a powerful device at $249.99 in '04/'05. No, the real reason was the piracy. PSP was being hacked from day one (1.0 versions could run unsigned code lol) and all Sony could do was delay the inevitable with frequent patches. For kids at the time (like me), that barely made an impact considering they wouldn't have the technical knowhow to hack their PSPs. But because of the older demographic that PSP targeted, it meant that a lot of owners were hacking their systems and were pirating games.
Just look at the software sales and attach ratio. The former is the lowest of its generation and the latter is in 23rd place according to VGChartz. People were buying the hardware (despite the issues you mentioned), but not the software.
Grizzled Ghost
Member
Nintendo exclusives. They have huge first party franchises that aren't really available anywhere else.
Also advertising/market penetration. Most members of the general public probably have no idea what a Steam Deck is, but they've certainly heard of a Nintendo, and you can pick one up at Walmart.
BlackTron
Gold Member
Uh, those older handhelds aren't going to be playing modern games. His point was a 5.5 inch screen for modern games.
It's a valid point. I'd rather play Mario Land 2 on a 1.5" screen than Odyssey on 5.5.
Sure, you can play old games on Switch, but those are the same old games you can play on something smaller.
It's why I have a backlit GBA. Switch is jack of all trades, master of none.
HRK69
Gold Member
so now it's a "lack of common sense" to enjoy a handheld console as it was designed? Funny, because millions of people seem to have no issue playing games on the Switch Lite comfortably
But I guess they all just lack "common sense" too, right?
Making it personal because you can't even awnser a basic question. Let me ask it again:
Mr. Gatekeeper, what exactly is a "proper handheld console" by your elite standards?
HRK69
Gold Member
He's just a dumb fucking gatekeeper
Who the fuck cares what handheld people use?
It's so fucking stupid.
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BlackTron
Gold Member
Uh, you?
BlackTron
Gold Member
Portable games used to be designed as portable games. Now the idea of making a game portable is taking a console game and running it on a slab.
It's great we're able to do that today but it came at the expense of actually portable games. Even Game Boy titles did a better job of making sure you could read the text.
You may as well ask how is it possible Game Gear couldn't compete with Game Boy, or how NES beat old PCs.
Back then, the handheld being smaller was actually a selling point. Now we just exclude how large, heavy and bulky a portable even is.
Of course exclusive software is the #1 reason.
It's great we're able to do that today but it came at the expense of actually portable games. Even Game Boy titles did a better job of making sure you could read the text.
You may as well ask how is it possible Game Gear couldn't compete with Game Boy, or how NES beat old PCs.
Back then, the handheld being smaller was actually a selling point. Now we just exclude how large, heavy and bulky a portable even is.
Of course exclusive software is the #1 reason.
MarV0
Member
Are you talking about sales? Why would I care how many units the Steam deck or the Nintendo portable sells? It does not affect me in any way.
My Steam Deck has access to more exclusives and more games then all consoles and portables ever released COMBINED.
My Steam Deck will will also keep receiving new games way into the future. The Switch will be a distant memory and my Deck will still be supported.
I really struggle to see how any comparison can be made.
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HRK69
Gold Member
Uh, no?
BlackTron
Gold Member
Well, War implies marketplace competition.
In the examples I gave. It's obvious Game Gear was utterly superior to Game Boy technologically. But it wasn't much of a war. If you want to talk personal preference, I spent more time playing Game Boy after Game Gear faded away and Nintendo kept going with games.
cireza
Member
Why are you so aggressive ?
BlackTron
explained exactly the reason and you totally ignore it, and resort to an aggressive answer.My kids both have a Switch Lite. Pokemon games UI is microscopic on Lite, while it was perfectly easy to read on the yet smaller screen of the 3DS.
Did I explain this well enough for you, or are you still having comprehension issues ?
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Susurrus
Member
While I see what you're saying, there's lots of games that are clearly designed for a handheld experience that run on the Switch. Sure, you can play them on the TV, but they're clearly handheld games (just like Game Boy/Color/Advance, PSP, Vita had ways to play on TV). Though they do tend to be indie games, but there are many really good ones.
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