The Video Game Critic

Glad to have you back, Steer. I missed your posts. I'm not being sarcastic either. Whether you think he's trolling or being a fanboy or not, you have to admit, his posts are always entertaining.

Not sure about the rest of the world,but "Simpsons:Tapped Out" has pretty much taken over my life.A review I read said " life ruiningly fun!". Very true. Its an A+ free app,and I play it for hours every day. I agree that most tablet games are short term garbage,but you get your angry birds,temple runs (which I think is a little overrated) and simpsons often enough that it will balance out. There will be a lot less,but they will be better. I think free versions are soon going to get less and less content,forcing you to pay.

Played some tablet games on an ipad mini for a while today :

PAC MAN - free - we just had the 'tablets are the new arcades' argument, but I do not buy it. The game is the same, except - controls. The touch control stick was unbearable, I literally could not beat the first level. The frustration was terrible. The motion tilt control option was equally bad. NO ONE WOULD LOVE PAC MAN TODAY IF THE ORIGINAL GAME HAD THESE CONTROLS!

Angry Birds - free - the most famous phone/tablet game, I get bored fast. Too slow to watch crap fall, controls again seem unprecise with a finger to aim.

Candy Crush - free - I have a hard time understanding the strategy here. Its a 'match 3  types' game, but the gameplay seems random. Unlike Tetris Attack, every move you have to make a match, so you cannot set up 5 piece combos. Just seemed really superficial, maybe I missed something?

Sonic - free - this is the first few levels I guess of a Sonic game with Tails I think. Controls were very bad, it was impossible to get into. Sure it looked nice, played terrible, I gave up fast.

Stupid Zombies - free -  this was more fun than Angry Birds because gameplay is faster, the bullets bounce around the stage and obstacles to kill the Zombies. That's about it. I enjoyed it a bit for about 10 minutes, doubt I will boot it up again.

Anyway, Nintendo probably should have made a tablet/controller hybrid like WiiU or even bigger instead of the 3DS, but I am sure glad I have a 3DS and not that tablet. I think Apple is arrogant not to release any iproduct without any decent control input at all, but I am glad they have not just the same, they are a monster already and have truly dumbed down gaming and are the kings of poor control and terrible software distribution.

It amazes me how much crap Nintendo got with Wii and DS about supposedly having those faults, and yet Nintendo makes excellent, challenging software and makes great controllers and implements them and their functions well.  Nothing but praise for Apple though, no  logic or consistency to it at all.

Nintendo I think will eventually have to bow down and make strides toward the Apple pricing model, but if they are smart they will do it on their own hardware. Nintendo should keep making tight arcade games with no frills on story and focus solely on game design and multiplayer. Especially with franchises like Mario (which is not bad) and Zelda (which needs reform.)

Don't think we are going to agree on this Segatarious but I ask you to objectively try the following games on a touchscreen tablet/phone:

Infinity Blade
Rat on the Run
Alive 4 Ever
Dragons Lair
Broken Sword 1&2

If you don't find at least 2 or 3 of them awesome with no major control issues then I will eat my hat!

I agree with Segatarious actually, i've tried numerous tablet games and got bored within 5 minutes with all of them, the controls are just too akward for me, I need a REAL controller to play games,  keypads and touch screens just don't cut it for me.

I am currently playing Star Ocean via the Snes9x emulator on my Nexus 7.  I will then play Mario RPG on it.  I will then play Secret of Mana on it.  Tablet gaming is at a perfect state.

Another thought on Tablets / Smart Phones.  

As families move from their first tablet /smart phone, to the next, what happens to the old one?  Unlike older phones, smart phones have value even if they are no longer phones.  They have WiFi for internet where available, are ipods, are personal movie players, and of course, play games - all sorts!   While my wife traded in hers, she got a (measly) $15 from Verizon for it.  I kept my old smart phone when I upgraded, and now the old one is great for kids in the car to entertain them.  Is it a replacement for a 3DS?  Its certainly choices people will make in the years to come -- give the kid the thing that is worth $15 and plays movies, music and games - for the price of a single 3DS game you can load up that old phone with a ton of fun games, especially educational stuff that would never be profitable on a Nintendo unit.  For another $20 I got a gamepad that holds the smartphone on top in Landscape.  Now you even have classic controls to go with games.  And if they drop it and break it,  or forget it somewhere, or it gets wet in the rain...it was old to begin with. 

Tablets up that ante even more. Families are used to passing on the older desktop to the kids room, then the older laptop, and in the future, the older tablet.  It can everything that phone can do, but bigger, and add in things like an e-book reader too.  That tablet is easily good competition for a 3DS in its grade (number of different funtions) , quality, and battery life.  The 3DS still has controls going for it, yes, but even with the poor success of the PS Vita so far (and they could change if it becomes linked to a PS4 ecology), there will be competition to our dear friends at the Big N, from hand-me-down tech.  

I love Nintendo, and handhelds are great not just for kids and travelling, but even for us adults (I do a lot of handheld gaming at night in bed, or while the kids are watching the tv).  Yet, smart phones and tablets (and e-book readers) compete for those occasions. All that is in addition to competition from excellent (if not nearly as sturdy) Dingoo-like devices that for the price of a single 3DS game can run all sorts of 8 and 16 bit emulation and capable and large brightly lit screens and solid controls.

Even if it isn't close to the original experience, Smartphones and Tablets make good emulation systems.

I have though a lot about this. I almost wonder if the convenience of playing directly on your phone will eventually lose steam and will take a back seat to the better play control of an actual portable. I know people that have specifically mentioned this to me. That after going crazy gaming on their phones they began to really miss having real buttons.

Another thing on mobile vs portable controls that I thought of when I read this:

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]What items in your collection do you cherish the most?... As far as games, I'd think I'd have to go with Steel Battalion, which comes with its own massive controller with 50+ buttons.  It's a marvel that I keep on display in my game room. [/QUOTE]

What does that specialized, expensive, massive controller for Steel Battalion remind you of?  Maybe an arcade machine? 

The arcades had a lot of advantages over home consoles, not the least were specialized high quality rugged controllers for each game.   Need a yoke, or a boatload of buttons, or a trackball, or whatever...the game would have it.   Yet, home consoles won that war, despite not having the better controllers.  Instead, games that did work well on what control schemes the home consoles did have prospered.