Why mobile (phone) gaming sucks

[Reisal]

http://iwantaclone.tumblr.com

It is because of the wanton cloning and copycats infesting both Android and Apple stores with sub-standard garbage.

[Jodwin]

Not because of this?

[Reisal]

That is another reason why, because of freemium games abusing the microtransactions and bullshit timers. Star Trek Trexels is also another example with what's wrong with mobile games.

[MFG38]

Yep. Too many clones of clones of clones on mobile devices nowadays.

[Kontra Kommando]

They need to make a real Civilization game for smart phones. Playing a game like Civ requires a lot of practice to get good at. I don't want to have to learn how to play some second rate clone.


Also, touchscreen sucks for gaming. But for a game like civ, it would probably work well. Has anyone else ever try to play Doom for iPhone? It sucks! Half the time you can't even see what's going on, because your figures are in the way. Companies need to go back to having a physical keyboard that slides out.

I have the galaxy note 3, and despite the fact that the screen is much larger; the gaming experience still sucks due to touch screen. I'm reduced to emulating board games for SNES.

[Maes]

Mr. Chris said:

It is because of the wanton cloning and copycats infesting both Android and Apple stores with sub-standard garbage.

Funny, that's the same impression you'd get at the time of the Video Game Crash of 1983 or the 90s FMV "games" fiasco, or even in the late 70s with that fuckton of Pong consoles and in general, whenever the "novelty" factor was involved ;-)

The technology changed, but the hopes of making an easy buck riding on the wave of (others') success, those remained a constant.

[Clonehunter]

Ew, clones.

[dew]

Kontra Kommando said:

They need to make a real Civilization game for smart phones. Playing a game like Civ requires a lot of practice to get good at.

Haha, no way. Civ is pretty easy even for first timers! Just don't go for the ridiculous difficulties that give AI opponents tanks in 100 BC. On the other hand, Master of Orion-type games with more emphasis on micro and diplomacy are properly hardcore and demanding.

[Doominator2]

Whats the big deal with flappy bird anyways?

[Gez]

"Flappy Fish: Float through the water like a bird"

Birds need to take water floating lessons from birds, now.

[fraggle]

Mr. Chris said:

It is because of the wanton cloning and copycats infesting both Android and Apple stores with sub-standard garbage.

That's probably an oversimplification. You should really ask yourself why there are so many unoriginal, derivative games.

Touch screens suck for gaming. Like, really, really suck. Id released Doom Classic for iOS but there don't seem to have been many other FPSes released for phones/tablets at all. Why? because touch screens suck. It's not just FPSes - touch screens suck for pretty much all genres of game. Even something like a classic platformer is difficult to pull off well. I've played through Sonic CD on my Android phone, and it was fun, but even after hours of adjusting the controls are always inferior to a real controller or keyboard with physical buttons you can press.

If you look at all the most successful mobile games - Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Temple Run or this new Flappy Bird thing - the distinguishing characteristic that they all have in common is that they're designed for touch screen controls. Usually they're incredibly dumbed down to an extent you'd never see on a console or PC game. They usually just involve something like tapping the screen at the right time.

The lack of decent controls means that while good games are in high demand, they're in short supply. It's hard to make something fun with such a limited, restricted environment. It doesn't surprise me at all that when someone occasionally does come up with an idea that works and sells, a hundred other people jump on the bandwagon with carbon copy clones. And not least because the few good games are usually so dumbed down and brain dead simple that they're easy to copy anyway.

I haven't even covered all the other things that are wrong with mobile gaming. Nobody wants to spend any money on apps so you end up with games that steal your personal information or deliberately cripple themselves with obnoxious microtransactions (see the video Jodwin linked to). Basically the entire field is a toxic cesspool of inane, dumbed down bullshit.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Future of Gaming™

[printz]

What about classic mobile phones, with 3rd party app download capability?

[Zed]

Another important factor is size. "Mobile" means it has to be small enough so it can be comfortable. And I think that takes away from the "immersion" you can experience with a 25" LCD and PC speakers. And of course, as has been said, the controls.

[Avoozl]

Phones really aren't meant for mobile gaming, handhelds like the 3DS and PSV (even though it flopped) were meant for mobile gaming, but they seem to be making the games too casual now though.

[Waffenak]

If I want to play games I play them properly on a pc or console bot on some handheld or mobile phone on wobbly bus trip. It looks autistic to succumb to your own world while using your phone, majority of people I see on planes, trains or busses are in their own world, not talking to each other live. They sometimes even communicate with their friends who are sitting next to them via phone which is utterly disgusting thing to think about.

[Belial]

The only games I find playable on my phone are simple tap/swipe stuff like Canabalt and Vector.

[geo]

Basically its just a way to get kids to buy shit and get $1,000s of dollars before their parents ever know. The first problem is giving your kid a phone. The second problem is not giving the kid's phone restrictions.

I think there's a class action lawsuit against Apple for it that's about to go to court.

Four years ago there was some fish game where a kid racked up $10,000 on his dad's credit card in a month.

[Reisal]

Updated title to reflect the actual conversation for the thread.

TL;DR phone gaming sucks. I reserve gaming for PC and less often a console.

[Fellowzdoomer]

Mobile gaming stinks due to no zdoom port :-(

[Nomad]

One of many reasons mobile phone gaming sucks. For the most part, capacitive touch screens are terrible for any kind of accuracy which is my main complaint: even many of the most successful games still suffer from bad responsiveness from the shitty touch controls. Plus everything Fraggle said.

[Csonicgo]

Dragonsbrethren said:

Future of Gaming™

This scares me. I've heard from dozens of people that Nintendo should put their games on smartphones, while indicating to me no clue of how the result would even play, or how the controls would work. They usually bring up some BS like "well there are stick on joystick things" or "I can bluetooth a controller".

Please. If they think someone is going to carry around a controller to play a game on a small device, they're freebasing.

[zap610]

Flappy bird is just a sfcave ripoff with Mario sprites. The only original thing is that someone had the idea to take a bunch of existing ideas and mash them up so good job I guess.

[Jodwin]

Csonicgo said:

This scares me. I've heard from dozens of people that Nintendo should put their games on smartphones, while indicating to me no clue of how the result would even play, or how the controls would work. They usually bring up some BS like "well there are stick on joystick things" or "I can bluetooth a controller".

Meanwhile, 3DS keeps selling really well invalidating anything those people are saying. The so-called phone gaming evangelists either know nothing about gaming whatsoever or are themselves invested in the business in one way or an other. Everyone should just ignore any bullshit they're spewing.

[dew]

GOG strikes back to fell the evil hydra. They offer the classic Dungeon Keeper for free this weekend. Eat shit and die, EA.

[Maes]

zap610 said:

The only original thing is that someone had the idea to take a bunch of existing ideas and mash them up so good job I guess.

Aaaaand surprise surprise, that's EXACTLY what many successful video games are. Behind every hugely commercially successful game, you can track down at least a couple of older attempts/original ideas, which however for several reasons were never as marketable or memorable, often simply because they belonged to a different genre and were long forgotten. Even the concept of manic button mashing is not new: it was a staple of "sports" games on home computers, arcades and consoles since forever.

Having a good idea and implementing it, as any video game publisher can tell you, is not even half the job. Being able to place it in an attractive package with a good balance of graphics, gameplay and a certain je ne sais quoi is what really separates an obscure original game from a commercial megahit. And what creates a lot of sore "losers" complaining of others "ripping them off".

[Guest Unregistered account]

Dragonsbrethren pointed out:
Future of Gaming™

I swear, if FPSes nowadays were made with proper level design and gameplay nods (like Doom's corpses not disappearing, which I find really irritating for some reason when the other games' just blink and "poof"), more would follow. We just need Doom 4 to fit those requirements...

[DaniJ]

Kontra Kommando said:

I have the galaxy note 3, and despite the fact that the screen is much larger; the gaming experience still sucks due to touch screen. I'm reduced to emulating board games for SNES.

Buy yourself a bluetooth joypad. Seriously. I own a Note 3 and I can assure you that it most certainly does not suck being able to play extremely responsive FPS games, with better than PS2 quality graphics, at a seconds' notice, wherever I happen to be.

I got this one (easily fits in my pocket):

[geo]

Is your pocket the size of a backpack? :-)

There are plenty of mobile gaming devices, mostly that 3DS that supposedly was a failure in the short term, but now has sold 43 million units.

Gentlemen, mobile gaming is not for us. It is for kids.

[DaniJ]

Heh. No they're pretty average size pockets. The footprint of the controller is little bigger than the phone itself. Pad in one, phone in the other. I forget I've even got it with me sometimes.

Mobile gaming suits me just fine, I don't waste my time on "one finger" games, theres more than enough proper games out there for a set up like that.