

Does Apple's iPhone OS 'Game Center' Threaten Nintendo? - anderzole
http://www.pcworld.com/article/193831/does_apples_iphone_os_game_center_threaten_nintendo.html/

======
Mark_B
Until an iPhone can provide the tactile satisfaction of pressing buttons or
the current generation of gamers prefers a touch interface, IMO, no. Pardon
the pun, but iPhone vs. Nintendo gaming is like comparing Apples to Oranges.

~~~
roc
Touch-screens can be a serious threat, even without directly replacing all
things a traditional handheld is good at. It just needs to reduce the argument
for a dedicated gaming device, by providing enough games that the DS' audience
enjoys.

Touch Screens are no good for a MegaMan. But games on the order of Cooking
Mama, Nintendogs, Brain Age, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Harvest Moon, etc --
these make up a huge slice of the DS' most-popular titles. And they don't need
buttons.

~~~
nickelplate
I think that as long as Mario and Zelda will require buttons, Nintendo will be
safe.

~~~
roc
Safe, certainly. But potentially finding themselves moving significantly less
product to significantly fewer users.

Consider the home console situation: The PS2 had its run of the console
business. But the PS3 is struggling to expand out of the core gamer niche.
Sony's 'safe' in that the MGS, God of War and Final Fantasy fans aren't going
anywhere. But the more-numerous, more-casual gamers, even the gamers who had
PS2s and bought God of War, bought Wiis instead.

And the Wii does enough games well enough that it's harder to convince them to
buy the PS3 and God of War 3, even though they know they'll never get a game
quite like GoW3 on their Wii.

------
jlgosse
Gaming on the iPhone is nothing like gaming on the DS. The DS provides
multiple interfaces (touch input via stylus, tactile game pad) for gaming. The
DS is far cheaper. The battery lasts longer on the DS. The DS has better,
fuller games, which won't tire you out after 20 minutes of playing.

iPhone is better for super casual gaming. 20 minutes while commuting. Sitting
on the couch during a commercial.

Both have their merits, but the iPhone doesn't necessarily threaten Nintendo

------
yanowitz
No, but it sucks to be OpenFeint at this moment, or so I imagine...

------
alilja
If the iPhone was going to threaten Nintendo, it would have done it already.
Game Center-like backends are hardly uncommon on it. OpenFeint has been around
for a long time, and it's pretty prevalent.

