NEW YORK – TECH – When one in five people across the globe own a smartphone, it’s going to change the way we live our lives. It’s changed the way we do business, communicate, and organise ourselves, but most of all of course, it’s transformed the way we game.
And with the release of the iPhone 6 and a whole host of other phablets that the last year has brought, we are on the cusp of something beyond a revolution. A realm where we have the ideal devices to play next generation standard games on the bus, train, plane, and simply wherever takes our fancy.
Released at the end of September, the iPhone 6 has taken the globe by storm selling 10 million in its opening weekend, and with both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays, it’s almost perfect for playing any game.
We take a look at a series of genres, and just how the phablet can take the craze into not just a golden age, but a platinum one.
Sports Games
The sports game industry is huge, with fans always waiting for the latest release. The FIFA franchise alone has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, whilst Madden has made well over $3billion in sales since its inception in 1993. So the need for a good smartphone option is of course very welcome.
Sports games over the last few years on mobile have improved significantly as processors have become more efficient and of much greater quality. The latest Apple release will only enhance that.
Featuring their new A8 processor, the California-based company have focussed on not improving graphically necessarily, but giving performance a much improved boost. This means less stuttering gameplay and much smoother performance which is hugely important when you’re playing possession switching action such as FIFA, Madden, or NBA 2k15.
Puzzles
Sometimes the answer is just staring you in the face, so it makes sense to make that screen bigger. Recent releases of phablet’s are seeing screen sizes of up to 6.4-inches making crosswords, Sudoku, and Tetris that little bit easier to crack.
And not only are they increasing in size, but quality too. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra has a 6.4-inch screen with 16 million colours giving games a rich, vibrant display ideally suited to any traditional puzzle game.
Poker
Of course the growing online gaming industry has risen hand-in-hand with the smartphone, and as phablets begin to find themselves in gamers pockets more and more, that’s only going to continue.
For many of us, lengthy spells on apps such as the Full Tilt App bluffing our way to a winning hand, has been cut short by the frustrating lifespan of a smartphone’s battery, but that has significantly improved with the latest releases. The iPhone 6+ has around a 13 hour life span when gaming, whilst the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will last a substantial while longer, even coming with a fast charging cable to reboot your battery around 50% in just half an hour.
It’s no wonder phablet’s are really taking off this year, it’s the gamer’s new best friend. Shipments are expected to hit 175 million units by the end of this year, overtaking sales of laptops and desktops in global sales, potentially becoming the dominant computing device.
It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see mobile compete with console gaming, after all they’re totally different animals, but we could slowly start to see the phablet climb the food chain and send the likes of the Nintendo DS and PS Vita into extinction. One thing is for sure, it’s a very bright future for phablets, and that’s only good news for gamers.
