Hello friends,

Yes I'm alive, and yes I'm still currently at the world's most prestigious language school in the world (on behalf of your tax dollars, tyvm) learning.

Anyways, Apple came out today and announced that the iPhone 5 has only two million confirmed sales for launch which isn't that good...or maybe it is? When compared to handhelds of premier video game companies it might look like a little as the handheld market is currently booming with sales.

Okay, enough sarcasm. The iPhone 5 is set to outsell the total Vita sales in it's opening weekend and will more than likely outsell the 3DS in it's first week or two. How you "true" gamers feel that this is what the mainstream looks at for handheld gaming? How's it affecting you, the gamers, that more and more companies would rather make games for mobile handsets rather than "gamer handsets"?

Is the handheld gaming industry dying or will it boom up like a new born phoenix taking on the new day?

Source

I don't think a straight comparison totally works for sales, there's a large percentage of people who picked up the iphone that would never even consider buying a handheld system so that probably skews the numbers. That being said, the increase of mobile games and the quality/focus on them had definitely put a big dent in handheld sales.

The games are of a pretty good quality and the best ones are more geared to playing on the go an I think that's changed the hand held marketplace for good. I don't think it's necessarily dying but it's never gonna be what it was. Nintendo isn't gonna find a repeat of the DS and I think the Vita is destined to go the way of the PSP. I dunno, if mobile games were garbage the whole situation might bother me more but I'm pretty happy with how things are right now.

It has no affect on me whatsoever. Unless iPhone developers are sorcerors and start making games like ArmA and Wargame: EE for the Iphone, then it ain't affecting me dawg.

Also have you not finished super important language school (that my tax money isn't paying for 'cause I'm no smelly American) yet? What are you, an idiot?

@KaosAngel: People who stayed up at midnight to buy up all of the preorders within a hour are generally those already on the Apple treadmill of new iPhones every year or so. It would be silly to compare this to dedicated videogame handheld sales. For most people, the iPhone is still a phone, browser, status icon, and mini tablet, not a replacement for regular videogame handhelds.

@TruthTellah: I bought a Vita on base from a guy who sold it for $150, and all I did was buy MGS HD and FF7. The older I get, the less and less I use dedicated handheld devices because I just don't have the time. More and more people my age, and those nearing it are using handheld less and less.

Fuck me silly, I bought The Walking Dead on Steam and just a few days ago bought it again for iOS because I realized I don't have the time to play it on my PC. I finished the first two chapters on my iPad and iPhone due to the cloud saves on all iOS games. It's just hard to play games on a dedicated handheld when my mobile is right there in my pocket.

@KaosAngel said:

@TruthTellah: I bought a Vita on base from a guy who sold it for $150, and all I did was buy MGS HD and FF7. The older I get, the less and less I use dedicated handheld devices because I just don't have the time. More and more people my age, and those nearing it are using handheld less and less.

Fuck me silly, I bought The Walking Dead on Steam and just a few days ago bought it again for iOS because I realized I don't have the time to play it on my PC. I finished the first two chapters on my iPad and iPhone due to the cloud saves on all iOS games. It's just hard to play games on a dedicated handheld when my mobile is right there in my pocket.

I definitely understand why it's more convenient for you personally, but that isn't necessarily the case for many or most people who buy iPhones. And while the iPhone 5 is nice, it's still not a dedicated gaming device.

It's like the idea that something like the Wii has to directly compete with the other consoles and PC gaming. The Wii has its own kind of games on it, and the other consoles have their kind of games. There are a lot of games that simply require different hardware. The iPhone and other mobile phones share in this similar market of different games for themselves. And the 3DS and Vita have games that just aren't possible or optimized to a mobile phone. You can have both in the market. They're different enough in form and function that they can exist as different devices.

And as far as sales of a smart phone brand vs that of a dedicated videogame device, the comparison is less than useful. Vastly more people are in the market for a smart phone than a dedicated handheld. But they want a smart phone. They're not looking for the equivalent of a gaming handheld. For those who -are- looking for a dedicated handheld, they tend to still want them and value the games only available to play there. People suggested the 3DS was failing thanks to people just getting smart phones, and then Nintendo just got better games and a more competitive price and the 3DS has become a reasonably successful handheld. Smart phone sales will always be higher than videogame sales, because it's simply a bigger market. It's a more general use product often tied to a near necessity for modern communication. But when looking at the specific interests of those who have bought gaming handhelds for years now, dedicated videogame handhelds still have a fine place in the mix.