Casual Gaming CEO Says iPhone “Freaking Out” Sony and Nintendo
A few years ago the trash talking and constant speculation about whose gaming system was superior was limited to consoles. The Nintendo DS and PSP had for the most part kept to their own audiences, releasing games and brightening the commutes/lines of gamers everywhere. Recently a self proclaimed competitor has arrived and has ushered in a whole new wave of inflammatory statements.
If you hadn’t guessed I’m talking about the iPhone (and iPod Touch). Since Apple launched the device and its App store they’ve been saying that the handheld will eventually push both Sony and Nintendo out of the portable gaming market. Now another company is jumping in on Apple’s side. Digital Chocolate’s CEO Trip Hawkins has said that the iPhone is more than capable of challenging the DS and PSP and says that he thinks the unit is “freaking out” Sony and Nintendo since it has “ only penetrated one half of one percent of its total market.” However with some simple calculations given the 30 million iPhones sold he’s including the more than six billion people on the planet as possible iPhone buyers.
Unfortunately as with everyone proclaiming the iPhone as the doom of all other handhelds, he’s neglecting the fact that the lack of buttons limits the number of possible control schemes, thus limiting the possible range of games. The games offered on the Apple App store are just too simple to hold the attention of serious gamers for long. We thirst for strategy, complexity and storylines, not another block breaker game.