Poll - Smartphone Games

It's the start of October, so here's another poll result! A topic that I've been talking about a lot recently.

How do you feel about games on smartphones and other mobile devices?
I like them. - 2 votes
It's cheap entertainment. - 2 votes
Convenient entertainment. - 2 votes
Annoying when they try to include social aspects poorly. - 1 vote
Can be as fun as handheld games. - 1 vote
No opinion (yet) - 1 vote
They're unnecessary/dumb. - 0 votes
No commitment required. - 0 votes
Too casual. - 0 votes

6 voters total

It seems like smartphone apps are what a lot of people are focusing on amongst game companies, both casual game companies like PopCap, Zynga, and real game companies like Square Enix, Capcom, and more; albeit most of their games are so far only available within Japan. After having my phone for a while, I can honestly say that gaming on smartphones has definitely become a serious competitor to handhelds like the Nintendo DS and the PSP. Heck, with both The World Ends With You and Ghost Trick being available on the iOS now, both really good games that was on the DS, smartphones are creeping very far into the handheld gaming category.

Looking at the poll results, the only negative vote was that 'smartphone gaming can be annoying when they try to include social aspects poorly', but honestly, that can apply to games on any devices really. We all know how notorious this problem is on Facebook. I used to hear my little brother going on about how people shouldn't bother wasting time on "casual smartphone games" since they're "stupid, simple crApps". He couldn't justify why anyone would enjoy playing games like Angry Birds over real games on handhelds, especially for someone who would consider themselves a hardcore gamer. But after he got his iPod Touch and iPhone, he seems to have completely changed his mind about gaming on smartphones. I won't go as far as to say that it's replaced his DS yet for portable gaming, but it certainly is "convenient entertainment" since he always has his iPhone and iPod with him. In fact, it turns out he had spent over $50 on the Apps Store on a bunch of games by real game companies, even if he already has the actual games on Steam or on consoles.

I suppose the selections of apps available have very wide ranges, varying from the super casual to fairly hardcore games. Angry Birds and Coin Dozer being on the casual spectrum of games, while Dead Trigger and many Apps by real game companies that you need to pay for being on the hardcore side. I guess I have been on the lookout for good, free games that are available on the Google Play service, which is how I came across Dead Trigger. I'd like to share my thoughts on more apps in the future under a review before I get back to some games on Steam, probably.

Maybe later on, when I get bored of playing free games on my smartphone (or catch pay apps on some promotional, free download), I'll write reviews on some pay Apps as well. It appears to be what most people seem to be searching for online anyway, as the reviews for these free apps on the site gets the most page views at the moment. Of course, I'm still taking requests for what I should talk about, so if smartphone apps aren't your cup of tea, make a suggestion in the chat. I do read those, even if it's mostly people advertising their own sites there.