Will Future WP7/8 devices be good handheld gaming devices?

shuffles03

I know Microsoft said that Windows Phones are the handheld devices they are focusing on as opposed to a dedicated gaming handheld but will future devices be powerful enough to support AAA titles like Halo, GTA, Assassins Creed etc? I'd love a really powerful portable Xbox device like Sony have with the Vita.

Meesared

Well I would say so, but what is holding back the phones is generally the touchscreen only input, which makes playing most games on phones quite frustrating.

chrislad

In a word, no. While phones currently have the ability to play higher end games, I don't think they have the stability yet. Imagine being about to jump down and assassinate a target, and suddenly, John Smith rings or a text message goes off.

Having a Vita and a Windows Phone, I do think the phone is more geared towards casual, quick fixes. I'm not saying that a phone can't do great experience, but generally, for myself, I tend to play phone games in 10 to 20 minute bursts. The Vita is a much better experience for the type of AAA games you're looking for, and I do think MS need to come up with something like it, and Nintendo need to stop dicking around with the likes of a 3DS and come up with something that resembles a proper dual stick controller. Again, not against the 3DS but currently playing Wind Waker, and I'd love the see an equivalent game on a handheld console, and not the poor mans version that was Phantom Hourglass.

shuffles03

I agree, it would be really annoying to be playing AC and then getting interrupted by a text or call. If Microsoft are only going to focus on phones for gaming hopefully they'll release at least one device that's really powerful and built specifically for gaming. I think it would be really cool if they or a third party released a custom 360 controller (thinner than the current one) which had a space in the centre for the phone to slot into at least giving players the option of playing games properly without relying on touch controls. Either that or they should release a phone with slide out controls built in already.

dreamers75

Straight to voicemail when playing games? umm obvious answer.



Cool new voicemail message "john cant answer the phone right now, hes about to kill the pope"

shuffles03

"Keith can't come to the phone right now as he's currently preoccupied mowing down innocent civilians with a sub machine gun in an airport".

chrislad

dreamers75 wrote: »

Straight to voicemail when playing games? umm obvious answer.



Cool new voicemail message "john cant answer the phone right now, hes about to kill the pope"

Yeah, real outside the box thinking. I don't use, or like, voicemail, so if I was playing a game, and got an important call, the phone would just ignore it? I primarily want a phone to be a phone/email/internet device. Games are totally secondary and I don't want them over-riding primary functions.

wes

Surely pausing the game, when a call of text message comes in, or some kind of suspend feature that would return you to the same spot after a call of text message.

chrislad

wes wrote: »

Surely pausing the game, when a call of text message comes in, or some kind of suspend feature that would return you to the same spot after a call of text message.

Currently not fully supported on Windows Phone as it is.

wes

chrislad wrote: »

Currently not fully supported on Windows Phone as it is.

Well, if they want Windows Phones to be a gaming device, they really need to get on that asap.

Meesared

chrislad wrote: »

Currently not fully supported on Windows Phone as it is.

I think it actually can do that

stevenmu

It can do that, but unfortunately not all games implement it. Some will keep running in the background.

chrislad

Meesared wrote: »

I think it actually can do that

Never said it couldn't, I said it wasn't fully supported. Angry Birds doesn't support it, and pretty much all games pre-Mango don't.

ScumLord

There's no reason why the phone wouldn't work, windows phones are getting more and more powerful by the month. If they had a clip on bluetooth controller or maybe a stand like the HD7 had you'd overcome the major hurdle.

Meesared

chrislad wrote: »

Never said it couldn't, I said it wasn't fully supported. Angry Birds doesn't support it, and pretty much all games pre-Mango don't.

It is fully supported by Windows Phone itself, its not the OS's fault if game devs don't implement it.

evolutionqy7

chrislad wrote: »

Never said it couldn't, I said it wasn't fully supported. Angry Birds doesn't support it, and pretty much all games pre-Mango don't.

Not all games work like that. Alot of pre mango Xbox Live games got upgraded. Some lazy developers never bothered even though all they needed to do is click one option.

I think nearly all Indie games have the quick resume enabled.

I think I seen a patent a while ago where Microsoft patented a slide out holder. The inside part where you usually have a slide out keyboard can be swapped for a keyboard, battery pack, speakers or whatever you can think of it.

So maybe we will see some official phones with that function in the future seeing as WP8 will open up a lot more options
So might be something cool for the future.