This post was published 2 years 1 month 7 days ago and as such, probably does not reflect my current opinion or ability.Since starting University I’ve found that focusing on coursework means I have less and less time to actually play games. Sure, I can fit in an hour here and there, but spending hours getting into a game and working through it just isn’t possible, as I’m sure a lot of people can sympathise with. Fortunately, last year I got a Nintendo DS, which has made a huge difference to when I can play games, as well as the games I play.
With games companies now targeting a much wider audience of non-typical gamers, hopefully developers will cater even further towards those who don’t have hours on end to invest in a game. Here are my thoughts and hopes on where handheld gaming heads in the future.
Make Saving More Friendly
If I can save a game at any point, I can play when I have 10 minutes free. If I’m going to have to trek for half an hour to get to a save point I have to find time to sit down and play. If not allowing a player to save is part of the challenge of the game I understand that, but surely a resume function (where you can save as you quit, and the save is deleted when you load it) wouldn’t affect that. The PSP is definitely on the right tracks with it’s ability to quit and resume games as you choose, and a lot of games get this right – but when they don’t it can get really frustrating.
All Cutscenes Should Be Skippable
Whilst I understand that a lot of work goes into creating long and beautiful cutscenes, that doesn’t mean they should be forced upon players. In general I like to watch through, but when I go back and play a game again, or am short of time I don’t want to have to sit through it. On a games console I take a break and go grab some food (or pick up my DS…), but leaving a little handheld game sitting playing to itself just seems silly.
Worse still of course are cutscenes where I have to sit and manually advance through every piece of dialog. Especially when the it is shown again whenever you die and have to attempt a mission again. I’m looking at you, Lost Magic.
Less Focus On Graphics
This is probably one of the reasons why I love handheld gaming so much. The limited hardware of handheld consoles means creating fantastic looking 3d games isn’t possible – there can be more focus on gameplay itself. That doesn’t mean games can’t look great, of course, but as Kiera at Write The Game wrote recently, realistic graphics are getting in the way of games having their own unique style.
More Openness
Hopefully open platforms such as the GP2X and upcoming Pandora consoles will continue to grow, and there will be further support for homebrew and open source games development. At worst this leaves us with a pile of poor, unfinished attempts, but from seeing how development for the GP2X is going I would hope it would lead to more innovative and unique games available.
What do you think?
So overall, I don’t want to see nothing but casual games like Brain Training and Nintendogs, I just feel a few minor changes would make all handheld games (and video games in general for that matter) more accessible.
So what changes would you like to see?
Can you see hand held games as an alternative to console and PC gaming?
Share your thoughts below.
Nintendo DS Lite by Atari, Gracinha & Marco (Mine doesn’t look as cute.)
I think you’ve said just about everything I can think of. I really like the PSP feature of being able to suspend any game at any point and think for handheld gaming this is a HUGE benefit, especially as I don’t really enjoy many casual games, but still don’t have much time to play. I wouldn’t have had a chance to get to the first save point in Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth without it.
I don’t see handhelds replacing consoles or PC games, at least not any time soon. As you said, less emphasis is put on graphics and that wouldn’t give the WOW factor that hardcore gamers seem to be looking for in modern games. “Old School” gamers that have been playing since before the invent of 3D hardware would possibly be less bothered, and as you mentioned, casual gamers too would be interested.
As for what I would like to see, I don’t think anything that doesn’t already exist, maybe a combination of handhelds together. My PSPs graphics capability (well, floating point calculation mainly) and suspend function, my GP2X’s community and open source nature, the fat PSPs solid feel, lots of buttons, although I think the Pandora is a bit OTT, depends on the games. Last point… MORE GAMES WITH DECENT PLOT!
Since you mentioned community – I completely forgot about the wireless capabilities of a lot of hand held consoles. What are people’s views on that?
one last thing that should be on every console (and is already ported to a lot) is NetHack!
Hahah yeah… a little difficult with just a few buttons though.
I’m an “old school” gamer.
I still have my Megadrive and my Dreamcast hooked upto my monitor ( well, its an LCD TV at ~32″ ).
Could you not also say that old school gamers wouldn’t care to have a portible console? And as such what would bring them to be interested in one?
Hmmm… I think old school gamers could be interested in handheld consoles. Nintendo’s ‘Classics’ series for the GBA was horribly overpriced but other than that I think it as a great idea. The GP2X for example has emulators available for it for a lot of retro games – so you can play classics anywhere, with a save function.
Also, because of the limited hardware, handheld console games are far more similar to retro games than any new console games being produced – if an old school gamer wanted to play something different I think there is a lot available that could attract them there.
I just bought myself a Nintendo DS on amazon. I’m getting really excited for it to arrive. Much as you say, I’ve had less and less time to game ‘properly’, and have been debating the merits of a PSP vs a DS for a while. I opted for the DS because my partner has a PSP
so we can always swap.
Because when I’m at a PC I’m ‘at work’, I find it harder than ever to stay focused on a game for long enough to beat it. I always end up checking emailing/writing a report/doing some ‘quick’ work…
I’m in the same situation, my partner got a PSP so we can both play either of them.
I can occasionally still get into a PC game, but if I take a break I find it really difficult to start playing again so I haven’t completed anything in a long time.
I hope you enjoy your new DS
Aaah, games, they’ve taken so much of my precious lifetime already. I wonder if I’ll get a bonusgame when I die =P