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Topic: Should all handhelds in future have a cell phone built in?

Posts 41 to 60 of 73

Kid_A

I say no, especially not for Nintendo. The minute they take their focus off of games and start adding on extra frills to their systems is the minute they'll start falling behind the handheld market.

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salty1264

Kid_A wrote:

I say no, especially not for Nintendo. The minute they take their focus off of games and start adding on extra frills to their systems is the minute they'll start falling behind the handheld market.

i would say yes but not anymore you have a good point

have a wii,dsi, gba and gcn but getting a 3ds and ps3. my fave game of alltime for all systems is black ops on wii

Kid_A

salty1264 wrote:

Kid_A wrote:

I say no, especially not for Nintendo. The minute they take their focus off of games and start adding on extra frills to their systems is the minute they'll start falling behind the handheld market.

i would say yes but not anymore you have a good point

Thanks. Yeah this happens pretty much every new handheld generation. Company A's handheld can do this! Company B's handheld can do that! And then Nintendo comes along and says, "yeah but we've got Mario, Zelda and Metroid." And they sell a crap-ton of units.

Yes, Apple is a definite competitor, and I think Nintendo could learn a lot from them (mostly from the streamlined app-store interface and the fast internet) but the difference is, the iPhone's focus isn't gaming. And as long as Nintendo's focus is I'll pick them every time.

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Mach-X

Normally I would have said no, I prefer my handheld game system and phone to be seperate devices, much as I do my phone and pmp. Why do i say that? I want the best each has to offer, not a 'jack of all trades, master of none' idea. But after seeing new phones such as the motorola backflip I wonder if taking the basic shape of a DS lite, slapping a 1ghz arm in it and putting a phone and extra screen on the front wouldn't work? What do you guys think? the 'Nintendo 3DS Talk'?
Nah. But I DO like the direction the PSP took, being basically a ps2 capable handheld but you can connect it via component cables to play. How much longer will set top game systems need to be gargantuan units with noisy fans in them? When will the game system and controller merge a la PSP I wonder?

Edited on by Mach-X

Mach-X

Bankai

'jack of all trades, master of none'

I agree with this. No one wants a half-rate of a million things.

But then the reason Apple is so dangerous is that it's actually very good at everything. the iPhone (and even moreso, the iPad) is an excellent gaming device.

metakirbyknight

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that if a console is a phone, it can be a lot more expensive.

The iPhone 4 costs $599, but you sign a contract. When you sign the contract, you agree to use the phone and AT&T's service for 2 years in exchange for a $400 discount. Theoretically, Nintendo could create a $600 console, and all we'd pay for it would be $200 (unless you're me and you buy all your phones unlocked).

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Ravage

Mach-X wrote:

But I DO like the direction the PSP took, being basically a ps2 capable handheld but you can connect it via component cables to play. How much longer will set top game systems need to be gargantuan units with noisy fans in them? When will the game system and controller merge a la PSP I wonder?

That will never happen as long as we want better graphics and don't want to burn our hands in the process. Oh, and of course, some people can't play games on small screens; happens to a lot of people as they get older. Strains the eyes too much and it would be much worse with really fine details. Heck, I know a few of people who can't watch some video games since the gamecube era without getting a headache. Also, if it were possible without burning our hands, the consoles would probably need to be liquid nitrogen cooled.

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The DSi can be used as a Web cam...
Why do we need phones?

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DavynD

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

"Casual gamers" want phones that have games on them. Gamers want dedicated game systems. 'Nuff said.

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TheChosen

No, and I hope never will be. Lets keep phones as phones and portable consoles as gaming devices.

And if you really want to go there and add a phone, why not take an extra mile and add a knife, saw, corkscrew, GPS, self-destruct system and other useful features normally not seen on portable gaming device?

TheChosen

LzWinky

WaltzElf wrote:

lz2010 wrote:

What ever happened to just having a phone?

If I applied that philosophy, I would walk around with a laptop and 3G dongle, phone, folder of documents, camera, games console, e-reader and MP3 player.

That would be very inconvenient and heavy. I use all of the devices above for work or play.

But on the road I only need my iPhone to get decent enough functionality of all those to get by until I can get back into the office/ home.

Well we'll see about that once you drop it on soft carpet and break the screen!!

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Bass_X0

"Casual gamers" want phones that have games on them. Gamers want dedicated game systems. 'Nuff said.

And yet more "casual gamers" are buying phones and playing games on them than gamers are buying dedicated game systems.

The smart money goes into keeping up with the changing trends.

If the idea behind the Wii was for a handheld instead, it too would have a phone in it as a gimmick to pull in casual gamers. The XBOX 360 and PS3 are the dedicated game systems that gamers go for.

Edited on by Bass_X0

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theblackdragon

lz2010 wrote:

WaltzElf wrote:

lz2010 wrote:

What ever happened to just having a phone?

If I applied that philosophy, I would walk around with a laptop and 3G dongle, phone, folder of documents, camera, games console, e-reader and MP3 player.

That would be very inconvenient and heavy. I use all of the devices above for work or play.

But on the road I only need my iPhone to get decent enough functionality of all those to get by until I can get back into the office/ home.

Well we'll see about that once you drop it on soft carpet and break the screen!!

this for srs... i've seen so many broken iPhone screens hahaha. or try having a defect show up inside of it where the metal expands with use/age and the contacts start separating from the motherboard inside. that happened to my mentor's iPhone, it really sucks because it shuts off half the time we try to use it just for Pandora, lol -- forget being able to talk on it :3

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irken004

I'd rather not have cell phone support in my handheld gaming devices. It'd jack the price up and give possibilities to cell phone subscriptions. Not to mention, I don't like cell phones

RoyalBlur

Kid_A wrote:

I say no, especially not for Nintendo. The minute they take their focus off of games and start adding on extra frills to their systems is the minute they'll start falling behind the handheld market.

I agree. I don't want to see Nintendo go and attempt to make their handhelds a "Swiss-knife" kind of device. I appreciate Nintendo attempting to emulate the iTunes and Apple app store with their new virtual Nintendo store for the 3DS in order to provide a better experience for users. Yet, I don't want to see the combination of a phone and a gaming device in one. I like the 3DS and iPhone the way they are. Suppose someone wants a gaming device without a monthly phone fee?

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Bankai

lz2010 wrote:

WaltzElf wrote:

lz2010 wrote:

What ever happened to just having a phone?

If I applied that philosophy, I would walk around with a laptop and 3G dongle, phone, folder of documents, camera, games console, e-reader and MP3 player.

That would be very inconvenient and heavy. I use all of the devices above for work or play.

But on the road I only need my iPhone to get decent enough functionality of all those to get by until I can get back into the office/ home.

Well we'll see about that once you drop it on soft carpet and break the screen!!

I have dropped it, and it didn't break. Which is the first time I've dropped one of my devices in years.

If you look after your stuff, then you're not usually going to have a problem. I know a lot of people who have iPhones, and of those, only one has had any problems with it.

Funky_Gamer

Phones these days aren't even phones. The "phone" feature is just one of the many (unless you have a really old phone from back in the day like me!).

But I say no, I don't want to pay a monthly fee or something for having a phone that I parely ever use. And can you imagine always carrying that thing around, and talking on it...

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Bass_X0

With the release of the 3DS soon, isn't there anyone who would also like to be able to do the things on the 3DS that you can do on the iPad? I'm seeing complaints that the 3DS is too expensive for a handheld that can only play games and nothing more.

Would the people who was against a phone being included in Nintendo handhelds earlier in this topic rather own both a 3DS and an iPad as well instead of combining the best of both worlds in one portable handheld?

Edited on by Bass_X0

Edgey, Gumshoe, Godot, Sissel, Larry, then Mia, Franziska, Maggie, Kay and Lynne.

I'm throwing my money at the screen but nothing happens!

Magi

Yes. The fewer devices I have to carry or keep track of the better.

Imagine this example with an imaginary future NintendoSoft Station (etc) xDS portable gaming system:
1. Physical dimension of the old Phat DS, the 3DS, or even the NGP.
2. Add the normal gaming capacity that these machines currently enjoy.
3. Add cell phone technology and couple it with voice activation and Blue Tooth. In these days of Blue Tooth connectivity, there is no reason why you would have to hold this "gaming device" thing up to your ear. That's just silly archaic thinking. Voice activation will allow you to "Dial Mom" or "Call 555-555-5555" or even "Find local McDonalds". How about writing an e-mail too. The possibilities are endless and this technology is available right now.
4. Add a dual "Kinect type" camera system to the bottom edge so you can place this this thing flat on a desk or table and the cameras create a sort of "virtual keyboard" that you can use to type on. Keystrokes might be shown on the bottom screen of the device itself. Alternatively, add a usb/ir/blue tooth/etc port where you can use one of those "roll out" keyboards that roll up to the size of a can of Cambell's soup (or fold into a pants pocket, etc)
5. Have a camera facing the user (with face tracking) as well as a camera on the outside to take pictures. This allows video conferencing.
6. Have a mini-projector built into it while it's open so it can project a monitor-quality picture if you'd like something larger than the top screen of the device itself.
7. Throw in mp3 support and a decent piece of music playing software.
8. Add several user-friendly applications such as some sort of Office software (device-based or cloud-based), operating system, web browser, access to a game service, etc.
9. Allow the use of removable media AND cloud-based storage.
10. WiFi and some sort of Broadband service.
11. Sell it two ways: "unlocked" so that you can bring it to whatever cell phone carrier you'd like (providing they support the phones technology) or allow carries to sell it to consumers and subsidize it through a contract.
12. Enough processing power to handle all these things. Dual Snapdragons or something better as an example. (I'm out of the loop on processors; use your imagination)

The only two issues I see are:
1. Cost. Keep in mind this device would actually remove the need for some of the other devices (mp3 player, gaming console, netbook/laptop/desktop, cell phone, etc so you'd potentially be saving money.
2. Battery life. With current battery technologies, all this just isn't feasible afaik, but technology is improving all the time.

Maybe I should have posted this in my "what should future handhelds look like" thread...

(edit: sorry for the wall of text. I find the notion of a device like this very exciting so I was happy to type my heart out)

Edited on by Magi

Magi

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