"iPhone could kill Nintendo DS", says report

[Shrygue]

via Computer and Video Games (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=190379)


The introduction of gaming to Apple's iPhone could "kill" Nintendo DS's success, claims a report in Forbes magazine.

The article (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/06/04/apple-nintendo-iphone-tech-wire-cx_bc_0605nintendo.html), titled 'Why Apple Could Kill The Nintendo DS', says that the iPhone's combination of motion sensing and touch-screen tech could leave it as a more desirable format for both consumers and developers.

The comes before an expected announcement from Apple this Monday, where boss Steve Jobs "will likely launch a long-promised feature, dubbed the App Store, which will let outside developers pour software into the iPhone and iPod Touch".

"The ability to pour fresh software into the iPhone, wirelessly, at the touch of a button already has game developers interested," says Forbes.

"Apple is the first to master a pair of tricks that have made Nintendo's latest products so compelling; a touch-screen interface and the ability to pick up on motion. The key difference: Unlike Nintendo, which has created a gaming console with a motion-sensitive controller and a touch-sensitive handheld gaming system, Apple has crammed both capabilities into its iPhone and iPod Touch"

Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Sega are already signed up to make games for iPhone, and if sales catch on as much as industry analysts expect them too, the handheld arena could well and truly be in for a shake up.

"Looks like the handheld gaming business, so long dominated by Nintendo, could be about to undergo a little evolution too," boldy claims Forbes.

Peeking at Nintendo's current sales figures, we wouldn't chuck your DS in the bin just yet, though...

[goshogun1]

Somehow I am doubtful the iphone is gonna "kill" the DS anytime soon. Nintendo,Squareenix,Konami,Capcom, and many others are sure to prevent that from happening. Just sounds like more lame predictions from Forbes. Kinda like their headline, "Will GTAIV threaten the Wii?". I am sure it will be powerful, but I doubt there will be a flood of games coming out for it.

[wiggy fuzz]

who buys a games console on contract?

somehow, i can't even see the iphone tackling the psp

[goity]

All the kids can afford an iphone and contract to play their virtual pet games!

[robman84]

Ho ho ho.

There are some great game experiences on the iPhone, definitely (labyrinth), but Nintendo shouldn't go back to selling playing cards just yet!

For one thing, the scale of the iPhone sales is nowhere near that of the DS. They are also entirely different markets. Likewise, how many times have you changed your phone since buying a DS? (3 for me). That's the problem with phones - you kind of want them to be something you don't have to invest your life in, as you're likely to get rid of it after 12-18 months.

Anyway, back to the iphone. The lack of buttons severely restricts the game paradigms available that will be playable. Emulators on it suck donkeys (no disrespect to the authors - you do a great job, but no buttons = no fun IMHO).

I think the iphone's target audience might buy the occasional game through the Appstore, but it will be just that - the occasional game.

I decided against getting an iphone - way too expensive for me, and I love my WM6 phone. I did get an ipod touch though, which gives me access to all of the iphone stuff. Equally I'm more likely to keep the ipod for several years, unlike a phone. I do love it, but for games I always reach for my DS.

[masterchief929]

lulz, the only thing that could even come close to competing with the two current handhelds (NDS;PSP) is the upcoming Pandora gaming system.

[mcdougall57]

£300 and a contract.. yea right

[limming]

lmfao

iPhone won't even put a dent in Nintendo's DS sales, let alone kill it! The iPhone wasn't made for gamers. Nobody (except a few strange people who perhaps don't know that the DS or PSP exist) would buy one just to play minigames on it.

[Shadowblind]

As far as I'm concerned the only thing an iPhone is for is for easy homebrew and looking cool, both of which the NDS do ten times better.

[koh-kun]

The writer of the article obviously isn't a gamer.

Remember the Nokia phone/game thing? I can't even remember what it was called.

[rememberthe8bit]

All the kids can afford an iphone and contract to play their virtual pet games!

Now goity, if you were to port one of your games onto the iPhone, it would beat the DS. :)

[JKKDARK]

The Nintendo DS is too big already. It's too late.

[Kaeruyaki]

I love reading what these ignorant magazine editors have to say about the gaming industry. NONE of them can ever predict things correctly, because they just don't understand why something is successful in the gaming industry.
The DS, for example, is successful because:
Price + Nintendo + Japan + Image
The touch-screen is almost incidental (though very much appreciated), the real seller is how it’s been advertised as a new kind of system. It's a refreshing experience for hardcore gamers, and something that “non-gamers” could wrap their hands around. The iPhone will always be known as just that, an ipod phone.

[mcdougall57]

The writer of the article obviously isn't a gamer.

Remember the Nokia phone/game thing? I can't even remember what it was called.

haha, youre talking about the n-gage? total flop that thing was

[crookedmouth]

If I had $400 bucks to fork out for a new gaming handheld device, I'd buy a GP2X and a PSP and still have 62 bucks left over for a couple memory cards.

The iphone is slick like most every apple product, but like so many of apple's other products it's "for the classes, not the masses".

Now for a 8hour seminar by Jobs about how all these other phones are just copying the iphone.

[wolfpack]

Yea right, like thatll ever happen, it never will. The ds has touchscreen AND buttons. Plus the ds has castlevania, nuff said.

(Castlevania wins me over, and if an iphone had a castlevania on it, i still wouldnt buy it just because its made by apple, yes i boycott everything made by them)

[Tetris999]

i just love it how they always say the ds will lose to "So and so" just because it has a touchscreen

psht, add buttons please!

[davidcrew]

that article is nonsense.

[iceman100]

Shut up forbes whoever you are, and how many idiots have said this new hand held is going to beat nintendo....nothing will ever beat nintendo with hand helds.

[jaws365]

Nintendo has far greater experience with gaming and I don't think slightly better hardware will revolutionize anything.

[lightningdude]

Hey, I thought the PSP was supposed to beat the DS...

[Spidery_Yoda]

Yeah right. That article is wrong wrong wrong. There is no chance of the iphone 'killing' the DS.

They sound very ignorant.

[doofy77]

Apple will have a fun time trying to obtain the rights to release zelda, mario, donkey kong, and all the other game frachises that makes the DS awesome. Because there is no way in hell that they'd be able to release any game which would be any where near as appealing to gamers. And with out appealing to gamers, what the **** is the point of having games.

What next? The Mac is gonna be a better platform or gaming that a Windows PC?

[Keitaro Urashima]

iPhone will die, not DS.

[sappo]

Seems like Apple paid Forbes to put a "good" word >_>

[Cerepol]

let me put this in perspective. Something that costs 400 bucks + 60 per month for service with promises of games that will likely be crap. something that costs 150 with a whole backlog of great games + the promises of games to come from Nintendo and the other 3rd party developers.

Yep I see a huge shakeup in the handheld arena.

[da_head]

hahahha. all i gotta say is: NICE TRYS

xD

[Cevius]

pffft... The iphone...

No parent is going to spend 400-600 bucks on just the hardware to amuse their child. More power? Probably. The DS is reasonably cheap, and is designed to have children use. How long will an Iphone last in someones backpack?

Its not going to have any really mindblowing games that isn't already to some extent possible with the DS's touch screen.

Personally, I like having buttons. I can feel where those buttons are, and use those buttons without being forced to look where my hand is going. You can't do that with just a touch screen, so the level of immersion you are going to reach with any game will be limited at best.

the DS has twelve button triggers than can be activated at once, more if you count the microphone, touch screen with pressure sensitivity and lid open/close detection that some developers love to throw in to f*ck you up mid-game (oh, and motion/tilt/photosensitive/camera based add ons to keep it exciting). How many simultaneous inputs can you hope for with the Iphone? Not many.

Sounds like another N-gage foible. .

[wiggy fuzz]

n-gage vs GBA SP - seriously, when i saw lara croft on the ngage i thought "wow, the GBA's had it, now".

thinking back, now, it had underutilised graphics horsepower, rubbish games/crapgraphics, no shoulder buttons (essential for shooters) and a huge array of buttons.

the iphone doesn't have a snowball's hope in hell

[psykotine]

hahahahahahahaha

Iphone is an american machine and the videogames are japanese in majority search the error

Microsoft are not good results in Japan with the 360

iphone sucks :rofl:

[wiggy fuzz]

nokia are japanese (if you believe the transformers movie) otherwise they're finnish.

[zzt]

Not to start anything, but games will also play on the Ipod touch not just the Iphone (Ipod Touch is only about $300 and no contract needed)

But yeah, I can't really see the Apple's portable device competing with the DS, the DS has already established the market, with the PSP taking up the rest of the portable gamers out there.

[crookedmouth]

The 2.0 iphone is $199.


Of course I'd still buy a PSP or GP2X. :)

[.:PSP1.0:.]

Ahh i'm not saying it will happen or anything but i don't think Nintendo would care much anyway cos they've already made there millions lmao..