Portable Gaming In The Future: Some Suggestions
It isn't even out in America yet and I'm already tired of the DS-i. Don't even get me started on the PSP-3000, and my iPod Touch is still only being touched to access music and videos. Handhelds may be hotter than ever right now, but in my humble opinion they've hit a rut. Not knowing when the next generation of handhelds is going to be released, I've created a list of five friendly suggestions the console manufacturers should take into account before investing research dollars into a new portable platform.
Hit the jump for my ideas.
When You Take a Picture, You Steal Someone's Soul!
I have about sixteen different devices that can take photographs. Sadly I'm neither a photographer nor a creepy hidden camera pervert so these functions are going to waste. Was anyone really clamoring for photo support on the DS? Remember when they had the Game Boy Camera and printer? Those were some quality products, grainy and small. If I want to take snapshots of my friends I'll use my digital camera, if I want quick pics of the cute guy walking his dog I'll use my cell phone. So please leave the camera functionality out, especially if it means adding something else in.
I've Got Some Bad Memories...
You know iPods are very small and yet have internal memory so I can keep my entire collection of High School Musical soundtracks, pictures, and videos with many gigs to spare? Well, why do I have to be plugging a 2GB memory stick into my PSP to even save a game. I am aware that even storing 512MB of info on a console is considered generous by Nintendo standards but it would be nice to see the ability to at least save games be available out of the box. The DS circumvents this currently by using cartridges, but the DS-i is back to SD cards for downloading games. Allow memory to be easily upgraded but take a page from Apple and include a good chunk of storage right from the get go.
Shovel Shovelware Into a Hole
This will never ever happen. With popular systems come hastily made games trying to cash in on the popularity. Though I maintain that Ninjabread Man is the unsung hero of modern gaming, I'd like to maybe see the handheld gaming section be populated with a bit more quality and a bit less quantity. Let's keep the fashion design games to a minimum, maybe 3 a generation?
Independence Day
XBLA and PSN are showing off some amazing indie games and I feel like the handheld market is being left in the cold. Replace the shovelware with games created by the community. With digital distribution growing in popularity, it is becoming more and more feasible for small game companies to release games on major platforms.
The Big Brother Program
The connectivity between handheld and home console has only be touched upon this generation. I'd like to see game makers create more than just bonus content for those with two versions of the same game, and instead go the route of SquareEnix's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series. Create games that are based around two consoles and don't just use the portable consoles to track stats or provide mini games. If you combine the DS and Wii, you're looking at three separate game screens that could all be utilized to mix and match different styles of gameplay. Think of it as The World Ends With You taken to the next level.
Those are five ideas I've come up with but the list is far from complete. Let me know what features you want to see included in portable gaming consoles and what features you'd like to see on the cutting room floor.
TheDoctor
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 5 November 2008
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: ds, handheld gaming, iphone, psp
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GTFO, lly.
I'd love to see tv output become a standard feature on the next wave of handhelds. I enjoy my portable gaming, But when I'm at home, Why should I Play on a Tiny Screen?
I'd also like to see Vibration support Built in. I know the DS Supports Rumble but its with an Add on. Game companies don't seem to want to go out of their way to Make games that rumble for it either. It's a pity too, Because the Trauma Center games are greatly improved with Vibration support.
Something I'd like to see dropped. That would have to be Partial-Multiplayer you get from one copy of the game. Being limited to the beginner tracks of Mario Kart is the pits. Having to buy another copy of Contra 4 to play multiplayer is Even Worse.
I have to highly disagree with your final idea. There are many, MANY gamers I know who would feel extremely put upon if a game that they wanted to play required them to have not one, but two relatively expensive systems- especially in this economy.
There is a reason there aren't many games that require the use of a handheld and a console- it limits the player base even further than simply making it with only one system in mind. With Wii peripherals you are not required to get them- they are simply there to highlight the experience if you choose to. The only successful games I can think of that require the use of relatively expensive peripherals is Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and they are anomalies, and also not nearly as expensive as being forced to buy a 130-300$ handheld to play with in conjunction to the 150$ Wii or the 300$ PS3.
Crystal Chronicles for the Gamecube is a perfect example in my mind of why it simply will not work- at least not well enough to appeal to game developers. The amount of extra crap I had to purchase to play that game was obscene, and to find someone else with the same stuff was practically impossible.
I guess I wasn't Exactly Clear on that last part. ^^; You should get as much Multiplayer as possible from just one cart. Thats why I mentioned Contra 4. It doesn't Allow Single Card play, Which couldn't have been that hard to do. Never needed to have two copies to play Contra before, Why now?
That Crystal Chronicles Defense though...egh. I can agree with the Having to buy Extra part being a pain, But only the part about the Extra Cables needed to play. That "I had to buy GBA's to play" Stuff is nonsense to me.