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Ah the mighty Apple. Currently over 100 million people worldwide own your shiny, high-tech device: The IPhone. From that 100 million over 15 billion apps have been sold on the iOS app store with more than half of that total being video games. These include the unbelievably popular Angry Birds which alone has racked up over 350 million downloads.
Many people believe that games like Angry Birds, Infinity Blade and many others could spell the end of the handheld era with many consumers ditching their pocket consoles for the IPhone.
With the 3DS having a stuttering start to its life and the Vita's high price and low battery life putting off many consumers, people are turning to the IPhone fulfill their handheld gaming needs; I will not be one of those people.
As a proud owner of a DSi (3DS is currently out of my price range) I currently enjoy playing Pokemon on long journeys or while on the toilet (don't judge me).
Handhelds have always been a part of my gaming life; I still remember conquering the Pokemon Blue Indigo League on my special Pikachu edition Game Boy Colour (I'm a big Pokemon fan if you haven't guessed).
Something about handhelds just clicked for me so much; having a console your hands opened up so many possibilities, a new dimension, a new way to enjoy video games. However now the new kid on the block is trying to destroy something that is very close to me.
One thing that shocks me so much is how many people turn to the IPhone despite it's lack of buttons. How you can truly enjoy a gaming experience without buttons is beyond me and yet somehow people find a way to have fun playing an FPS game without them.
To me the buttons are the key factor of a portable gaming device and without them it can't be called one.
Even despite the absence of this key feature, developers continue to be drawn to the IPhone. Companies like EA, Epic and id seem to favor the Apple device over Nintendo and Sony's handhelds; games like RAGE HD, Metal Gear Solid Touch, Call of Duty World at War (albeit zombies mode only) and just recently Grand Theft Auto 3 are available for download on the device which to me just seems like madness.
Having played the original GTA 3 on Playstation 2 I have no idea how the experience can be replicated without buttons, surely the game would be more at home on the 3DS which has the sufficient amount of buttons to recreate the experience that I had playing the game years ago.
But that's just me thinking out loud because I know their is no chance of the game coming out on the 3DS (a man can dream, can't he ?).
Though the IPhone may have these powerhouse developers behind it, one thing it will never have is the ability to absorb you into a game so much that you neglect your family and friends which is something that happened to me the first time I played Pokemon Sapphire on my Game Boy Advance.
I don't believe that anything that currently exists on the App Store can recreate the experiences that can be had on the current and future handheld consoles and I don't think that anything ever will.