We take a look at the new kids on the block of hand-held gaming, come to kick ass and take names…
Back in 2008, if you said to any gamer that the iPhone or iPod Touch are gaming devices, you would have gotten laughed out of a game lobby. Now, over two years later, the AppStore and iOS devices have changed the way people play.
At one of Apple’s media events Steve jobs presented a graph that showed a huge lead in the amount of games sold on the AppStore when compared to all Nintendo DS and Sony PSP game sales. Now, of course many games on the AppStore are nothing but useless filler, but there are still a huge number of quality titles, and we are seeing a smaller gap between the quality of those games when compared to those on consoles (Dead Space, Infinity Blade and Real Racing 2 for example).
It’s for this reason that the big three have now sat up and taken notice, for they really don’t want to be sharing space and more importantly market share, with a relative newcomer to the games scene. Microsoft have already shown their hand, with their Window’s Mobile 7 platform for smart phones, which includes an Xbox Live gaming portal, and has already seen many of the top sellers of the AppStore ported over to that system. So what about the other two? Two giants in gaming that have a lot to prove in this new world of ‘sell low and sell a lot’ that the AppStore has brought to the table.
Sony NGP
First up is the just announced handheld from Sony, codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP) or what most people will dub the PSP 2.
At the Entertainment Expo ’09 (E3), Sony showed off their successor to the PSP, the PSP GO. More of a refresh to the PSP than a full on new device, the PSP GO was aimed at offering a more compact (pocket) device than before. To shed those pounds the device had a slider for the controls, and dumped the UMD storage solution in favour of flash storage. Of course for many this meant that existing PSP users could not play their back catalogue of PSP games, as well as tying you to download games through the PSN store. This was obviously aimed at trying to capture an AppStore for the Playstation generation, but I don’t think the hardcore Sony gamers were ready for it. Some AppStore games have even shown up on PSN as PSP Minis.
Another problem was with the device itself, and something that seems to have held the PSP back. The lack of twin sticks from the birth of the PSP to now, meant that porting PS2 games over to portable form was always going to be difficult, with only a single nub joystick the game designers were limited for options. That doesn’t mean of course that there were not any decent games on PSP, quite the contrary. But when you market your device as a portable playstation, you shouldn’t limit it in a way that gives gamers a lesser experience overall. Globally, the PSP was outperformed by the Nintendo DS, and now with the iOS devices the PSP’s light is fading fast.
Cue then today’s announcement (27 Jan) of the NGP, Sony’s answer to everything. From a control point of view it comes with every conceivable option, including dual analogue sticks as standard, a multitouch OLED display, d-pad and four action buttons, three motion sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer and compass) and surprisingly a rear touch panel to boot.
The tech
From a gamers perspective the most interesting to me is the rear touch panel. There were rumours that such a feature could come to the iPhone, and would allow you to do basically do as you do now, but without cluttering the screen with your fingers and thumbs. Sony demoed the feature in a ball rolling game, where your touch on the rear panel was translated on screen as if you were poking your fingers into the game world itself. This caused the game world to deform, which in turn affected the path of the ball. Impressive!
Power-wise Sony are stating close to PS3 quality graphics. This is size relative of course, I doubt the NGP will be able to output full 1080p graphics with all the texture and geometric clarity of a PS3. This is all done through a quad core ARM Cortex A9 processor. The same processor rumoured to be coming to iPhone 5 and possibly the iPad 2 (though Apple will use a custom version and call it the A5). Screen resolution is comparable to the iPhone 4 with a 960 x 544 resolution and as mentioned above will be multitouch.
To complete the attack on iOS, the NGP will come loaded with WiFI and 3G, allowing it to go ahead to head with the iOS devices as an always connected device. Something that has obviously been a huge advantage to Apple, and key for the AppStore’s success.
Key NGP features:
* Multi-touch 5-inch organic light emitting display (OLED) as the front display
* Multi-touch pad on the rear of the device
* Dual analog sticks
* Two cameras (front and rear)
* Software titles on small, dedicated flash memory-based cards
* Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass
* Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
* PlayStation Network access, including ““LiveArea™”, “Near” and “Activity” log features Trophy Support
* NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.
* Flash storage (custom).
The games
For Sony’s key audience – hardcore gamers – the success of any device is its lineup of games. WIth the PSP often regarded as offering lacklustre versions of the full console games, and instead being used to play the lower budget style games suited to the PSP (Though no less entertaining, such as the excellent Loco Roco). The NGP though, with every control option under the sun and with the horse power to boot, will now be able to offer up an almost identical experience to its console big brother. And Sony have the launch titles to prove it, including Killzone, Resistance, Uncharted, WipEout, Call of Duty and LittleBigPlanet as well as some other NGP originals like the ball rolling title I mentioned earlier. These big name titles are of course premium titles, and will never be able to be offered to the public for the kind of money we see swapping virtual hands on the AppStore. Instead these will no doubt be sold at a premium price in between what you pay for PSP and PS3 games now. PSP Minis will still be available of course, and we may see more evidence of AppStore games making the move, as was evident with Epic’s Tim Sweeney who demoed a version of Epic Citadel on NGP… the swine!
Online
This brings me onto Sony’s other announcement, and an added weapon to their arsenal to keep up with the Joneses (or in this case the Jobses). They have announced the Playstation suite, a Sony certified way of bringing quality titles to their Playstation Store that not only offers up an AppStore like experience for NGP users, but will also be available to select Android devices too. As we know, there are almost as many Android devices out there as iOS (if not more), and so by giving Android users a taste of the Playstation experience on their phones, they might be willing to make the jump to the NGP, or even PS3. The added certification will mean that only a high standard of games make it on the store, which as we know is an increasing problem with the AppStore. It’s certainly a bold move by Sony, and I seriously doubt Sony will be bringing it to iOS devices anytime soon.
UPDATE: I may have spoken too soon. In a questions and answers round table, SCE’s CEO Kaz Hirai said “We have a completely open stance. With carriers and with hand set makers. There are a variety of OSes,” he said. “But we’re focusing first on Android. There’s also Windows, iOS and so forth, but we don’t have the resources to make it compatible with everything from the start.” (Quote ource: www.andriasang.com).
Right now, with the quality of games out there for iOS, do we really need the might of Playstation? Afterall, they are only bringing first gen Playstation games out to begin with. As usual let us know what you think in the comments below.
Sony have really stepped up to the mark here with the NGP. But never underestimate what the house of Jobs have under their sleeve. Especially when the Sony NGP won’t be released until the end of this year, and perhaps not until early 2012. By then we’ll already have the new iPad 2, the iPhone 5 and the new iPod touch, not to mention any other iOS based devices in development. And then of course there’s a question of price!
Nintendo 3DS
Last but by no means least is Nintendo’s 3DS. The full successor to the immensely popular DS. After all, it was Nintendo that really Kicked off the whole casual gamer market, which we now see flourish on the AppStore. With children and adults alike playing titles from Nintendogs to Brain training, and Pokemon to Professor Layton. Not to mention the first true gaming system with a touch screen.
Nintendo don’t really share the same design philosophy as Apple. Don’t get me wrong, they are all in it for the money. However, Nintendo seem to often go down the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ road of product design. Whereas Apple are always striving for the cutting edge. Exceptions to this rule are of course the touch screen of the DS and the motion controls of the Wii, but historically the technology under the hood of these devices is still a few generations behind. For example the Gameboy Advance was similar in spec to the SNES, the DS an N64, and the Wii a Gamecube.
Again with the 3DS they are sticking to that formula, with a similar spec – from a power perspective – to the GameCube. And again they are offering new way to experience handheld games. This time though the innovation isn’t with the control input or how many screens, instead it’s how you view those screens. Just as the name implies, the 3DS offers for the first time, 3D optics without the need for 3D glasses.
The 3DS was on show at E3 ’10 and I queued up for around two hours to get my hands on one. I was skeptical at first, but after seeing it in action I was blown away. It gives a huge amount of depth to games, with a particular demo of Metal Gear Solid stealing the show.
The tech
As mentioned above, the 3DS will offer games of a similar quality to those seen on Gamecube. By todays standards that’s pretty low, but when viewed on a smaller screen, its easily forgiven. The demos of Metal Gear and Resident Evil, not to mention recent screens of Street Fighter IV, put my mind at rest in terms of graphics.
For controls, it seems Nintendo are a step behind the NGP, adding only one analogue stick (called the circle pad) to the 3DS… though that is one more than the iPhone and iPod Touch! The 3DS shouldn’t have the same problems as the PSP though, as its touch screen can provide some virtual stick camera controls like we are used to on iOS. Unlike the PSP, the 3DS – and DS before it – has never been mainly about offering console type games on a handheld, instead – much like games on iOS – new first and third party titles on Nintendo’s handhelds tend to go for an original approach (Professor Layton, Elite Beat agents, Nintendogs, Yoshi Touch and Go etc). So, the controls tend not to be a barrier for developers, and instead fuel creativity. Other controls added to the 3DS include 3 axis gyro and an accelerometer, as well as the standard D-pad, four face buttons, shoulder buttons and the touch screen with stylus.
Powering the 3DS are two custom 266Mhz ARM11 CPUs (each, no doubt, required to power a two render pass for each eye for 3D effect) and a 133MHz GPU. It’s way underpowered compared to the iOS devices and the NGP, but the resolution output of a 3DS on both screens is significantly lower (400 x 240 for each eye). A neat feature is the addition of two back facing cameras, allowing you to capture photos and video in full 3D. Again, I saw this at E3 and was blown away.
The games
This is where Nintendo can have the upper hand. Nintendo’s first party games, featuring a Disney-like lineup of Mascot characters, including Mario, Luigi, Pikachu, Zelda, Link, Kirby and of course Yoshi, tend to become instant classics. Generation after generation a new Mario game, be it a platformer like the latest Super mario Galaxy, or a racer like Mario Kart, is a big deal, sitting at the top of the game charts year upon year. Nintendo will likely capitalise on these characters to drive huge sales.
The most anticipated 3DS game, likely to be a launch title, is Kid Icarus, a melding of flight meets action run and gun. So iconic is Pit (the lead character), that people often forget that his one full game back in the 8Bit days was pretty mediocre and a complete flop. It was left then to Super Smash Brothers to bring him out of retirement.
There is one port that we will see at some point this year, a reboot of Ocarina of Time. This Zelda game is so critically acclaimed that we can forgive Nintendo for charging us for it again, even over ten years later. Re-imagined with better texture work and updated character models, the game will also include a hybrid of analogue and touch-based controls, and of course the all important 3D effect.
The third party line-up is perhaps Nintendo’s strongest yet. With the likes of big franchises like Super Street Fighter IV (which looks incredible in motion), Dead or Alive, Resident Evil: Revelations, Metal Gear Solid, PES and Splinter Cell, it shows that developers see the potential of the device and so are putting their creative might behind it.
Online
Online connection has always been Nintendo’s achilles heel, they just haven’t harnessed the power of it, and it has probably driven away potential gamers, particularly the hardcore. Clunky friends codes and un-intuitive online features just can’t keep up with Apple’s systems and AppStore. The DSi strove to make things better, but only marginally. The 3DS will continue to be able to access the library of DSiWare titles, new and old. And Nintendo are also bringing the virtual console to the system, giving gamers a huge library of Gameboy Colour, GBA, and DS games to choose from. Unfortunately the friends codes are still there, but they promise to make it easier, and at least allow you to see what friends are playing and when they are available.
A new way to connect called Spot Pass has been added. This essentially means that when idle, the 3DS can communicate with other 3DS systems. So, for example, if you are out and about and you pass someone in the street also carrying a 3DS on their person, then the systems will exchange information with each other, downloading Mii’s and game scores to compare. An example was shown where two people standing next to each other on a metro train, that their 3DS’s were automatically engaging in a Street Fighter Fight. How this will feature in gamers everyday lives is yet to be seen, but its a cool feature nonetheless.
Conclusion
The NGP is substantially larger than the 3DS and iPhone. Hardly pocket-sized!
So, the ‘Big Two’ have shown their hands. They mean business, and its certainly good times ahead for gamers, whichever device you choose. They all have their strong points.
The PSP could be the ultimate hand-held, offering the best of all worlds. But is it too late to make a dent? Developers are seemingly jumping ship from Sony, with Capcom just the other day announcing that mobile gaming is the future, and where were EA on their list of upcoming games… nowhere.
The 3DS is the underpowered one of the three, but it has that 3D wow factor that should give it the edge for a few years, at least until Sharp license the 3D display tech to others.
Then of course there’s the iOS devices. The lack of physical controls is still a barrier for some, but Apple will never stray from that design philosophy. And can gamers really buy into the whole ‘new device each year’ strategy? With the premium of the iOS lineup being the iPhone, it has to continually evolve to be able to keep up with the smartphone market. For people who can afford it, and/or tech whores who must have every new bit of tech (like myself… it’s a curse!) that’s fine. But for everyone else it’s a big ask to part with your hard earned cash each year.
The bottom line though, however good these new devices are, is that Apple now has the lead as far as software support goes (AppStore). Nintendo and Sony still have the edge on delivering the premium games, but how long are gamers willing to put up with the relatively high prices compared to those on the AppStore? (GTA:CTW anyone?).
Add to that the fact that iOS devices are also fully functioning iPods, then it’s still going to be a huge uphill battle for Nintendo and Sony to lure people away from those devices, the comfort and ease of use of iTunes, and with it the AppStore. I think it may come down to a similar situation we saw with PSWii/Wii60 effect, where you had people with a PS3 buy a Wii, and others with 360s with a Wii… but not all three. So I think the likely situation will be that gamers will pick one of the other, but they will always have an iDevice with them too. So, either way Apple isn’t going anywhere in this handheld gaming space… and one they seemingly fell into by accident.
