TheWombat
Posts: 138
Joined: 8/2/2003
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quote:
ORIGINAL: wodin
quote:
ORIGINAL: TheWombat
I have to say, I love the focus on iPads. I've been wargaming since I was a young teen, in the early 1970s, and playing computer games since there were computers. I've played (and owned) my share of complex, full-on PC games, and I still enjoy them...but not nearly as often as before. I don't have time, or the energy, to immerse myself in something like WitE (which I own), or even Command Ops titles (which I also own), as often as I would have years ago. I respect them, and appreciate them, and games like them, but in practical terms, I get more play time on stuff like World of Tanks or any number of iPad games that I play in bed while my wife does crossword puzzles. So adding stuff like Battle Academy, Panzer Korps, and the like to iOS is a great boon for me.
PC games will be around as long as it's feasible to make them. Most of the folks here buy them, and as long as there are enough of us to buy stuff I'm sure people will keep making them--but not exclusively. It's a niche market, and always has been/will be. Mobile platforms offer a chance to expand a bit in ways the traditional PC model would never allow. I can even see some niche within a niche titles perhaps--complex 2D wargames, for instance, that would be too old fashioned on the PC but would be perfect for tablets, for example.
If big PC wargames stop being made, it won't be because mobile apps killed them; it'll be because no one could make any money creating them. Given the (relative) success of a lot of the titles offered by Matrix/Slitherine, and the tolerance for relatively high prices among wargamers here, the future of hardcore PC wargames actually looks pretty good.
Oh, I'd also love to see someone explore using iOS/Android devices as play aids for monster games--planning, micromanagement, etc., with a way to tie it in to the main game running on the big box....
Thing with wargames though is the need for a big screen. My 19inch flat screen is a pain as it is let alone an IPad screen. Playing something like Command Ops would drive me mad having to flick my fingers all over the place trying to get a picture to what is actually happening. Also what your saying is your pleased the focus is moving onto a device that has less resources therefore wont perform aswell or be able to run as demanding games\applications. Fair enough. Again my biggest gripe is screen size no matter how old fashioned wargames appear to be screensize is very important for ease of play, plus you have smaller hard drives, less memory, low end graphic cards and slower processors. Give me a complex 2D wargame on a desktop with a decent screen over a tablet anyday.
No one is saying to ditch big screen, big footprint PC games--hell, I buy a lot of those, though I don't get to play them much. And yes, I love my 24" monitor for these things. It's not a binary situation, though--we are actually getting both. Unlike a lot of the posters here, I don't spend most of my gaming time mastering a hugely complicated monster game. I don't have the time, though I like to dabble when I can. And there are a lot of game types that really shine on tablets and even phones, and which wouldn't be made otherwise in this day and age. If you look at it closely, I don't think many of the supposedly complex wargames are actually making great use of all the resources available to them, in terms of core game functions. Much of the power of contemporary PCs is shunted into things that traditional gamers would have called fluff. Smaller, less capable (in absolute terms) devices compel designers to make tough choices, but often those choices can wind up enhancing core game functions at the expense of non-essential frills. Not saying that that is happening as much as it could--there are a lot of crappy "lite" style games out there, and in the apps space most of the games available are sadly pretty pathetic--but weak games are not inherent in the tablet/mobile format.
There's a space for $50-100 PC wargames, but it's a relatively small one. There's a space for $5-20 mobile platform wargames, and I'm betting it's a lot bigger. The challenges of developing for both platforms are different, but often complementary; each platform may well be suited for specific things that might not fly on the other platform. And ultimately, if I was involved in the finances of a company like Matrix/Slitherine, I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't exploit all the viable avenues for revenue creation that are available, coincident with the overall mission/goals of the company. And those goals, from an outsider's perspective, seem to be to make multiplatform wargames for a lot of people, not to make PC wargames for a few people.
Oh, and as for Android devices...good luck. I am no Apple fanboy, but the app store at least is a pretty good hedge against piracy and is very organized. The Android Marketplace/Google shop thingy is a nightmare, and there seems to be no reasonable or effective DRM system to prevent widespread thievery....
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RE: New Titles Announced for 2012 - 
--any chance of a WITP2 this decade? Come on over to the AE forum. Lots of folks will discuss pricing elasticities with you. Also first-borns. 
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