I've just watched the trailer for Infinity Blade, and I have remembered a trend I've been noticing for a while with many other games, like Archetype, Nova, etc. The problem is that these games are designed for portable devices with a very limited control set that often comes by blocking a part of a small screen with your thumbs. Not the perfect setup for an action game. However, these are probably the most advanced games for these devices and the ones getting most funding to be made. Why? Well, I guess turn based games are not fun any more.
 
Turn based RPGs (as many JRPGs from Pokémon to Final Fantasy), tactic RPGs ( Disgaea), turn based strategy or graphic adventures do not get the same treatment. There is civilization revolution for DS with some of the crappiest graphics I've seen in a lot of time. What would happen if civilization V was to be ported to the iPhone? Would the graphics be much worse? Would the gameplay be severely influenced by the fact of being in a mobile phone and not having buttons? How would the gameplay of a game like Heavy Rain be affected by moving all the controls to a touchscreen?
 
Turn based games are not limited to puzzle games like Puzzle Quest, but for the catalog of games and the budget that seems to be devoted to these games one would think that they are, there is no intention to make any bigger turn based games for handhelds because they are not fun any more, or maybe handhelds are not meant for playing, the user base is not so active and the action games released for these devices are graphically impressive but no big deal.

I play Civ 5 on Strategic Hex mode due to my crappy laptop video card and if they ported that to the iPhone I would buy it in a second.

Civilization is already on the iPhone. And to be honest, it's pretty much Civilization, only on the iPhone.

Civ is not about the graphics. They're nice to have, but it's about how fun the gameplay is. And Shogun: total war 2 is coming out, which should also help fill you're turn based strategy lull (even though it's not fully turn based. Yes, it's not a genre that sees major releases every few months ( and I don't think it does how long each damn game keeps me playing), but it's still got torchbearers keeping it moving. 

I like Turn Based strategy, there just haven't been any good ones for a while (Civ excluded). Somebody really needs to push the genre into the modern age.I like TBS, but I gather you don't.
 
If I understand you correctly. Your post is kind of disjointed.

I play a lot of civ rev on iPhone and iPad, works great but keeping track of the differences between than and Civ 5 can be annoying.  
 
There's also one or two turn based RPGs for the iPhone, but I haven't tried them. Could be alright. Then there's a lot of popular iPhone games like Angry Birds or Game Dev Story, or whatever that waits for your input.

I agree, Final Fantasy 13 was the last jrpg I played & it's mind-numbingly repetitive.  
On the other hand Fallout NV & ME2 are a lot of fun.... The genre just needs an update.

We need a new Advance Wars game.

I still like me some TBS, I have Heroes of Might and magic 4 installed in my laptop, I love that shit, get that running on a ds/3ds and I'm sold, they had a HOMM game on the ds but it was completely different, not bad though.

i agree, they are boring to play. i never could get into them but they are boring as hell.

I have a gameboy advance and Super Nintendo emulator on my android and while the virtual pad leaves something to be desired, FFVI and the like are quite fun. 
 
I have no clue why more JRPGs aren't on the mobile phone market...also I need Game Dev Story ported to Android...somebody bootleg it for download if the company doesn't want my money...

I agree.  Turn-based RPGs seem ideal for the platform and I was surprised when there weren't any on the droid market.

I want my damn Puzzle Quest back on the android market.  I had it on my old non-smart-phone.  Why can't I have it on the newer better phones? 
 
Also, someone mentioned Shogun II.  I agree with them. 
 
Finally... I realize it wasn't exactly turn-based, but I kinda played Dragon Age sorta like it.  A lot of Pause and give commands, then resume.  I'm kinda hoping that DA2 is going to be the same way.

" We need a new Advance Wars game. "

Due to my crap Laptop graphics card being unable to even process the text of Civ 5, I'd get it on iPhone.

 http://www.freewaregenius.com/2008/05/15/an-overview-of-free-turn-based-strategy-and-war-games/ Might just be what you're looking for. The post has an abundant amount of free Turn-based strategy games that does not require a high-end computer, or any gaming computer for that matter. Lots of good stuff which is worth checking out, if you can stomach the sometimes plain and simple graphics.

I just realized why does this happen. 
 
As games become more popular and mainstream, the capability of amusement that nerds may find on turn based games (thinking, comparable to chess) is not so generalizable. In the "main stream" people like to have fun with something that is more instinctive, inmediate, thoughtless reflexes and skill.
 
And that's why turn based games are and will always be for a group of people, that were previously the gamers, but now are only a group of gamers.

@GreggD said:

" We need a new Advance Wars game. "

@Trylks: They've been "a group of gamers" for over ten years; I know people that have always disliked Pokémon and Final Fantasy because they don't understand the concept of all the actions in a turn happening at roughly the same time; they see it as a dude standing still for six seconds, then walking up and hitting someone with a sword.

I think turn-based games could do well, but I also definitely think Civilization Revolution is more suited to the iPhone, iPad, and the DS, regardless of how they handled the graphics. A game of Civ Rev is usually around 2 or 3 hours; as you know, a game of Civ 5 can be much, much longer. Turn-based games like Angry Birds and any sort of match-game (Dungeon Raid or its more direct Bejeweled-y counterparts) do pretty well, and others (like Plants vs. Zombies or Game Dev Story) can be pretty slow-paced and calculated like a strategy game. Yes, there are also the Tiny WIngs and Robot Unicorn Attacks out there, but they're the minority on my phone, at least.

However, turn based combat was invented for games like Chainmail, Dungeons & Dragons, and the original Warhammer, systems where having all the units operate at once did not make sense (and, also, it was invented in a format where all games took place in turns of some sort.) Final Fantasy adopted the system because, again, there was no reasonable series of inputs that would allow you to control more than one unit at any given time, and AI was not good enough to allow them to control your other characters instead. Now, in some games, AI is that good (Star Wars Republic Commando and Mass Effect 2, for example,) and games like StarCraft and Dragon Age have found reasonable ways to put the player in control of an entire party (or, hell, an entire army) without pausing the game.

That's not to say that turn-based combat can't be fun; it absolutely can be. But the need for it, the reason it helped define console experiences pretty significantly in the late 80's and through the 90's, is certainly fading. The IOS interface is still being worked on in terms of action-oriented gameplay, but the responsiveness of the hardware isn't the problem, it's simply the inability for developers to come up with new ways to present action gameplay on IOS devices. In your original post, you mention Heavy Rain; I think that's certainly a direction you could take IOS devices in, perhaps combining that with an Elite Beat Agents style of gameplay over an interactive storyline like Heavy Rain.

I just realized why does this happen.  As games become more popular and mainstream, the capability of amusement that nerds may find on turn based games (thinking, comparable to chess) is not so generalizable. In the "main stream" people like to have fun with something that is more instinctive, inmediate, thoughtless reflexes and skill. And that's why turn based games are and will always be for a group of people, that were previously the gamers, but now are only a group of gamers.

Turn based game are still great for me.
 
They do have to be single player though cause playign that stuff multiplayer can be a bore. Then i will ge tdistracted by stuff and i'll miss stuff or make someone else wait to long.
In Tabletop format, might not be the most applicable on these boards , It is no problem, cause you got banter/social interaction.
 
I also have a theory that just normal turn based stuff would be great in Lan.
Civ would be great with a bunch of guy and making alliances and all that stuff right then and there.