Famicom Dojo Podcast: iOS Ascendant

http://games.on.net/article/13193/Trouble_at_Gameloft_Auckland_Developer_Blows_Whistle_on_120-Hour_Weeks_Dangerous_ConditionsWhy I don’t buy Gameloft games. As a CS student graduating next year, their practices are downright evil. All their designs are pure copies, they get junior developers, pay them little and work them into the ground. Zynga makes questionable games, but at least they treat their employees well, gameloft is far worse in my opinion.

I have finally caved in and got a smartphone, and I must admit that I haven’t touched my ds since..  The best thing about portable gaming on a smartphone is that it is accessible. The dedicated portable devices are just not.  If I know I am going to be taking the bus everyday, I can *bring* the ds with me, but it’s not the same as being able to have it with me all the time just in case there’s a line at the supermarket or my wife wants to try on clothes at the mall or something.
 
I think that you generally can’t play “serious” games very well with the control scheme, but generally, if I have time to spend on a serious game it will be at home.
 
I laughed a bit at your “fair price” for games.  The fact is, when you are dealing with software only, there is no per unit manufacturing cost, and if you know what you are doing, your “fair price” should be whatever price point will get you the most revenue.  I think the people who hold onto certain price points because they think the game “should be worth” that much are still using the old business models that rely on per unit production cost being a factor and are doomed to fail, or at least do less well than they would if they let go of those old models.  Regardless of your up front cost, selling 1000 copies at 5$ makes you more money than selling 99 at 50$.
 
There seems to me to be a bit of a disconnect in this podcast, though.  All the “Iphone is taking over” and junk only applies to portable gaming.  It’s not the same thing as saying dedicated gaming devices is going away.  Portable gaming is really a completely different experience than home gaming, and I haven’t seen anything to make me think home gaming is in any sort of danger from smartphones regardless of how badly they are going to slaughter the portable gaming market 🙂