Coffee Talk #227: Why Are You Down on Portable Gaming?

Over the last two years, I’ve learned about your gaming likes and dislikes. For various reasons, a lot of you — probably the majority of regular RPadholics — aren’t down with handheld gaming. This breaks my heart. Some of the best gaming experiences of my life were on handheld systems. From…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Bobby Cox hanging up the spikes, Courteney Cox dumping David Arquette, or the unimpressive Microsoft Windows Phone 7 presser, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Over the last two years, I’ve learned about your gaming likes and dislikes. For various reasons, a lot of you — probably the majority of regular RPadholics — aren’t down with handheld gaming. This breaks my heart. Some of the best gaming experiences of my life were on handheld systems. From Pokemon to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance to Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to countless RPGs, I’ve had a blast playing games on portable systems.

Help me understand why you don’t dig handheld gaming as much as I do. In the immortal words of Jerry Maguire, “Help me, help you!” Why are you down on portable gaming?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

47 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #227: Why Are You Down on Portable Gaming?”

    1. That’s not surprising. The hardware manufacturers want to launch with GSM phones — the vast majority of the global market. For America, that means AT&T and T-Mobile get first dibs.

      1. Right. Which is why it “teh suxes.” Most of what I read was about the four phones going to ATT. The two phones going to T-Mobile where talked about very little and the foreign phones were barely mentioned. No matter how good the phones are/n’t, it doesn’t matter when they are on a network that won’t let you use them.

  3. I play 20 Questions and I-Spy with the kids on long car rides… does that count?

    Seriously though, I play games on my iPhone and I'm down with Scribblenauts.

  4. I like enough of the games, but like Thundercracker said it is inconvenient to carry multiple handhelds. I am not gonna give up my cell phone, and I like to carry my iPod touch with me a lot of places too, so adding a DSi or something to the mix would just be annoying to carry. And I don't necessarily want all three combined because that means the battery life of that object would drain like crazy.

    I plan on getting another DS at some point, I just don't know when. And I told my fiance if I get a job in Chicago and have to take the train to commute then I want a DS and a PSP so I have something to do each way on the hour long train ride or so. I'm crossing my fingers about a good enough job in Chicago that will pay well though, so who knows.

    Also like Slicky said, too much playing on a portable device isn't too good because my hands start cramping as well, and that just sucks. Maybe I will go with a DSi XL just because of that, haha.

    And the games available aren't too big of a problem for me, I do agree that most handheld games feel more geared towards kids, but so what?? Mario is geared towards kids, Sonic is geared towards kids, Link is geared towards kids, Metroid is geared towards kids. They are still all very good characters for kids and adults alike to play. I will not however, defend some of the actions in the Legend of Zelda games for DS though…I still felt embarrassed yelling into the mic. to get an object or blowing into the mic. to blow out the candles. Cool concepts, but that was even embarrassing when I was alone in the apartment when no one could hear me.

  6. I usually play my DS on a long plane trip (if I remember to pack my DS, that is). Unfortunately, I don't travel often so my DS doesn't get a lot of play time.

    Also, Metroid Hunters for the DS has got to be the textbook case of atrocious, hand-cramping input controls ever. That game was made virtually unplayable because of the completely arbitrary use of that damn stylus.

    I'm not saying that I could have done it better or even offer a good suggestion, but like others before me have said; FPS (or something similar to it) is very difficult on a hand-held device.

    -M

    1. Yeah I agree. As much as I like FPS I completely avoid them on handheld games. The only decent ones are ones like Wolfenstein for the GB because it is practically the same controls are practically the same between PC and GB. Handheld's are much better for platformers and such.

      A good game with the stylus involved was the Star Fox game, I really liked that one a lot. I played the hell outta that one when I still had it.

  7. its just inconvienant to carry a phone, and a psp. If im at home, id just rather play the ps3

  8. i’m down on PSP. the control layout isn’t comfortable for me.

    @courteney cox
    it’s about time. she wasted he good years on him. she could’ve wasted those good years on me!

    @bobby cox
    this guy has been managing forever, for like 3/4s of my life he managed the Braves. it’s going to be weird not seeing him anymore.

    @MS7 presser
    i have yet to read about it. i’ll comment on this later.

  9. has anyone picked up FF14 yet??? i want to possibly pick this up for my friend for xmas but i keep reading poor reviews of this game. We all have somewhat similar tastes in games and i'd like to hear one your opinions, if you've played it.

  10. Brett Favre is the A-Rod of Football. He compiles a ton of stats, but more often than not he chokes when it matters.

    1. True. He always screw up when it counts the most. He has the most TDs in NFL history but people forget that he also has the most INTs in NFL history too. I’m sorry but I’ve always thought he was overrated.

      1. Invariably when you throw that many passes and have that many yards, you are more than likely going to have a ton of INTs.

      3. True… Babe Ruth also has the most strikeouts in history, but we don't remember him for that.

        Granted, Ruth also retired at one point… so that may make a difference.

    2. If you replace the name “Brett Favre” with “Dan Marino”, the sentence would still be true.

      -M

      1. In his entire career, Marino never had a decent defense to work with. You can only win so many games 45-35.

        Although, what was it about the Dolphins that made ken O'Brien look like a halfway decent QB twice a year. Every other game he spent more time falling down and covering up to avoid getting hit from a non-existent pass rush.

      2. Marino became more of a vagina after his knee surgery sometime in the mid 90's. He was a vagina before then, but his cowardice became glaringly obvious during his last few years.

        In contrast, Jay Fiedler, who was a crap QB at best, would take blocks for Ricky Williams on a rush play. Even though his heart wasn't enough to compensate for his arm, it's that kind of dedication to "getting the job done no matter what" that you want out of your team leader.

        -M

  12. Honestly my PSP makes my hands cramp. I guess its the layout and the small size but after too much time on my PSP my hands ache in every joint.
    The screen size is fine to me and some of the games look great.

    Hmm another drawback maybe button mapping. I like the Resistance series, but a FPS on the PSP is a bit tougher to control. God of War did a great job with getting all the controls in there even though I had to learn lots of new button combos.

  16. I'm down on handhelds mostly because my hands cramp up when I play them. I also feel that the handheld exclusive games aren't really my cup of tea and by that I mean I can play the said games counterpart on a much larger screen with better controls and graphics. The FFVII games on the PSP and Scribblenauts are really the only games that interest me and that is not enough for me to go out and get a handheld.

  17. Mr. Padilla;

    If you're still looking for a more stable and "traditional" job in the gaming industry, why don't you try applying for an editor job at IGN? They are hiring now and I think their offices are somewhere around you (well, in California, anyway). You're the only person I know that can meet the qualifications.

    Here's the link:

    http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1127534p1.htm…

    -M

    1. I used to work for IGN. I left abruptly to do the Yahoo! show. Some people are still mad about that. Plus, I don't like the writing style over there, with respect to my buddies that are still there. Though perhaps I shouldn't be so stubborn and pursue it so that I can actually make money….

      Nah.

  19. @ray

    is that last piece of gear an "Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator"?

    should we be scared?

    1. i don't think they ever described what it was in the Looney Tunes cartoon but Marvin the Martian always needs one to blow up the Earth.

      5. correct tokz

        and by the way, jermichael finley out for the season, so you just won that trade

  21. Hmmm I still play my DS, definately for sure Monday and Tuesday when my best friend dragged me up to Indianapolis and back lol. Had to take a pic of the Lucas Oil Stadium for my hubby lol.

  23. Oh crap, there are videogame "gold box" deals on Amazon today:

    <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2 Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fgoldbox%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Dcs_top_nav_gb27&tag=rt0b3-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957″ target=”_blank”>Amazon Gold Box videogame deals<img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=rt0b3-20&l=ur2&o=1&quot; width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

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