Carmack: Phones may kill off handhelds

Published on February 9th, 2011 21:32

6 Comments

Id Software technical director John Carmack believes smartphones will soon replace dedicated handheld consoles.
Speaking to The Dallas Morning News, he claimed that the upcoming Nintendo 3DS and Sony NGP could prove to be the last of their kind.
"The smart phone may turn out to be 80 percent as good at gaming as a dedicated gaming platform. People are going to carry their smart phone, and if it's an 80 percent gaming device, how many people in the gaming market will be satisfied with that? That's the question that's in everybody's mind.
"If that's what the consumers are going to trend towards on there, there may not be much as developers we can do about that," he said.
In terms of future efforts from Sony and Nintendo, he reasoned that "You don't always get to build pyramids just because you want to."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ming-handhelds

Speaking for myself and a rather drunk one at that but thats another story, i cant see phones taking over from handhelds, sure for casual games the iphone, ipod touch are great but for an hardcore game theres nothing better than getting a real console with real controls, touchscreen controls are good but surely arent as good as a dpad and button for that real gaming experiance.

what does the DCEmu membership feel about it ?

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6 Comments

seajay - February 10th, 2011, 09:27
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I 50% agree with John Carmack . I have a Galaxy-S and a PSP. Galaxy S is a superb smart phone gamer but I often have a hard time with controllers.

HardHat - February 10th, 2011, 14:00
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Well my observation is that although a handheld console is theoretically there to play lots of games, usually it is just one killer game that pushes people over the edge and makes them actually buy. As long as that one killer game comes out, the sales of the handheld console will continue.

Fonixx - February 11th, 2011, 02:29
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Kinda hope it does. I play on my N95 more than any other handheld because even though it's completely hopeless it's always there 24/7, and give me a phone that's even barely passable as a gaming device and i can guarantee to play and pay a Hell of a lot more than my Psp.

mib_ - February 11th, 2011, 14:55
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I rarely play games on my Blackberry or iPhone because I need the battery to last all day. It's no problem if the battery on my PSP dies, so I'm going to prefer a dedicated handheld for gaming. Carrying 3 devices can be a pain though.

Qmark - February 11th, 2011, 15:50
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That PSPhone is going to be the only significant dent.
Until phones gain actual tactile controller buttons, dedicated gaming portable are quite safe.

Kaiser - February 11th, 2011, 17:47
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Originally Posted by Fonixx

Kinda hope it does. I play on my N95 more than any other handheld because even though it's completely hopeless it's always there 24/7, and give me a phone that's even barely passable as a gaming device and i can guarantee to play and pay a Hell of a lot more than my Psp.

This is pretty much where I stand. The games on my iPhone aren't amazing in comparison to say my PSP or DS but I just can't be bothered to lug either around. Whether I have five minutes waiting in line somewhere or just before bed the iPhone however is always present since it really is my all in one device. The casual nature of the games also gives me the ability to pick up and play and toss it aside after a few minutes which is much better suited to how I live during the course of a day.

That being said, I don't think traditional handheld gaming will die any time soon, particularly with younger kids who usually aren't ones to be given/trusted with a $500+ smartphone. Among gamers as a whole too there will always be people wanting that richer portable experience and even me being the iPhone lover I am can still see myself buying a 3DS and/or NGP for (Portable OOT anyone?). Whether I play the more serious portable gaming platforms on the go is another story however.