So I've been playing Phantom Brave. Last post I made I wasn't too eager about playing it. As of recent though, I'm hooked.

Holy Crap. I am enjoying the game a lot. I spent 5 hours on it today. I feel like I wasted the day.. But I was hungover so eh.
Either way. I 'm enjoying the game. A lot of grinding is involve. I'm actually enjoying it though.

Would this make me play other games similar? Probably not. I'll just stick to NIS america for the RPG games. I have FF tactics advanced but never could get into it. It was just slow for my taste. Unable to skip cut-scenes also made me hate it.

I'm almost through with Pokemon Diamond but my save file keeps corrupting so I've yet to actually beat it. I keep having to redo the fight with Cyrus....I'm literally thinking I'm going to have to not turn off my DS while I finish up this game -_-

The joys of a ds lite is to keep it on stand by.

Definitely just dug up my DS Lite with my R4 card. Let's hear it for piracy! I'm around three and a half hours into Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, and I've got Radiant Historia and Solatorobo on deck. Radiant Historia looks awesome, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I may like J-RPGs more in theory than in practice.

Have never really thought about getting a 3DS because 1) I don't care for 3D effects in movies, TV, or games. (I know you can turn the slider off, but still...), 2) The game library doesn't look like it's *quite* there yet. Still totally superior to the Vita, I just don't know what I'd actually buy. If I'm putting money into nostalgia, I'd get Sar Fox 64 - but I've already played it so many times, and the best part, the voice acting, has been re-done. Shame.

Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 are more of the same, Super Street Fighter IV looks great but is really a novelty, Kid Icarus seems like one of those games that's nice to have at launch, but after that....Layton and the Miracle Mask is a definite lock. Snake Eater is a no-go, I have the MGS HD Collection on my Xbox. Resident Evil and Nano Assault look pretty okay, but they're not killer apps for me. I should probably wait for Super Smash Bros to come out before seriously considering it. That, or a viable R4/piracy method.

Ugh. The thought of dedicated handheld systems makes me sick. Last year I would have written off the iOS/Android gaming platform, as I thought that people were blowing it out of proportion. However, I've come to realize that independent iOS/Android developers are doing something that the big guys aren't: innovating. When you download an iOS game (like Sword & Sworcery for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKHuK_lckb8), you get a [i]unique[/i] experience - a new experience. It's just.. fresh!

That's the problem with dedicated handheld systems. There is nothing new. No innovation, no forward thinking, no ideas. Just gimmicky, watered down versions of games on wasted hardware that we already have on major systems. The PS Vita has literally no games of substance that aren't iterations of a more fleshed out console game, and I have no clue what the 3DS is playing at. Young children and those people that just HAVE TO play the same Mario game for the tenth time I guess. IMO the only thing the Vita is good for is a catalyst for emulators. I assume those exist. The 3DS is pretty damn useless. One could argue that the 3DS could be a "Pokemon Machine", but there is currently no Pokemon game that is 3DS exclusive yet. A DS Lite or DSi are cheaper, more obvious alternatives.

At this point I'd say if you're looking for a handheld gaming experience that isn't stagnant, definitely go for the iPad Mini/Nexus 7. If you're into eye candy, go for the full iPad 3+/Nexus 10 to get those gorgeous high res displays. Of course iOS has many more, and probably better, games readily available. That's just the way it is. Poor, beautiful Nexus 10.. You're just a victim of circumstance. Don't worry baby. I still love you.

^ Monster Hunter Ultimate 3 is coming out for the 3DS, bruh. It's got connectivity with the Wii U version. That alone is enough to get me to buy one (at least, when the battery kinks get worked out). And yeah, eventually, when the next Pokemon game comes out, it'll make a legitimate Pokemon machine.

I don't personally play a game just because it's innovative. For that matter, I don't play games a whole lot. So maybe I'm not nearly so perceptive about what really constitutes evolution within the gaming world. I just play what I like, or rather, what I've always liked, which is traditionally Pokemon/RPG stuff/other random stuff here and there. I'm not hard to please, but I'm also pretty casual when it comes to gaming, so I guess I don't really share your views. The 3DS/Vita provide me with precisely what I'm interested in. No problem over here.

[quote="Aplaca"]When you download an iOS game (like Sword & Sworcery for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKHuK_lckb8), you get a [i]unique[/i] experience - a new experience. It's just.. fresh!

That's the problem with dedicated handheld systems. There is nothing new. No innovation, no forward thinking, no ideas.[/quote]

1) Sword and Sworcery, while arguably pretty interesting, is more of an mildly interactive art piece than a "game." And the experience isn't unique - sure it has Twitter integration, big fucking whoop. It's a point and click. Do you mean the game itself is novel? That's true, but that's to the credit of the devs who are *enabled* by the openness of iOS and Android. Dedicated mobile gaming devices are sort of up in the air - there are pros and cons to having big developers work on 3DS or Vita games, and pros of the Android/iOS (accessibility for indie developers) and cons (generally limited by controls, hardware capabilities. There are definitely fantastic iOS and Android games, but as of yet there's no real replacement for a D-pad and tactile buttons matched up with the efforts of, say, Nintendo or Level 5 or Atlus or whatever cool major developer.

[b]tldr; mobile gaming is alright but a lot of people aren't ready to give up physical buttons and superstar developers.[/b]

Another thought. Some guys like EA have been porting over their big franchises to iOS - Dead Space and Mirror's Edge are popular sellers in the App Store. For me personally though, they're in this awkward space of looking SWEET, but being hampered by the restrictions of a touchscreen. I would rather have a really great, full experience on the console...or something developed for a handheld that controls tightly.

[b]edit: Yeah, what LH said about innovation. Innovation doesn't guarantee a fun game. Especially for a weird guy like myself, who seems to find most enjoyment when you can maximize the number of music notes or bullet hell patterns on the screen. I like Bemani music games (IIDX, Pop'n Music) and bullet hell games. And racing games. You know, quick fix instant gratification type stuff. It's not necessarily inferior just because it doesn't have touchscreen, gyroscopic, day/night cycle, Twitter integration.[/b]

[quote="Lesser_Hamster"]^ Monster Hunter Ultimate 3 is coming out for the 3DS, bruh. It's got connectivity with the Wii U version. That alone is enough to get me to buy one (at least, when the battery kinks get worked out).[/quote]
You must really love Monster Hunter lol. http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7849/capture2vd.jpg
But I see where you're both coming from. Some people want the physical button layout, and that's understandable. And the fact remains that truly great standout games on iOS/Android are few and far between. Even though portable games from big developers/publishers are essentially clones of their big brothers on home consoles, that doesn't inherently make them bad. In fact some people even expect that from a portable game. I get that. I just choose to lay my dollar at the feet of the niche developers. I'm an indie game whore that loves to look at pixel art and high res sprites, what can I say?

edit: I agree that sometimes innovation doesn't amount to shit. Fuck you Peter Molyneux. Seriously.

I don't consider phones or pads 'gaming machines'

Half of the games are crappy java games you could easily find online.

Nothing impressive. Why is that inovating?

YOU CAN TILT YOUR SCREEN AND THE THINGS MOVE!

OMG really?

That's so lame!
I play games when I'm lazy and just want to childown.
I don't want to have to hold my phone and move it around just to play a racing game.
I'm looking at you mario kart wii! I hated it! It was fun with a controller, but with anything else it was crap.

Touch phones get dumbed down. Only abutton or two. Anymore and it's impossible to play cuz it's touch screen.
They have controllers to use. But that defeats the purpose of the game being on a phone.

I hate them.

Fighting games will never transfer well to a phone. I know there are some out there and they are terrible.

Just realized World of Goo was available on Android and got it. I'd heard good things but never gotten around to trying it. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Just downloaded Chrono Cross from the PSN. I don't know what to think yet.

Bought a Dsi just last week.

Got cooking mama series.They are fun.

Might get Drawn to Life. I enjoyed it when I played it on the Wii U back in E3.

In other news. Anyone got a wii u yet?

I'm downing LOTRO right now, and I have no idea why. I own Guild Wars 2. I still haven't beaten XCOM or Dishonored. Not to mention Mass Effect 3. What's wrong with me?

[quote="MrkJulio"]Might get Drawn to Life.[/quote]
Don't do it. The idea is cool but the execution is...

^Seconding this. Poorly designed game fo sho.