Where Is Mobile Gaming Going?

At last month’s NSWG, I gave a short presentation about where I think (mobile) gaming is going. I put mobile in parentheses because, well, the distinction between mobile and non-mobile is evaporating.

And that’s kind of the conclusion of the presentation. It’s written for a mixed audience of geeks, but not necessarily of the mobile or game dev kind.

The highlights of the presentation are:

• Nintendo hardware in trouble
• Sony trying lots of different things
• Don’t dismiss WP7 – it’s Microsoft’s mobile gaming solution.
• Apple gunning for control of your TV
• AirPlay way more significant that Apple TV
• Hybrid ‘console’ device; on the move AND at home.

Here’s a PDF of the presentation: Where Is Mobile Gaming Going? (It’s worth reading the presenter notes, as that’s where a lot of the meat is.)

The presentation was written well before GDC and before the iPad 2 was released. We knew it was coming but not the specs. It’s worth noting a few things that weren’t known about when I wrote it:

• The GPU in the iPad 2 is more powerful than I expected. Nice. The iPad 1 was severely underpowered graphically, so it’s good to see the GPU getting some love. I wonder how Sony feel about this, as it’s pretty close to the NGP now (capabilities not cores)? It makes you think considering that the NGP will be around for a few years while the iPad 2 will be replaced sooner.
• Video mirroring. This is big. People will be plugging their iPad 2′s into their TVs. There’s a great chance we’ll see an Apple gaming controller soon. Of course, don’t forget that you could use an iPhone as a controller too.
• AirPlay enabled devices – first Denon, now Pioneer. It really can’t be long before we see AirPlay enabled TVs. At that point you won’t even need to plug your iPad into your TV.