Comments on: Handheld Gaming – The Way Forward

By: mastah

mastah — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:44:59 +0000

Aaah, games, they’ve taken so much of my precious lifetime already. I wonder if I’ll get a bonusgame when I die =P

By: Hazel

Hazel — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:29:43 +0000

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

By: Keira

Keira — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:02:18 +0000

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…

By: Hazel

Hazel — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:44:37 +0000

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.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:16:59 +0000

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?

By: Hazel

Hazel — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:05:44 +0000

Hahah yeah… a little difficult with just a few buttons though.

By: Nistur

Nistur — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:04:23 +0000

one last thing that should be on every console (and is already ported to a lot) is NetHack!

By: Hazel

Hazel — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:04:01 +0000

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?

By: Nistur

Nistur — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:02:04 +0000

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!