Why is the tie ratio for handhelds so low?
- Thread starter Kiriku
- Start date
DrGAKMAN said:
Portable gaming is only seen as a secondary form of gaming because, that's what it is. It's been that way since they first hit the market. Portable games just ARE second tier to console games.
The gameplay is simple, the graphics are pixely, the sound sucks. Current portable games don't compare to console games.
That's not to say they can't be enjoyable (I think Pokemon Ruby and Wario Ware are great games, anyone with a GBA should own 'em), but they are clearly inferior to console games on many levels.
Its nothing fixated in stone though. Fact is, GBA and pretty much every portable before it is a secondary system.
Insertia said:
Alhtough not exactly secondary system as it can be people's primary system. Just bear in mind people spend less on handhelds and portables compared to their living room in general. You wont be buying a 5.1 amp + speaker set for your handheld will you? Your portable dvd player wont be outvaluing your living room entertainment system anytime.
shuri said:
You still may get your wish one day. That card that Square released with Final Fantasy I+II in japanese packaging asked what games consumers would like to see Square port to the DS. Front Mission was one of the choices. That was for the DS though. It is a great game, so keep hope alive.
Justin Bailey
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It's Greekboy!T-1000_Model3 said:
T-1000_Model3
Banned
Oh Lord.
Go back and read the post again and stop going into attack mode.Who the hell is saying every Cube and GBA owner is a retard,cause I sure as hell didn't,stop being such dorks and don't be offended so easily,fuck. My whole point was in referal to the ones who go on the crying rants when ever Sega decides to release or port a game over.
Dragona Akehi
Retired
Mejilan said:
I don't think he can hear you anymore.
The primary reason that handheld's tie-ratio is so low is because they are single player machines. Generally, multiple family members will have their own Gameboy, even thouh they may share the games. How many families do you know of, where the kids don't each have their own? How many Gameboy systems are in your family? Why do you think Pokemon games only have a single save file?
With the GBC, my younger sisters and I all had our own system, but only 2 games between the three of us. I had some older GB games and then they eventually bought some of their own games. Altogether, my house has about 25 Gameboy games (15 of which are my GBA games); still, our overall tie ratio is only 5.
With consoles, its the oppisite. We share one system, but all have our own games.
With the GBC, my younger sisters and I all had our own system, but only 2 games between the three of us. I had some older GB games and then they eventually bought some of their own games. Altogether, my house has about 25 Gameboy games (15 of which are my GBA games); still, our overall tie ratio is only 5.
With consoles, its the oppisite. We share one system, but all have our own games.
Kiriku said:
This is SO EASY to explain.
The majority of Gameboy buyers are kids. So they won't have the money to buy many games in the first place.
You combined that with the fact that if a family has 4 kids THEN THE PARENTS BUY THE KIDS 4 DIFFERENT GAMEBOYS and they SPLIT the games. With a console all you need is 1 per family but with a Gameboy YOU HAVE TO BUY ONE FOR EVERY KID OR THEY WILL BITCH NONSTOP. So if they have 4 kids and they buy them 5 games they can share those games for the whole year and pretty much be set.
But on the sales charts you will see 4 Gameboys bought but only 5 games and go WTF? Why is the tie ratio so low?
Also I'd bet the Gameboy Player has something to do with it since I don't own a GBA but I buy the games and play them on that. That has to skew the numbers a bit as well.
LakeEarth said:
See, I never understood this logic. Just because a console game is technically superior shouldn't make it the priority compared to a portable game. For me, I look at the quality of the games, not comparing it to a console game's technical prowess. That's just not fair, and has nothing to do with the quality of the software. I've had more fun with my GBA than with any console since the SNES.
sonycowboy
Member
For the majority of people, portable gaming is what you do in-between other activities. On the way to school for kids, or on the bus. Waiting for a plane, stuck somewhere you don't want to be, etc. Waiting in line for a REAL console to launch 
.
And the games themselves are usually "quick" fun, that you can digest 10-20 minutes at a time. That can take a LONG time for someone to actually finish, plus they usually have replayability up the ying-yang, because of that "quick" fun property I mentioned earlier.
.And the games themselves are usually "quick" fun, that you can digest 10-20 minutes at a time. That can take a LONG time for someone to actually finish, plus they usually have replayability up the ying-yang, because of that "quick" fun property I mentioned earlier.
Greenpanda
Banned
As far as the GBA goes, I'd imagine the backwards compatibility with a lot of popular GB/GBC titles has something to do with it, too. People might not be buying new games because they still spend a lot of time playing their older, non-Advance ones.
krypt0nian
Banned
T-1000_Model3 said:
I don't speak idiot-ease......babblefish trans please?
krypt0nian
Banned
bionic77 said:
100% true. Best this gen.
Deg said:
Cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, portable cd players, ect.
When those portable toys caught up with the 'home' version they easily penetrated the market. They're portable, but still considered primary systems. I see no reason why PSP or any other portable that can output console quality gaming couldn't do the same (given the right support and direction.)
At the moment, handheld is seen as secondary only because GBA is so vastly inferior.
btw, not too many people have 5.1 or even care about it.
Insertia said:Cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, portable cd players, ect.
When those portable toys caught up with the 'home' version they easily penetrated the market. They're portable, but still considered primary systems. I see no reason why PSP or any other portable that can output console quality gaming couldn't do the same (given the right support and direction.)
At the moment, handheld is seen as secondary only because GBA is so vastly inferior.
btw, not too many people have 5.1 or even care about it.
I disagreed about your primary secondary ideas earlier. They can all be primary. Just because less $ is spent doesnt mean they cant be primrary.
How much does the average person spend on these devices compared to their home devices? Most people buy cheap portable cd players for example. mp3 players such as Ipod dont sell anywhere the amount GBA do.
Cell phones are something that are better than any home home phone. Do people care about home phones as much anymore?
laptops are all over the place although not as common as desktops pc's which we have to accept are a vital part of our lives(windows baby). The point you are missing however is that. The key thing about handheld consoles is that they are entertainment devices. They wont do your cooking for you. Looking at entertainment on the go has been very interesting over the years.
Alcibiades
Member
I co-worker when I was at Best Buy didn't own any consoles (at least not that I know of, definitely not a GCN), but he owned like over 100 GB(A) games, maybe even all GBA.
He doesn't like Pokemon apparently, he's in his mid-twenties I think, already has a wife and family, but he loves GBA.
If you look at the stellar lineup from Nintendo and some Japanese 3rd parties, there are probably more games that classify as "great" (in general gamer's opinions, supposing they've played the games) on GBA than XBox, even if you take out the classic ported stuff.
He doesn't like Pokemon apparently, he's in his mid-twenties I think, already has a wife and family, but he loves GBA.
If you look at the stellar lineup from Nintendo and some Japanese 3rd parties, there are probably more games that classify as "great" (in general gamer's opinions, supposing they've played the games) on GBA than XBox, even if you take out the classic ported stuff.
Bluemercury
Member
Lost Weekend said:
Probably yes......
Bluemercury
Member
By the way how's Mario Pinball pple?is it good?
What? You realize that more GamBoys have been sold that any of those other portable devices correct (except cellphones)? What does GB have to "catch up to"?Insertia said:
If you think PSP is going to magically surpass GBA's 55 million installed base (which has only taken it 3 years), get ready for a rude awakening... GBA's been selling faster than PS2 since it's launch even.
So how will PSP look in a year next to Xenon? Not quite as vastly inferior, but vastly inferior none the less?Insertia said:
I HOPE this has been said already, but in case it hasn't.. The tie ratio for GBA sucks because you only need 1 or a couple games. When you are at home why play a shitty GBA? Play on a big tv with great graphics, multiplayer, online. People typically only play portables on the road, and if you are on the road, odds are there is a reason you are on the road. So you only play it when you are away from home AND not doing something.
So people play when they aren't driving, when they are being dragged around a shopping center, waiting for an appointment, etc. And a 10+ hour game is going to stretch for months if that is the only time you play it.
I remember I got a GBA and bought like 8 games, ended up playing half of them to completion (AWars, Metroids, Castlevanias). I haven't had an opportunity to play a GBA in over a year, except at home. And I'd rather play xbox or GC at home. I've thought about buying a GBplayer for GC to finish up golden sun, pokemon, etc, but why bother.
So people play when they aren't driving, when they are being dragged around a shopping center, waiting for an appointment, etc. And a 10+ hour game is going to stretch for months if that is the only time you play it.
I remember I got a GBA and bought like 8 games, ended up playing half of them to completion (AWars, Metroids, Castlevanias). I haven't had an opportunity to play a GBA in over a year, except at home. And I'd rather play xbox or GC at home. I've thought about buying a GBplayer for GC to finish up golden sun, pokemon, etc, but why bother.
Lack of variety.
Platformers, RPGS, and puzzle games will only sell so much. Casual GBA owners only need a few of each before their needs are satisfied and so they aren't going to get anymore for the system.
Most GBA games don't have a hype factor either. Even with Pokemon, you aren't going to catch Emerald on gamestats, so there aren't those extra sales from people who are just going with hype and playing through the 1st few levels.
I also think there is a precedent from the original gameboy with most buyers. Almost all casual owners got it for Tetris and Mario. It hasn't changed much as the only other big demand game is Pokemon. And, between those 3 games you cover the 3 main genres of the system.
So I'm guessing most owners have a platformer and Pokemon with maybe some other game. This doesn't bring the casual gamers Sony has built up with sports, racing, action/adventure, and FPS.
Edit: BTW I own, Saphire, Ruby, FireRed, Advance Wars 2, and Super Puzzle Fighter.
Platformers, RPGS, and puzzle games will only sell so much. Casual GBA owners only need a few of each before their needs are satisfied and so they aren't going to get anymore for the system.
Most GBA games don't have a hype factor either. Even with Pokemon, you aren't going to catch Emerald on gamestats, so there aren't those extra sales from people who are just going with hype and playing through the 1st few levels.
I also think there is a precedent from the original gameboy with most buyers. Almost all casual owners got it for Tetris and Mario. It hasn't changed much as the only other big demand game is Pokemon. And, between those 3 games you cover the 3 main genres of the system.
So I'm guessing most owners have a platformer and Pokemon with maybe some other game. This doesn't bring the casual gamers Sony has built up with sports, racing, action/adventure, and FPS.
Edit: BTW I own, Saphire, Ruby, FireRed, Advance Wars 2, and Super Puzzle Fighter.
GBA owners buy them in order to play a specific game or series, and seem less likely to travel outside of that game series. They are happy using it as a "portable Tetris/Pokemon" machine... tied to that is the fact that, on average, a large number of GBA owners are children who don't have the expendable income that all of us have.
I also think Chris had a point with the "family cartridge pool" concept. I remember having scads of Game Boy systems around our house, but a more limited supply of games. Every kid in a family might get a system, but they share the same few games.
I also think Chris had a point with the "family cartridge pool" concept. I remember having scads of Game Boy systems around our house, but a more limited supply of games. Every kid in a family might get a system, but they share the same few games.
Insertia said:
So when PSP shows up it's not gonna be seen as secondary to say...PS3? WRONG. It's still going to be seen as secondary to most people 'cos most people who are into games are going to spend more money on the primary form of gaming which is home consoles. PSP or DS or the next GameBoy won't change that.
The best thing companies could probably do to boost tie in ratio's (and probably even overall sales) for a secondary form of gaming is to re-work the pricing structure to a much lower point which might require a new form of distribution system and storage method (like downloading ROM's onto memory cards). I think PSP could've really have been killer if they had done some sort of structure like that 'cos then they would be pushing their already released Memory Stick format into more user's hands, lowered the price of portable games which would really be a great selling point against Nintendo *and* they could've used their networking plans for distributing such content. Instead they're raising the production costs, raising the over-all software price of a secondary form of gaming and creating an all new format which they'll have a harder time pushing then the already released Memory Stick. UMD may sound great to Sony bigwig's in theory, but to the consumer most don't want to buy the same movie, and in this case, essentially the same game...twice.
If I were Sony I would've created a cheap dual shock controller with a flip-up conventional TV resolution screen with PSone capabilities that plays movies, music & games from Memory Sticks for under $150. The price, battery, capabilities, etc. would be *very* competitive to GBA and even DS and the killer is that people would be drawn to the fact that you can download games for like $5 to $10 a pop instead of paying $30+ for, again, a secondary form of gaming. Then when PStwo is released I would make it almost Walkman-sized and make it to where you could hook them up together so not only could you play cheap downloadable Memory Stick movies, music & games, but you could also play CD's, DVD's, PS & PS2 games on the go as well. Ergonomics would still work in a Walkman/headphones sort of way while still being as portable as say a portable DVD player. That way battery life wouldn't be as bad 'cos there would be a battery in the PStwo and another in the controller/screen, price would be acceptable & very competitive even to GBA and they wouldn't have to push some sort of new disk which is ultimatly in competition with already standerdized disc's. With the way Sony's doing it now though...I think they're not going to hurt Nintendo as much as if they were to do what I suggested in this paragraph.
Brofist
Member
The low production value in most (not all!!) handheld games is a turn off for me. To me you simply cannot compare the experience you get from playing a game like SMT3 to a GBA game. The GBA is a fun time killer, therefore not many games are needed...just the best few will suffice.