I have been thinking slightly differently to most of the doom and gloomers out there. While most are thinking that I-phone/pad and android gaming will spell the end of console gaming, I think the reality is very different.
The way I see it is that they will actually help console and PC gaming. How? By getting rid of all the devs and publishers who are only interested in making a quick buck off the back of the casual market. As they defect to flogging their wares on smartphones and tablets it clears up our market. Along with those developing the games, also the casual gamers disappear from our market thus taking their drivel with them.
Devs will be able to stop making games that have to be accessible to morons and go back to making games that don't hold your hand the whole way through. I mean seriously, before this gen of consoles games were soo much harder (or maybe I just didn't try hard enough?) did anyone complete Desert Strike on the Mega Drive (Genesis for the Americans)? I know I did, but it took me forever, and bucket loads of sweat and tears! I put so much effort into that my Dad took me shopping for a new game as a reward! Nowadays the only requirement to finish a game is time, not skill.
I don't want games to be overly difficult just for the sake of it though, I mean they are still supposed to be fun not frustrating. But at least give me a challenge! Killzone on the PS2 for example took me ages to finish, Killzone Liberation on the PSP was even harder! But KZ2, easy peasy and KZ3? There were moments of difficulty but nah, it wasn't that taxing. Even the COD games used to be hard, hard to believe considering they were the first games to have regenerating health! Something I hate in shooters but it is pretty much the standard now. I mean really, can anyone remember the last time they played a shooter where you're health didn't re generate just by hiding for a few seconds? At least in Bad Company 1 you had to inject yourself. The injection pens might have been infinite, but at least you had to do something other than hide behind cover for 5 seconds. Being on the brink of death brings new excitement to a game, always praying there will be a health pack in the next room, edge of the seat stuff.
There are a few games on the horizon which seem to be going back to the old school (Hard Reset being one) and I for one am quite happy about that. Old school is the new, new school?
It's not just about difficulty and hand holding though. The overall quality of games will improve too, story, graphics, new gameplay ideas the lot. It'll all be better without the butt loads of shovelware on our shelves and publishers who just want to milk old tired casual franchises. As they leave for the money mounds of smartphone gaming only the serious devs and pubs who actually care about creating a quality gaming experience will remain.
Anyway, what do you think? Is casual gaming leaving our market good for us the core gamers? I think it is. It might not be good for the money men in suits, but I'm not one of those I'm a gamer and from our side of the desk things are looking up.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
" The overall quality of games will improve too, story, graphics, new gameplay ideas the lot."
This might just be me, but I tend to find that casual games sometimes are more enjoyable in that regard.
Visuals (in the form of art design), catchy music, a whimsy story and a quirky gameplay idea. PopCap is/was good at making those kinds of games, and a lot of other casual games seem to have those qualities too.
As for games becoming difficult. It seems unlikely. Games appear to becoming highly-interactive movies, with the goal of entertaining the viewer instead of frustrating them with a challenge.
Online has become the arena for those that want a challenge... mostly because programming difficult AI is hard.
Overall, I'm not entirely sure if it's a good thing. The money men in suits kind of control the industry's direction, and if bigger money is made elsewhere, then that's where the focus will shift.
Console gaming currently enjoys dominance over PCs in that regard as the bigger console market means more big budget games. If mobile gaming takes off, then you can expect similar to consoles...
... on the flip-side, this also means that bigger publishers who can be blamed for the degeneration of modern games, would also be gone, and could leave room for smaller more passionate devs to make some 'real' good ole' fashion games. (Similar to what's happening on the PC, with relatively unknown dev groups rising to fame)
Kind of a far stretch, but I can dream, can't I?
No it is not. These smartphone games are taking us back to PS1 quality games or arcade games. We need progression like when each new gen comes out for consoles. Peeps that have not been gaming probably think those games are amazing but they dont even come close to the quality of current console games.
The PSV is progressing to console quality games which is a great thing for people who actually like to play games instead of playing games just to past the time by.
games are games, who gives a fuck