Hello all,
I know that the best mobile game platform now is iOS. There is a lot of good games available (although this is quite a different beast from desktop or console gaming). Android somewhat lags behind, or so I heard. And what about Windows? Non existent?
The reason I ask that we've been given a good discount on Toshiba Encore 8 and I'm tempted to buy one, but I'm worried that there will be little to nothing for the kids to play on it. What do you think? I have an iPad and it quite satisfies my personal mobile gaming needs (not that it could not be better or anything).
Simply put, you will not find a gaming selection on any tablet/phone bigger than the one for iOS devices. No exceptions. Period.
And I *dont* mean just the casual stuff. I've always been into the crazy hyper difficult stuff myself, as gaming in general goes, the bullet-hell shmups, the roguelikes, all sorts of arcade titles, super-complicated RPGs (not JRPGs), strategy stuff with high learning curves... same stuff I play on PC (the consoles can go jump off a cliff).
Of the 200 or so games that I have for iOS, there's only about 8 of them that DONT fit those terms. I also dont pick up games with bad controls. The 8 are things like your typical Angry Birds and whatnot. But "real" games, yes, they are plentiful.... I wouldnt even own a tablet if this was not the case, as my intent from the beginning was to completely replace the DS & PSP that I was gaining more and more hatred for. In other words, biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig selection, games of all sorts. You wont see as many of these sorts on the other devices, BUT, for younger players, this fact may not matter.
.... but the core problem I have with it is that you have to know where to look. For the most part, things that appear on the front page of the App Store are NOT the sorts that I mention, because they dont appeal to all conceivable players, as you've likely noticed. There are exceptions, but they're rare. The App Store itself is pretty horrible, honestly. Terrible layout and browsing and.... ugh. Mostly, I find out about games in general from outside sites. Research is necessary, unfortunately, otherwise you're confined mostly to whatever the blasted App Store puts on it's front page (casual or freemium stuff), or the gibberish that "browsing it" will find for you (hah). It may be easier to find games on the other devices, despite a much smaller selection, so that may be an advantage. I cant say just how they may or may not compare, in terms of ease of not-going-crazy-trying-to-find-things. But they could potentially be dramatically less irritating then dealing with Apple's screwball store.
And yeah, I've heard that Android in particular is just.... well, bad selection, yep.
If you're considering the purchase though, I strongly recommend researching the heck outta it first.
....and I'll stop typing here, as I'm just confusing myself.... ahhh, caffiene, I shouldnt have had so much of it.... I apologize if the post overall doesnt entirely make sense somehow.
