Last week I did something which has enriched my life tenfold, I finally bought The New iPad! Since then I’ve been downloading content like my life depends on it until this morning when my 32GB hardrive ran out of space. This made me release just how much stuff I had purchased over the past few days and as a precaution I decided to check my purchase history to see how much money I’ve spent on apps.
To my surprise, despite having downloaded dozens of apps, my iTunes receipt for the past 4 months clocked in at just over £35. To put things in to perspective, a console game in the UK generally retails for £40 and top tier Vita games cost up to £35. Sure, many of the iOS games I bought were on sale at the time but that’s one of the best things about the app store, there’s always a bargain to be had.
This got me thinking – is the iPad really the future of videogames?
Now I know what you’re thinking; “STFU Carl, Angry Birds can’t compete with Skyrim!” and yes, you’re right. The iPad will probably never have a game that scratches my gaming itch like God Of War or Zelda does but why would I drop 40 big ones on a B-level game like Namco’s “Inversion” when I can buy 40 or so iPad games for the same price?
This is a problem that Playstation Vita (and to a lesser extent, the 3DS) are currently facing. Up until a few days ago when Sony sent me Resistance: Burning Skies, my Vita sat next to my PSPgo collecting dust. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my Vita but if Sony wants me to take it to work with me instead of my iPad they should be flooding the PSN with affordable, bite-sized content and no – Mini’s aren’t good enough! Why aren’t iOS games like Tiny Wings and Bike Baron on the Vita with trophies and online leaderboards? Why is a crappy barebones version of Angry Birds £2.99 on PSN while the fully featured iPhone game is being sold for 69p? It’s madness!
I understand why Sony is cautious. If great games were available on the Vita for a dollar it’d be extra hard for games like Modnation Racers to justify their $40 price tags. But with that said, if Modnation Racers was being sold for $4.99 instead of 40 bucks maybe it would have sold 10x the amount of copies. I also think a full priced God Of War game can sit alongside the likes of Cut The Rope on the Playstation Vita store, if that happens the Vita could truly provide the best of both worlds.
Sony appear to be talking a step in this direction with games such as Escape Plan and Motorstorm RC but they need to start making leaps if they want me to stop giving Apple my money.
Just a thought…
