Wednesday, 29 July 2009

• iPhone "Video Games...?"

   
  

  I wouldn't necessarily consider iPhone gaming a legitimate competitor with the industry's heavy hitters, nor do its gaming successes even remotely hold a candle to Nintendo or Sony's handhelds. iPhone games have a different quality; the experience is a lot lighter, more pick-up and play, less thorough than the PSP and DSi. This isn't especially a bad thing, I deem it a unique addition to the spectrum of gaming.

  Is a pick-up-and-play game more of a "game" in the traditional sense of the word? I don't want to argue semantics, but board games, card games, even sports, when one begins a game, one starts anew, unmarked by any previous gaming. What I mean is, RPGs, adventure games, and anything with a story line lets you start where you left off, and if this is held as the epitome of the "video game," then most of iPhone gaming stands in a category all its own.
  

  It's more comparable to, like, handheld electronic chess, or video poker, the way the majority of iPhone games exist merely to open, play through for 10 minutes or so while you wait for a train, and close, only to begin again next time. As such, it isn't fair to put the iPhone on the same level as the DSi or the PSP, and yet again Apple creates something practically unrivaled -- touch portable hardware with a system of downloadable game quips, quick and convenient, for whenever you've got downtime. It's like downloading mini flash games to your phone and calling it an app.
  

  Are these fair assumptions? I'm just thinking out loud here...
  

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