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This week’s episode of the Game|Life podcast is informed throughout by an interesting new study that was released this week by the NPD Group, which finds that smartphone/tablet gamers now, for the first time, outnumber traditional console gamers.
That’s it, core gamers! Your number is up. Bail out now. Actually, what might be happening is that people are shifting allegiances. Do any of you have anecdotes about sitting on your couch playing on the iPad while your Xbox 360 sits covered in a layer of dust? Studies show that mobile game play at home is up even among console owners. The new generation of games have long ceased to be mere replacements for so-called “real games.”
Coincidentally, before I went in to record this week’s podcast with Wired senior editors Chris Baker and Peter Rubin, I met with a representative of gaming hardware maker Steel Series. It’s branching out of its traditional role as a producer of high-spec peripherals for competitive Counter-Strike players and into high-quality mobile accessories. Steel Series seems to be reading the tea leaves and betting that more gamers would use their mobile devices if the controls were more precise. So it’s about to bring to market a pocket-sized but durable controller called Free and a set of suction-cup buttons that work with phone and tablet touch screens.
This, coupled with my hands-on with Wikipad, leads the cast into a discussion of how mobile might change to accommodate traditional gamers as it becomes a more central platform for game releases.
Game|Life’s podcast is posted on Fridays, is available on iTunes, can be downloaded directly and is embedded below.
GameLife Reboot: Episode 045
https://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gamelifeaudio/gamelifereboot_045.mp3
