While I won't be a dick and be like "Andy, you're wrong and dumb," I just know that I'm like Zach: iOS/Android games will never be anything more than a dalliance for me. The only thing it replaced my 3DS/DS/Vita for is when I have like five minutes to kill while waiting for something, and even then, I usually don't play it.


The landscape is interesting, but ultimately, I'm fine with 3DS retail/eShop, even if I might be paying a little more for eShop games. I don't mind paying for things when I know there's a certain expectation of quality. Not saying all iOS/Android games are shit, but there's a sea of crap with a top crust that can be hard to find.

I'll remind you of that when it's April 2013 and there hasn't been an eShop release to be excited about in a month and a half.

This editorial isn't about the pricing structure of iOS/eShop games, nor is it trying to deny the sea of crap that exists on the App Store.  It's merely a cry for Nintendo to find the great games that ARE there and do what they can to bring those experiences to the 3DS.  I promise you that if any of the above games were on the eShop, you'd be in love with them.  The fact that they're on the iOS platform colors your judgment more than you'd like to admit.

Hero Academy is the best game on iOS, hands down. It is really deep. I've been playing it since it came out in December, on an almost daily basis. It's that good.

I like buttons. If there was an iPhone with buttons (or Picross 3D), then my judgement wouldn't be colored.

I'm sure that game is great (it sounds it), but I have very little interest in playing it on an iOS device. I don't doubt that I'd like it if it was on eShop...because it'd probably use buttons and/or a stylus.


EDIT:


And on a side note, most iOS developers likely aren't interested in eShop, purely because of the cost and reach. Simply put, development on 3DS (and all Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft systems) is more costly. Should Nintendo fix that? Yea, probably, but until stocks are rock bottom, it's likely not in any of those company's best interest to do so.


Nintendo could court developers, but one shining example of Team Meat and Super Meat Boy comes to mind. Nintendo courted them, and then they went and made a game that couldn't fit on the service.

The editorial isn't even about which device is better to game on - I like buttons too.  It's simply a statement that there are great games on that platform that Nintendo should be bending over backwards to bring to 3DS.  If they want to cultivate a great library of indie games, they should be going out of their way to get these games onto 3DS.  If Bird Mania 3D can make it onto 3DS, then don't tell me there's no room for those games on the eShop.

As for Team Meat, I think Nintendo should be learning from that situation, and one could argue that the flexibility of the eShop indicates they have.  Unfortunately we missed the boat on Super Meat Boy.  How many more boats do we have to miss?

Bird Mania 3D is brilliant, one of the best games on the eShop, and to me that is the same style of game one might play on iOS, and priced as cheaply as possible for 3DS games.

I mentioned buttons because you said my judgement was colored because it's an iOS game. That's why it is colored. Slap a D-pad and some buttons onto an iPod and I'd be way more interested.

I guess I just don't see Nintendo bending over backwards for these games, which is why I remain ambivalent about this idea. I don't think the 3DS will ever have free-to-play. The lowest price it goes to in $1.99. There's a disparity between the two environments. Also, as have been proven time and time again, Nintendo is a bit incompetent in the download realm. They show signs of getting it, but I don't see them going out and courting iOS devs.

Bird Mania 3D made it because Teyon (I think that's who made it) has been developing games for Nintendo portables since the early DSiWare days.

I recognize there are some great games out there that would be wonderful on the eShop. I just don't feel like I'm missing too much in the grand scheme of things. Then again, I play my 3DS a whole helluva lot, so maybe I'm just a different gamer than you.

Buttons or no buttons: I get to sample a lot of the PS Minis that are ports of iOS games, getting them for free PSN+. They use buttons. And they're still crappy. I usually uninstall them after a few minutes, same as every iOS game I've tried.

I don't think there is any truth to the idea that if only these games were on a Nintendo system, we'd suddenly see their brilliance.

If I have enough time to play a game, I pull out the 3DS and play a proper game. If I just want to dick around, I pull out the iPhone and go on twitter.

My problem with highly praised iOS games like Tiny Tower and Jetpack Joyride isn't the lack of buttons or the fact that they're on a phone. It's their crappy game design.

There's a difference between games meant to be full price and games meant to be $0-$15.  Sometimes that line is blurred, but no one expects to pay $40 for Tiny Wings, and nobody expects to pay $5 for New Super Mario Bros. 2. 

If you don't like any games you've played that fall into the $0-$15 category, that's your preference, but there are lots and lots of people that find value in these smaller game experiences, and it's not just because they're dirt cheap (although certainly their exposure increases because of that price point).  I didn't sink 15 hours into Tiny Wings because it's cheap... once I've paid for the game, the price at that point is irrelevant.  StrikerObi and I don't still play Hero Academy because it was cheap; we keep playing it because it's a deep experience with high replayability, and on top of that it's a social experience.

There are a lot of games I like in the $0-$15 range. Most of them are on 3DS and Vita, though. And I've never been much of an online multiplayer guy (async or not), so that aspect doesn't appeal to me.

Most of these games, regardless of platform, don't appeal to me. It's like Gui said...

I don't have anything against people who enjoy those games, it's their right. I was merely replying to the implication that the people who turn their nose up on iOS games do so because of the platform they're on. Sure, the possibility that it plays some part is possible, but it's more than that. In most cases, the platform they were made for informed their design. You can remove them from that platform and play them on another system, but they still will retain that element, whatever it is, that repels some of us.

In the end, I was just trying to say what you said : "If you don't like any games you've played that fall into the $0-$15 category, that's your preference". Yes, yes it is.

Disregarding preferences for a minute, if Nintendo wants to make the eShop a platform worth paying attention to, they should take games that have sold millions of copies, and get those games on their system.  Every day that goes by where Angry Birds is not on 3DS is another day where the eShop is a second-tier digital platform.  Like it or not, Angry Birds is a worldwide phenomenon, and Nintendo should have convinced Roxio to get it on their platform a long time ago.  It makes business sense.

Until then, the eShop is what it is: a platform for Nintendo fans who were going to buy a 3DS anyways to get a small amount of new content from time to time.  It could be so much more. 

Angry Birds, as far as I know, has just been tied up in something for a while. I believe there was a DS version discussed a while back.

The Trilogy compilation coming to 3DS/PS3/360 this fall answers that: Activision is publishing it. So...that's not Nintendo's fault that Rovio went to Activision to get the game on more platforms.

I believe there's a trilogy of Angry Birds titles coming to retail, which just proves that all parties involved are missing the point... no one wants to pay more for reskinned versions of the same game on a cartridge. 

No, this one doesn't fall on Nintendo entirely, but they still should be more proactive in getting games like Angry Birds onto their platform.  They've been successful in some cases - Cut the Rope being one example.  That game did really well on iPhone, but I have no idea how it did on DSiWare.  Probably not as well as on iPhone, but did it do well compared to MyNotebook Tan or Amoebattle?  I'm genuinely curious.

What I'm really getting at here is that Apple is eating Nintendo's eShop lunch, and Nintendo doesn't seem interested in stopping them from doing it.  I know that they don't want to get into the price war that Apple encourages, but there are plenty more steps they could be doing to compete, especially now that they have a decent front end with the eShop. 

Do people buy iPhones and iPads in order to play Angry Birds? If so, I believe they are in the minority and it's the other way around: people buy Angry Birds because they have an iPhone.

As such, I don't think putting Angry Birds on the eShop would change the fact that the only people visiting it are Nintendo fans who were going to buy a 3DS anyway.

People do buy 3DSes for Mario, though. And Nintendo is putting Mario on the eShop. Don't you think that's a much bigger and more effective move to promote their eShop at this point than putting Angry Birds on the eShop today would?

It's a NECESSARY move, but why does it have to be one or the other?  It's not an either/or situation.  There are popular games out there on other platforms with proven audiences.  They should attempt to get those games on their platform.  It's true of Castlevania and Street Fighter, and it's true of these indie games as well.


That is, unless Nintendo is happy being known as the Mario Box.

Meh.  Personally, I enjoy a lot of cheap and novel video game experiences... but usually that means games in the $5-10 range.  Once you start going under $5 (which means the majority of iOS releases) the quality and depth that I want becomes much harder to find.


That doesn't mean it's not present though. There are some amazing games on iOS.  One thing that I'm insanely jealous of are the board game ports that get brought over. Stuff like Ticket to Ride and Ghost Stores, San Juan and Tigris & Euphrates, Ascension and Summoner Wars and Forbidden Island. These are all well-received board games where the design challenge is largely taken care of and all iOS developers need to worry about is a good user interface and providing a solid feature set for connecting with other players.  They are also great bite-sized experiences in most cases and incredibly cheap.


Would I be happy to see Nintendo pursue some of these titles, or other strong iOS games, for their handheld?  You bet!  But I'm not holding my breath. Developing for 3DS takes more time and incurs more expense.  The ability to quickly turn around software updates or develop on the cheap isn't there right now... and there is also added red tape and expense from outside sources (such as ESRB). Beyond that, the market of 3DS owners is much smaller, so niche titles like board game conversions that might draw reasonable sales from the large iOS install base would likely suffer.


Poaching apps sounds like a good idea, but I don't think it will work in practice. At least not most of the time.

Andy, you're wrong and dumb.

Don't worry ShyGuy, it's all a dream.

I'm all for anything that puts more Tower Defenses on Nintendo systems.

I think Cut the Rope is the 10th best selling download of all time on the EU eShop. At 5€ a pop, that's a lot of profit for the developers.

Sorry, Plants Vs. Zombies is the 10th best selling download, Cut the Rope is 17th. At the prices they're at, that's not bad.

Plants vs. Zombies is another iOS transplant (although technically it's a port of the PC game, but it achieved success on iOS before it did so on the eShop).

Fascinating discussion.

For what it's worth, one of the higher-ups at Level-5 called Army of Darkness: Defense (iOS) one of his top titles of last year. And it's the few iOS games I still play.

Andy's comment makes sense, that Nintendo should be plucking the cream from the App Store and getting their games on the eShop, but too many of the games were built with the platform in mind (like Gui says), and the price comparison would immediately look bad (Cut the Rope seems overpriced at 5 bucks even if that's a fair ask for a great game). I think Nintendo knows it has to strike out on its own and get exclusive games since few would pay 5 or 10 bucks when they know they could spend 99 cents elsewhere.

Wish there was a better compromise, since I much prefer playing games on 3DS to my iTouch, and I know there's some gems on the App Store that I willfully ignore because of the platform and my own playing habits. This discussion (the larger, cultural one) will be going on for some time, I bet.