Handheld Gaming

[jutl]

It's an interesting time in the world of handheld gaming. Apple are claiming to be market leaders as a result of games sales on essentially non-core devices like the iPhone, iPod and iPad, and there's some evidence that at least in revenue terms they have a point. Nintendo seem to have turned around the initially disastrous 3DS sales problem with a price cut and an unsustainably AAA release roster over Christmas. Now sales of the PS Vita have fallen steeply in its second week of Japanese release. Some of that will be down to the reports of hardware/software problems with the initial units, but even taking that into account it's an enormous dropoff. Many are arguing that we are seeing the end of dedicated portable gaming hardware.

Personally I'm not sure. I'm still considering buying a PS Vita on release, particularly if Sony cut the price in response to poor sales, as seems possible. While there are some great Android and iOS games out there, I have a couple of problems with them...

(a) virtual thumbpads etc are just rubbish. Nintendo tried them with Super Mario 64 DS and quickly abandoned the idea, and their implementation was better than the standard used today.
(b) I don't want to be flattening my phone/music player's battery playing games. I need those devices for other things. Battery economy is a strong argument against portable device unification, but people seem to have temporarily forgotten this in the rush to name Apple king of games.

[El Unicornio, mang]

The PS Vita is top of my things to buy as soon as I have some spare cash. The graphics are phenomenal and it looks like there's a decent roster of games that will be available. Plus there's all the other things which I used my PSP for, like music, videos, internet, etc. This is a good gameplay example of how powerful the PS Vita is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7nnRI60Gq0

[Jim Jarmusch]

I considered getting a Xperia Play for £129.99 a few months ago. If I needed a new phone I might have went ahead with it. There's only so many genres the iOS devices can handle. Seeing someone try to shoot accurately playing GTA III on the iPad ended my thoughts about purchasing. The driving looked fine but that's not enough.

Over Christmas I went into hospital with my iPad, PSP and Kindle. The game I spent most time playing was a free download called Getaway. A simple little two button driving game was enough to keep me entertained in short bursts. I had Little Big Planet with me for PSP that was free from the PSN hack affair but it didn't get a look in. The levels were most of the time too long and dragged on.

Vita preorders were going for the same price last week on Very, unlikely to honoured. At that discounted price I still wasn't interested. I wouldn't buy any console in its first year until its library is looking a bit more healthy.

[mobias]

Handheld gaming has never really appealed to me. I like the visual aspect of gaming so condensing that experience down to a tiny screen has never really appealed. Its just another area of gaming expenditure I can't be bothered with. For the price of a Vita and a few games for it I could probably have about a years worth of games for my console. I guess there's the argument that you can enjoy gaming on a long train journey or general commuting but I'd still come back round to my first point. I suppose there's some quite simple games like Osmos I like on the iPhone but I don't need a 'hand held PS3' to enjoy that sort of gaming.

[MojoJojo]

Hmmm... mobile gaming is a bit odd. I don't think much of the market does actually use mobile game systems in a mobile way[nb]at least in the west, although I only have personal experience as evidence for that[/nb] - the main benefit, I think, is the separate, private, screen.
The Gameboy had Tetris, the DS had Brain Training.

Agghhh, I have a lot of thoughts on this but can't express myself very well at the moment. But I think Apple/mobile phones may have taken the market that made the Gameboy/DS so successful.  The new mobile consoles won't necessarily fail, but I don't think they'll do well enough for another generation to be developed. [nb]except maybe a sony successor, but that's as a reason for buying a Playstation, rather than on it's own merits.[/nb]

[mcbpete]

Pfff, doubt anything will ever top this bad boy -

[Neomod]

Meh..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2012/jan/13/sony-playstation-vita-video

[weaseldust]

my brother got me this handheld thing that has 30 sega game gear and master system games on it. i had to catch a plane a week ago and i played alex kidd for hours and hours

[Dark Sky]

my brother got me this handheld thing that has 30 sega game gear and master system games on it. i had to catch a plane a week ago and i played alex kidd for hours and hours

I got one of those when I subscribed to SFX.  I was obsessed with it for about three days and now it's buried in a drawer somewhere.  It is really sweet, and I believe you can even hook it up to a TV.

[gerardo2]

Wow how old is that thing? :D

[Ignatius_S]

Spaaam

[Bobby Treetops]

Wow how old is that thing? :D


kvepalai chanel

Thanks for the year's supply of Brut, but when's my skin going to grow back?

[VegaLA]

Look who dropped by to say Hi !

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/snks-new-neo-geo-20-retro-classics-in-one-modern-handheld/

[Spiteface]

Pfff, doubt anything will ever top this bad boy -

Look who dropped by to say Hi !

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/snks-new-neo-geo-20-retro-classics-in-one-modern-handheld/

They're all fine and dandy, but it's no Tetris Jr. Keyring. That was pretty much the best version of Tetris out there, I even rate it higher than the Game Boy version, it's that good.



Oddly enough, in digging up this pic, I actually found a possible place to get one for the first time in over a decade. I've also spotted a weird Carabiner version called "Tetris Nano" that looks like a tamagotchi-shaped device that clips onto your belt, but it doesn't look as cool as this.

I accidentally broke my hacked PSP Slim & Lite yesterday. Seeing as I only ever used it to run Megadrive & SNES emulators these days rather than actual PSP titles, This leaves me with two options:

1. Get a second-hand PSP from GAME or similar than can be hacked. I didn;t keep up with this stuff once I got what I needed up and running.

2. Trade in all my PSP games (which I hardly play anyway, if ever now) for stuff I actually will want for my XBox[nb]If you actually care, Soul Calibur 5, Street Fighter X Tekken and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City are all imminent and I want them, so these would be what I'll trade this stuff in for[/nb], and get one of those GP2X things to take care of my handheld needs. Anyone had any experience with the most recent GP2X Caanoo/Dingoo/similar handhelds?

[Zero Gravitas]

oooh, a new production run of the Pandora is seemingly running as we speak!




I wonder how fast it runs dwarf fortress.

[wasp_f15ting]

Look who dropped by to say Hi !

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/snks-new-neo-geo-20-retro-classics-in-one-modern-handheld/

This looks bloody gorgeous.. imagine playing MSlug on the shitter.. perfect :)

[mobias]

This looks bloody gorgeous..

I wonder if the designers have ever seen an iPhone 4?

[lazyhour]

Apols if there's already been discussion of it and I've missed it, but have any of you peeps played Ghost Trick on the Nintendo DS? It's fantastic and I cannot recommend it enough. Creative, fun, intriguing and attention-grabbing, it also looks gorgeous, particularly the Flashback/Another World-style character animation. I think it's by the people who made the Ace Attourney games, but it's a very different beasty - put simply, you play a ghost who can posess and manipulate inanimate objects.

Here's a character from the game doing his 'arrival' dance:

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Apols if there's already been discussion of it and I've missed it, but have any of you peeps played Ghost Trick on the Nintendo DS? It's fantastic and I cannot recommend it enough. Creative, fun, intriguing and attention-grabbing, it also looks gorgeous, particularly the Flashback/Another World-style character animation. I think it's by the people who made the Ace Attourney games, but it's a very different beasty - put simply, you play a ghost who can posess and manipulate inanimate objects.

Here's a character from the game doing his 'arrival' dance:

I loved Ghost Trick. It's utterly one of a kind and is remarkable in that it keeps genuinely exciting, unexpected twists coming throughout the entire game, while at the same time holding together as a story. All the dispirate threads coming together is quite an achievement. Fantastic, memorable characters too. I also thought it was very funny indeed.

The art style is indeed gorgeous and it just shows how effective simple, stylish and skillfully rendered graphic design and animation can be.

Tragically, it didn't do very well, so it looks set to remain a complete one off.

[mcbpete]

utterly one of a kind ... genuinely exciting, unexpected twists .... simple, stylish and skillfully rendered graphic design.

Tragically, it didn't do very well

Alas the first quote almost inevitably leads to the conclusion of the second one. People are idiots, anything even remotely different in the gaming world and 99% of the population will shun it.

[Consignia]

Ghost Trick's just been released on iOs hasn't it? Maybe it might find more popularity there? I somehow over looked it, but it looks pretty cool, so I might give it a go.

[Penfold]

Ghost Trick's just been released on iOs hasn't it? Maybe it might find more popularity there? I somehow over looked it, but it looks pretty cool, so I might give it a go.

It's also free at the moment.

[Spiteface]

2. Trade in all my PSP games (which I hardly play anyway, if ever now) for stuff I actually will want for my XBox[nb]If you actually care, Soul Calibur 5, Street Fighter X Tekken and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City are all imminent and I want them, so these would be what I'll trade this stuff in for[/nb], and get one of those GP2X things to take care of my handheld needs. Anyone had any experience with the most recent GP2X Caanoo/Dingoo/similar handhelds?

So this is what I'm doing. I realised I had an old fat PSP in the house that still worked, even with cracked casing. After running out of patience trying to hack it, I have opted to leave it as it is, and at some point buy a repacement casing shell for it and keep it purely for PSP games.  However, I have also just pulled the trigger on buying a Caanoo, which should fulfill my handheld retro-gaming needs rather nicely when I get it.

Popped into GAME after work today and checked out the PSP Vita they had on demo display. Looks really cool, but I'm going to wait and see what comes out for it, and for the price to come down before I get one.

[defmem]

Ever late to the party, I've got one of those newfangled DS Lite thingummies (£30 off ebay on a whim)

Got a copy of Ghost Trick on the way, but any suggestions for other decent games?

[jutl]

Ever late to the party, I've got one of those newfangled DS Lite thingummies (£30 off ebay on a whim)

Got a copy of Ghost Trick on the way, but any suggestions for other decent games?

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (then the others)
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (then the others)
New Super Mario Bros DS
Warioware DIY
Chrono Trigger DS
Mario Kart DS
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Elite Beat Agents (or even better Ouendan if you can find an import)

[Jim Jarmusch]

I'm getting a micro SD reader[nb]R4 Card[/nb] out the pound shop this week so I can start playing my DS Lite again.

I never knew they made a follow up to Hotel Dusk until the other day.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I'm getting a micro SD reader[nb]R4 Card[/nb] out the pound shop this week so I can start playing my DS Lite again.

I never knew they made a follow up to Hotel Dusk until the other day.

Aye, it's the swansong of that particular production company and it's lucky it got a Western port at all. If you enjoyed Hotel Dusk, it's sequel comes highly recommended.

[Spiteface]

Got my Caanoo. So far, so good.

Only installed a Megadrive emulator and a few ROMS, and what I've tried out on it appears to work just fine. I'll add more stuff to it over the rest of the week, I think, but I like it. Controls seem a little cramped, and the analog d-stick thing will take some getting used to (something tells me fighting games will be more of a challenge with it), but it's not bad.

Think I will be VERY happy with this.

[lardboy]

It's also free at the moment.

It's free, but only the first couple of (pretty long) chapters.  It's enough to let you know whether you'll enjoy it or not.

The full price of £7 is a bargain for all the rest of the chapters.

[Spiteface]

Good news and bad news.

The Neo Geo handheld has been confirmed. It is called the "Neo Geo X".

There's also a rumour it could be costing up to £500. SNK Playmore are utterly mentile if that's the case. Around £100 I can justify but even then there are plenty of emulator handhelds & homebrew out there that could do the same thing.

May just download the roms of the games that are supposed to be on the Neo Geo X and put 'em on my Caanoo...