Ultima creator speculates that consoles are doomed...

[Rostum]

I think you're confusing the scope of this thread. We're not talking about Trion Worlds and CCP. We're talking about Rovio, Funzio, and the hordes of wanna-bes and imitators that outnumber them 10,000:1. If your definition of a real indie developer is one who's making money then I think we got some problems here. And yes, Vivi, a lot of talent from the big pubs are going independent, but a lot of those companies are facing just as harsh economic times, laying off employees and closing their doors.

Real indie developers are ones that aren't imitating, they're the ones inovating on the platform or providing incredibly polished products. Whether they make a lot of money or not isn't the main issue, but it helps to keep them alive so that they can create more content. Maybe I wasn't clear, but it doesn't seem like you understood me completely.

A lot of talent from bigger studios aren't being laid off. They are willingly getting away from the environment and starting their own.

I've seen a lot of Cut the Rope. I've heard a lot about Cut the Rope. BUT HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NO I haven't played cut the rope. Why would I? I already have 28 addicting puzzle games on New Super Mario Bros. for the DS and I wouldn't be surprised if each and every one of them control a lot better with the stylus.

So because you have 28 puzzle games somewhere else, you wouldn't even consider playing a highly polished and great brain teaser for only 0.99c? I believe you have an Android, so they should have it on there. I suggest just giving it a go. It starts out easy but it gets harder if you want to get three stars in each level (25 levels per world, and comes with around 10 worlds that they are constantly expanding upon). Honestly, it doesn't sound like you've seen or heard much about it at all. Just that you like to close your eyes, cover your ears, and scream. I am a real gamer, and I like Cut the Rope.

And no, not everything needs to be a 60+ hour AAA online experience. But I know another title you can pick up and play for five minutes, or an hour. Valkyria Chronicles II is a 60+ hour, maybe AA experience with competitive and co-op multiplayer modes, music by one of the best composers in gaming, and an ending that will probably get you choked up. And it's only the PSP. How could smartphones ever hope to have a shot at taking the 70+ million people who bought one? (Ok, that's an exaggeration, I'm sure a lot of them have actually moved over, but you see my point.)

edit: that 5 minute experience actually applies to ALL my handheld games. These things have sleep mode! The PSP even saves your game if the battery dies. I play Dragon Quest or Pokemon for a few minutes on my shuttle back and forth from school. Sometimes I check my Facebook or gaming news instead. I like my smart phone a lot actually, it's just a bottom of the barrel option for gaming.

But that's the elitist vibe that I get from you.

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at here anyway. What I was saying was that you can potentially get the same quality and quantity of games on a smartphone as their technology is constantly getting better and the market is there for it. Whilst you already have big publishers seeing the potential of the platform such as EA and Square Enix just as an example, you still have the guys at Nintendo and Sony closely looking at this emerging platform.

There's already signs of great games and ports coming to the platform, and there's already a lot of high quality - just as high as other handhelds - on there, despite if you personally like them or not. Keep in mind if you don't like a lot of the high quality games, or they don't interest you, it doesn't mean the majority feel the same way and that's what I'm discussing. I'm not saying I love all the games on my iPhone, I'm saying that all signs point to it continually growing at a rapid rate as a viable handheld gaming device.

The problem is that the hardware is not very well designed to facilitate playing a lot of games. I don't mean processing power, I mean the physical makeup of the machine.

This.

Whilst there are hardware add-ons you can get that could negate the issue, I'll agree. But that's not to say in the near future it will be a problem. When these hardware add-ons get better, the whole 'touch-control' issue won't be an issue at all.