# Debate: Smartphone Gaming



## oath2order (Nov 10, 2014)

So let's discuss this. Do you think smartphone gaming is a craze/fad? Do you think it'll die out? Why or why not?

A part of me thinks that it kind of is because most smartphone games are crap.



flop/fierce is gonna kill me


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## Jake (Nov 10, 2014)

Depends on the person. I really don't give a **** abut smartphone gaming, but I know there are people out there who really enjoy it. So no, I don't think it'll "phase out" since it's just another way of gaming. Saying that smartphone gaming is just a phase is just like saying Nintendo/Xbox/PS gaming is just a phase, too.


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## Story (Nov 10, 2014)

Smartphone gaming is certainly not a fad. Smartphones/mobile devices are a new type of gaming system with its own challenges with gaming design that other peripherals do not have (mainly the touch screen). And I embrace it personally.
It is just another way gaming as a medium can reach audiences. 

I can see what you are saying, OP, but I have a few problems with that argument:

1. Bad games are found everywhere, not just in mobile games. Have you checked out Steam lately? There, amateur games can be sold and even broken products. Back in 70s-90s bad games for home consoles were common place. Heck, just five years ago this was true with bad licensed titles called Shovelware. We see less of them as developing for consoles has become more expensive and consumer base "wised up" to bad games. Instead shovelware and quick buck games has gone over to other systems like PCs and smartphones where development costs are cheaper and it is easy to find a distributer for the game. Mobile devices are particularly popular because not only are they easier to develop for like I said, but they also reach a larger audience (more people have phones as opposed to home consoles). 

2. What constitute as good or bad is purely subjective, as the poster above me said. I'll admit there is a flood of lower quality games that are on mobile devices, not just smartphones, but tables as well. I think that might change over time, or it might not since the aforementioned Steam can get away with putting broken products in their store but still thrive.


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## Alienfish (Nov 10, 2014)

I think it's pretty much boring since they are mostly the same type of simple games. I don't mind otome/visual novels thoguh but they do as good as on any other console.


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## Mairen (Nov 10, 2014)

I'm old fashioned in that I like my game systems hooked up to a TV, but I understand that smart phone gaming is probably here to stay and will only thrive more. It's more rare to run into a person who doesn't utilize a smartphone regularly, so it's only natural that the gaming companies are going to try to take advantage of that.


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## Alienfish (Nov 10, 2014)

Mairen said:


> I'm old fashioned in that I like my game systems hooked up to a TV, but I understand that smart phone gaming is probably here to stay and will only thrive more. It's more rare to run into a person who doesn't utilize a smartphone regularly, so it's only natural that the gaming companies are going to try to take advantage of that.



Yeah and to be honest I love those older phones with their random games better. I will hardly see smartphone as legit gaming platforms in the sense of simpleness and I don't fancy playing touch-games too much either with the things I call and text with.


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## PaperLuigi3 (Nov 10, 2014)

Smartphone gaming is not gaming; it is a substitute for gaming. Like Splenda instead of sugar. You'll notice smartphone games typically don't have fleshed out stories, or original gameplay, or even controls that can be used at the same speed you would play a game of Animal Crossing at. Everything is slow and clunky on smartphones. Thus, there is nothing worth calling a full-fledged 'video game' on the smartphone platform. There may be ports of games, such as Minecraft or Five Night's at Freddy's, or futile clones of games, but until I can play an original video game that has all the qualities of the games of today on a physical controller that is up to par with the controllers for consoles, smartphones cannot be video game machines.

And 2048 is annoying.


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## Alienfish (Nov 10, 2014)

PaperLuigi3 said:


> Smartphone gaming is not gaming; it is a substitute for gaming. Like Splenda instead of sugar. You'll notice smartphone games typically don't have fleshed out stories, or original gameplay, or even controls that can be used at the same speed you would play a game of Animal Crossing at. Everything is slow and clunky on smartphones. Thus, there is nothing worth calling a full-fledged 'video game' on the smartphone platform. There may be ports of games, such as Minecraft or Five Night's at Freddy's, or futile clones of games, but until I can play an original video game that has all the qualities of the games of today on a physical controller that is up to par with the controllers for consoles, smartphones cannot be video game machines.
> 
> And 2048 is annoying.



Amen- And yes  I don't get that dumb game either.. I mean it has been around in physical form like much longer probably but as soon as an app store/google Play/whatever gets it it's the ****...


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## Reindeer (Nov 10, 2014)

I think it's just a part of the growth of casual gaming. Phone games have been a thing since mobile phones first became popular, it's just that with smartphones the games can become graphically more impressive and maybe even more challenging.

I don't think it will be going away as there will always be people that will just want to play games for the fun of it rather than for the challenge or for completion. Apart from that, larger companies are starting to embrace it, especially Nintendo. Things like NES Remix and the Angry Birds clone in SSB4 (Target Blast) are perfect examples of this.

While I don't indulge in it personally, I don't mind it either. People can play what they want at the intensity they want. They're casual gamers and they've been part of gaming culture for a very long time.
However that doesn't mean that when a person tells me that mobile gaming is going to take over consoles, I won't laugh right in their face.


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## Story (Nov 10, 2014)

PaperLuigi3 said:


> Smartphone gaming is not gaming; it is a substitute for gaming. Like Splenda instead of sugar. You'll notice smartphone games typically don't have fleshed out stories, or original gameplay, or even controls that can be used at the same speed you would play a game of Animal Crossing at. Everything is slow and clunky on smartphones. Thus, there is nothing worth calling a full-fledged 'video game' on the smartphone platform. There may be ports of games, such as Minecraft or Five Night's at Freddy's, or futile clones of games, but until I can play an original video game that has all the qualities of the games of today on a physical controller that is up to par with the controllers for consoles, smartphones cannot be video game machines.
> 
> And 2048 is annoying.



Well, I whole-heartedly disagree with this. Especially the part regarding unoriginal gameplay, mobile games actually have to be original since it solely uses the touchscreen which no other platform does. Just because we see a lot of clones doesn't mean these games haven't evolved in such a way where their gameplay is unique by themselves. I'll admit, since the platform is new, that many developers haven't figured out how to streamline their controls, but I attribute that with mobile devices being new platforms. 

And, IMO, that's a pretty narrow view of what a game is. A lot of of the older games arcade games didn't have fleshed out stories like PAC-Man for example yet they are still called classics today. Not every game has wholly original controls, many a game over the last 5 years have copied Batman's combat system or Gears of War's cover system it's not that unusual. We see a lot more clones on the mobile side because again, the development of a mobile game is cheaper and people can afford to make cheap cash ins that can sell for a dollar, unlike on consoles. 

Lastly, there have been plenty of original non-port games that were both critically acclaimed and well received from audiences found only on mobile devices like Blek, the Rayman Run series, Little Inferno, The Infinity Sword series, and the Lost Wind series to name a few.


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## Lock (Nov 10, 2014)

I don't think mobile games are a trend. You have to consider that not everyone who has a smartphone is a seasoned gamer, and there  are several people who never touched video games addicted to their phones.  In fact the demographics are more broad than that of console or handheld systems. People who go to school or work may not have the time to pick up a full blown video game so it helps to have something easy to pick up and get into. 

Mobile games to me are just portable versions of the arcade/simulator genres except that now you can carry it with you and even play with friends and family online. The whole gaming culture was developed from things like Tetris and Pacman so obviously it's never gone away... Just got physically smaller, easier and HAS A TOUCHSCREEN (which is insane if you grew up wanting those on everything). You don't have to be a video game elitist to feel satisfied with beating yer friends score in Angry Birds... That's the concept that started everything in the first place. Complexity doesn't always mean it's better. I really think it just comes down to what makes you feel entertained. Ive spent many hours playing Angry Birds and I've spent many hours playing games like Halo. It really just comes down to my mood at the time. 

Plus some of these app games are intensely detailed and they seem to improve with time.


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## Tao (Nov 10, 2014)

It depends on what route they continue with Smartphone gaming.


Currently, Smartphone gaming is an incredibly casual thing and largely ignored by the more 'hardcore' gamers. There are probably one or two 'hardcore' games out there that don't involve pestering your friends for items or paying ?5 for a continue, but I've yet to come across them (or at least ones that don't make it near impossible to play without friends/cash)

Already, a lot of people have passed smartphone games off as something they want to have not part in, and the game devs have no intention of making something more 'gamer focused' as long as they're raking in the money from bored housewives. 

If they carry on down this route then eventually, bored housewives are going to work out how much of a scam it all is and move onto something else to occupy their time, and Gamers will have distanced themselves so far from the platform that even if 'Game of the Century' was released on a smartphone, nobody would take any notice of it.

We've seen great gaming platforms get ignored, die or receive minimal mainstream success because of peoples expectations of what they offer many times before with the Dreamcast, Gamecube and most recently the WiiU. True, a Smartphone isn't EXACTLY the same thing as those consoles, but it's the same idea in terms of it being a valid and unique gaming platform.




If you ask me, the damage has already been done in terms of what 'true gamers' think of smartphone games and I don't think that's going to change at all. It could possibly be turned around, but I highly doubt it.


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## nekosync (Nov 10, 2014)

Story said:


> Well, I whole-heartedly disagree with this. Especially the part regarding unoriginal gameplay, mobile games actually have to be original since it solely uses the touchscreen which no other platform does. Just because we see a lot of clones doesn't mean these games haven't evolved in such a way where their gameplay is unique by themselves. I'll admit, since the platform is new, that many developers haven't figured out how to streamline their controls, but I attribute that with mobile devices being new platforms.
> 
> And, IMO, that's a pretty narrow view of what a game is. A lot of of the older games arcade games didn't have fleshed out stories like PAC-Man for example yet they are still called classics today. Not every game has wholly original controls, many a game over the last 5 years have copied Batman's combat system or Gears of War's cover system it's not that unusual. We see a lot more clones on the mobile side because again, the development of a mobile game is cheaper and people can afford to make cheap cash ins that can sell for a dollar, unlike on consoles.
> 
> Lastly, there have been plenty of original non-port games that were both critically acclaimed and well received from audiences found only on mobile devices like Blek, the Rayman Run series, Little Inferno, The Infinity Sword series, and the Lost Wind series to name a few.



I totally agree with this. Well said, Story. 

I think that it's pretty dumb to say that one genre of gaming isn't "real gaming" or that you're "not a real gamer" if you play them (I've heard people on the internet and in real life speaking like this). A gamer is someone who plays games. You don't need to pass some sort of spiritual test to become a gamer - all you have to do is just play a game. It's so annoying when people say that others aren't "real gamers" or look down on them because they haven't played this and that. At the end of the day, it's just a *game*. It's not wholly important in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, I think that mobile gaming will last for a good while. This is mainly because it's cheaper than console gaming and it appeals to almost everyone.


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## Bowie (Nov 10, 2014)

I frankly couldn't care less. Games are games, whether you're playing them on a wooden slab or a small device.


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## Lock (Nov 10, 2014)

Bowie said:


> I frankly couldn't care less. Games are games, whether you're playing them on a wooden slab or a small device.



I'm going to agree with Bowie.


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## Alienfish (Nov 10, 2014)

Lol, the 3/DS systems uses touchscreen, so does the Psvita system so they are not alone on that even though they might have to base it heavier on touch for phones.

And I prefer computer and other console to phones since you get more what you pay for at not just some rubbish you can clear on your way to work.


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## Story (Nov 10, 2014)

Noiru said:


> Lol, the 3/DS systems uses touchscreen, so does the Psvita system so they are not alone on that even though they might have to base it heavier on touch for phones.
> 
> And I prefer computer and other console to phones since you get more what you pay for at not just some rubbish you can clear on your way to work.


Actually, the 3DS uses a stylus which isn't the same thing when you account for player input. You can pinch and use multiple fingers with a touch screen, you can't do that with a stylus. I guess it may seem similar, but they are actually are two different ways of controlling things. I'll give you the vita and by extension the Dual Shock 4 on the PS4, but even those two are different in that player cannot directly see the inputs on the screen when they use the touch pad. And again, all of these examples have buttons too.

I guess I'm very much playing devil's advocate here, but I really, really love gaming it all its forms even mobile games. It is not often that I get a chance to talk about them since so many people dismiss them. And personally I'll play games in any way be it touchscreen, joysick, keyboard, motion control, voice control, ect. 

And to be fair, the mobile games are cheaper than any console games and most PC games so in most cases you do get what you pay for.

Edit:
Actually, I have a funny story about the value of mobile games. xD I actually have a friend who refuses to buy a home console because they feel they can get a lot more games in a cheaper and more convenient way by simply buying them on her phone. Well, she's kinda right about that.


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## Alienfish (Nov 10, 2014)

Story said:


> Actually, the 3DS uses a stylus which isn't the same thing when you account for player input. You can pinch and use multiple fingers with a touch screen, you can't do that with a stylus. I guess it may seem similar, but they are actually are two different ways of controlling things. I'll give you the vita and by extension the Dual Shock 4 on the PS4, but even those two are different in that player cannot directly see the inputs on the screen when they use the touch pad. And again, all of these examples have buttons too.
> 
> I guess I'm very much playing devil's advocate here, but I really, really love gaming it all its forms even mobile games. It is not often that I get a chance to talk about them since so many people dismiss them. And personally I'll play games in any way be it touchscreen, joysick, keyboard, motion control, voice control, ect.
> 
> ...



Touch either way, really. And I mostly used just my fingers since it got as dirty using the stylus. And psvita doesn't have pencils unless some freak made 'em.


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## Flop (Nov 10, 2014)

It will not die out. To suggest that is to suggest smart phones will cease to exist. 

Do I really support mobile gaming?  

No.


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## Lock (Nov 10, 2014)

In references to touchscreen, you really have to consider the evolution of what 'gaming' has become. It's quite impressive considering how it's been made available to everyone their different forms. We all have our preferences and now there are countless ways to utilize those interests. I do buy systems and consoles depending on which 'gimmick' I want to get into, but considering I grew up sharing one NES and one controller with my brother.... I mean what I have now are just things I only dreamed about back then. So obviously it's more exciting for me to get into everything when I can. 

Im gunna take it in this direction for a moment, but mobile application allows budding game developers to get their foot in the door and gives them a chance to showcase their work through a device that can reach anyone anywhere. Consider the cost of what it takes to produce the video games we play and the competition people face to make it. Mobile gaming is a good outlet for indie developers to start small and go big. Franchises have been in place for decades now and due to heavy commercialism sometimes the big names can overshadow that one clever trick we all missed but would've loved to be apart of. Not to say that it is the only form available but it is a very popular one. 

I don't think we should rule out mobile games from being an acceptable genre of gaming because it is. A key element of mobile gaming is accessibility and that's what you're choosing to play when you download games to your phone. It doesn't have to dig deeper and still serve it's purpose. What it all comes down to is that there are different levels of gaming and I don't think there's a right way to be anything. It is at best casual which is not something I can see people completely losing interest in. Sometimes it's nice to have that sorta break every once in a while. Doesn't matter what system or device a game is on or how much you spend on it.... The value should be determined by how you rate your own experience with it.

Whether you decide to get into a mobile game is whatever cause there will still be five other people who will.


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## Story (Nov 10, 2014)

Noiru said:


> Touch either way, really. And I mostly used just my fingers since it got as dirty using the stylus. And psvita doesn't have pencils unless some freak made 'em.



Yeah, I use my fingers too sometimes. But like I said, they are two different ways of controlling things. You can't pinch the 3DS screen or make it read more than one finger or stylus at a time. You can with touch screen based mobile games. And like I said, I'll give you the Vita and DualShock being closer to the touchscreen controls but even those are different. 

Here's a great video on the topic if you want to know more.





- - - Post Merge - - -



Lockfancy said:


> -Snip-


Excellent post there Lockfancy, I agree. Especially that bit on the new developers being able to sell through mobile gaming.


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## Reindeer (Nov 10, 2014)

Story said:


> Actually, the 3DS uses a stylus which isn't the same thing when you account for player input. You can pinch and use multiple fingers with a touch screen, you can't do that with a stylus. I guess it may seem similar, but they are actually are two different ways of controlling things.


Some games on the DS/3DS recommend using your finger rather than a stylus, though to be fair it's often for silly reasons. As for using multiple fingers, play some Cing (rip) titles, they used that. Hotel Dusk comes to mind right away, which had a few puzzles where you had to touch different parts of the touch screen at the same time.


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## Story (Nov 10, 2014)

Reindeer said:


> Some games on the DS/3DS recommend using your finger rather than a stylus, though to be fair it's often for silly reasons. As for using multiple fingers, play some Cing (rip) titles, they used that. Hotel Dusk comes to mind right away, which had a few puzzles where you had to touch different parts of the touch screen at the same time.


Wow that's actually pretty cool, I should check those titles out.
 I'll be honest I've never really played a DS/3DS game that registered more than just one input at a time. Pretty neat.


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## Radda (Nov 10, 2014)

Even PAD,That stuff is awesome.And no dude,if you spend time on your 3ds,why not give some love to your iphone and smart crud anyways?


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## oath2order (Nov 10, 2014)

Radda said:


> Even PAD,That stuff is awesome.And no dude,if you spend time on your 3ds,why not give some love to your iphone and smart crud anyways?



What are you saying what


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## Radda (Nov 10, 2014)

oath2order said:


> What are you saying what



http://puzzledragonx.com/
Popular in japan.


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## oath2order (Nov 10, 2014)

Radda said:


> http://pad.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_&_Dragons_Wiki
> 
> Popular in japan.



Okay and your point is...?


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## Radda (Nov 10, 2014)

Because you play on your 3DS (Is a animal crossing) Isn't that considered gaming too?So you shouldn't really care about smartphones if you are spending time on your 3ds correct.Either way playing outside is better.


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## SolarInferno (Nov 10, 2014)

No, I think smartphone gaming is neither a fad/craze, nor will it die out(unless/until a new form of technology replaces smartphones). There are games on it which are fads such as Flappy Birds, Angry Birds, Candy Crush etc., but they aren't completely representative of smartphone gaming as a whole. Yes, for the best experience I would go with their PC counter-parts or a portable console(or perhaps at a push go for a home console), but I've found a fair number of games on the smartphone that I can enjoy. I've found a few gems on Humble Bundle's Android bundles, such as The Bard's Tale ported to Android, Eufloria, Fieldrunners 2, Cubemen (all of which are also on PC). Only reason I don't play more of them is because the battery drains too fast if you're playing the games for much more than an occasional pick-up and play.


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## Goth (Nov 10, 2014)

To everyone who said yes you're an idiot.


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## Trent the Paladin (Nov 10, 2014)

I pretty much agree with everything Lockfancy has stated in the thread thus far. I don't believe smartphone gaming is a fad, especially since we're beginning to see amazing titles/amazing ports run beautifully on these platforms. I admit, I'd much rather go for my 3DS or PS Vita when I'm out and have time, but lately at home I've been playing "mobile" games a bit more on my Nexus 7. Tiny Tower, The Sims Freeplay, Star Wars: Commander, Dragon Age: Heroes and Layton Brothers: Mystery Room mostly. These are all enjoyable titles to me, even though I loathe the archaic energy systems some of these games utilize.


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## Brad (Nov 12, 2014)

I don't think smartphone gaming is a fad, in fact, I firmly believe it has already made it's place in the market, and is going to stay there. Smartphone gaming, and let's face it, free-to-play type games altogether make a lot of money. I mean, *A LOT* of money. With games like FarmVille making over a billion dollars a year, and other like Clash of Clans quickly approaching that margin, if not already breaking it.

Just look at Angry Birds for example, while it is the most successful of the games that we've seen come out of smartphone gaming, it can honestly be compared to really any other major franchise like, Fruit Ninja, Temple Run, or even Cut The Rope. These games aren't just getting games; they're getting toys, clothing lines, TV shows, hell, even full feature films.

Another large example of just how successful smartphone games can be is in Flappy Bird. That game came out, and within a few days it was making over $50,000 every, single, day. All of this based purely off of word of mouth alone. Now, imagine if a game as simple and as effective as Flappy Bird had a whole marketing team behind it. Holy ****.

Successes like this are due to the majority of smartphone game's mass appeal. Meaning, they're all very easy to pick up, learn, and play. They usually are very cheap to make, hence why they rarely cost more than either free, with micro transactions thrown in for good measure, or upwards of 99 cents; allowing as many people to try it, and pay more for it as possible.

In short, smartphone games are too accessible, make too much money, and are to easy to make to be just a fad. Who knows, that could lead to an economic bubble of sorts, but I doubt we'll see that for a long time. *But, whether or not you like it, smartphone games are here to stay.*


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## radical6 (Nov 13, 2014)

smartphone gaming will never die cuz the kim kardasian app is probably the best game thats ever been created, so mobile gaming will never die


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## oath2order (Nov 13, 2014)

justice said:


> smartphone gaming will never die cuz the kim kardasian app is probably the best game thats ever been created, so mobile gaming will never die



****

i forgot that existed


you win


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## CottonTail234 (Nov 15, 2014)

Honestly, I think that smartphone games are a good pass time when you forget to bring your handheld to a doctor's appointment or something....but other than that they don't usually take most of my time.

Also phone games have established themselves well in the gaming industry, this establishment is going to take a lot to shut down.


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## oath2order (Nov 15, 2014)

wow this is still going XD


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## Envelin (Nov 15, 2014)

Battlecats is fantastic. That's all I have to say XD


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## RayOfHope (Nov 15, 2014)

I feel like smartphone gaming is only going to grow in popularity.


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## mysticmightg (Nov 15, 2014)

Wyndfyre said:


> I feel like smartphone gaming is only going to grow in popularity.


 I also think smartphone gaming will grow in popularity. It is a different genre though. Some people have said that smartphones/tablets will take over computers, but I don't think that's true. I think it is much more comfortable to hold a mouse and use a keyboard for gaming, and there will always be people that feel that way.


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