作者：Fraser Maclnnes

在今日的手机游戏行业中，每个人都在讨论休闲和社交游戏，他们这么做是理所应当的。休闲和社交这两个令人振奋的领域以各种诱人的方式推动手机游戏（游戏邦注：还有其他平台游戏）向前发展。但是，我仍然会腾出思绪考虑在手机上处于劣势的旧式硬核游戏发展前景。

虽然这些游戏在未来的移动领域存在发展空间，但那些真正有实力做出很棒产品的公司现在反倒看起来像是徘徊在市场边缘，推行有些逆流而动的手机游戏策略。

sony-ericsson-xperia-play(from gadgetseye.com)

Xperia Play移动设备确实不怎么样，让我列举其不足之处。首先，它的吸引力还不及微软被行业所忽视的产品设计，而且也不美观。在这个市场中，Xperia Play就像是大约在1999年上市的惠普PDA。

但是，应当公正看待的是，它的游戏按键似乎符合产品的目标，随后我们将探讨这个目标是否有价值。

其次，就是产品的Android操作系统，尽管这种操作系统很流行，但是多数功能让人感到头疼，充斥着漏洞和令人懊恼的布局。另外，它也给这种设备再添上了一层品牌累赘，成了一个多少有点让人困惑的Xperia Play、Playstation、索尼和Android杂交体。

最糟糕的是Xperia Play背后潜藏的产品理念。谁认为这是个不错的想法？为什么说这种本质上来说是PSP Go但却更不济的产品会获得成功？何处有证据表明人们希望Playstation经典游戏能够移植到手机平台上？何处有证据表明大众正渴望获得主机和手机的杂交产品？游戏按键确实会让Android游戏体验有所提升吗？

我承认，实体按键确实能够提升某些游戏的控制方式，目前多数游戏采用了并不是太灵光的触屏控制设置，但是这种障碍是否已经足够让我接受硬件的改变呢？答案是否定的。在智能手机游戏领域里，高层次的特异性并不能发挥作用。这种方法只会分裂市场，而这个市场才刚刚脱离硬件的分裂性。

如果我不能在手机上玩某些游戏，我可以选择XBLA、PSN或Steam平台。手机上的选择已经足够让我找到某些自己有兴趣玩的东西，而不会让我抱怨这种手持设备的无能。在家里的时候，我不会抱怨PS3无法像iPhone那样流畅轻便地运行《割绳子》。我只是会产生游戏不适合该设备的想法，然后使用PS3来玩《杀戮地带3》。

手机游戏开始逐渐成熟。1年前，我认为《英雄本色》iOS或Android版的发布完全是空谈。但是现在，我已经不渴望手机平台上会出现此类游戏，而更期待看到Rockstar发布某些适合现代智能手机设备的产品。

手机游戏不需要模仿其他平台之前的做法，它有自己的发展路线。就《无尽之剑》而言，这是款有着硬核机制的高端游戏，但是其控制方式却能与手机设备配合得天衣无缝。同样的情况也发生在id Software，该工作室正不断地将其主要IP移植到手机平台。《毁灭战士3》和《狂怒》都是iOS系统中出色的射击游戏，所有的瞄准目标的动作都可以在触摸屏上实现，同时减少了复杂的3D场景导航操作。

Xperia Play是索尼股东自认为手机平台所存在的问题的一个解决方案，也就是，手机平台缺乏成功的硬核游戏（：即索尼最擅长和投入最多的领域），但却充斥大量休闲和社交游戏成功案例。Xperia Play可以说是从错误的方向来解决这个问题。问题的关键并不在于硬件不适合运行相关软件，为什么要为运行硬核游戏而花重金给硬件设备整形呢？为什么不想法改变游戏软件？换句话说，既然我们可以构建出能够在触屏手持设备上运行的硬核游戏（游戏邦注：这种方法的成本比改造硬件设备要低得多），那么为何还要去开发能够运行传统硬核游戏的设备呢？

为何SCE不让某些主要工作室去开发新手机IP，利用索尼同时是内容供应商和硬件设备制造商的这种双重优势呢？该公司的业务和品牌运营方式要比任天堂灵活得多，后者坚定地抵制将自己的开发经验用于某些无法掌控的平台上。就SCE而言，它具有一定的竞争优势，但它能否实现巨大飞跃呢？

从索尼将自己的资金投入到PS Vita和两款游戏平板电脑上的做法来看，该公司似乎并未将Android或iOS游戏开发及发行列入自己的日程表。也许至少需要再经历3次硬件设备上的失利它才能够意识到这一点。关键在于，现在硬核手机游戏已成为可能，所有条件均已准备就绪。诸如Epic、Ubisoft和EA等主流游戏发行商已经意识到这点。其他主要发行商采取行动的时间越早，我们就能够越快地在手机上看到《玛莎拉蒂》、《银河战士》和《战神》等游戏。尽管我有些不满足，但是在iPhone上玩《异形：地球战区》确实能让我感受到许多乐趣。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2011年9月12日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Thinking about: Hardcore mobile games

Fraser Maclnnes

In mobile gaming today, everyone is talking about casual and social games, and so they should. Casual and social are exciting areas that are pushing mobile games (not to mention pretty much every other platform) forward in an abundance of fascinating ways. But I can’t help sparing a thought for poor old hardcore gaming or core gaming on mobile.

If it has a place in the future of the mobile gaming landscape, it feels like those with the power to do truly great things are instead, ham-fistedly groping at the fringes of the market with all the finesse of a walrus trying to mount a mini-bus.

Oh Xperia Play, how rubbish are thee? Let me count the ways… First off, you are less attractive than an industrial skip designed by Microsoft. An industrial skip filled with soiled bandages and Gordon Brown masks. Yes – that ugly. In a market dominated by lithe designer pocket ornaments, the Xperia Play resembles an HP PDA, circa 1999.

It’s all just a bit car boot sale – there’s no implied heft or solidity in its Fischer Price-esq enclosure – just the promise of face buttons that will feel loose and vague within six months. Fair enough, the gaming buttons look fit for purpose, but we’ll get to whether that purpose is worthwhile later (you’ve probably already guessed my thoughts on that).

Next there’s the Android part of the picture. Robust(ish), popular and well-supported it may be, but it’s a jumbled functionality headache for the most part, riddled with bugs and a cluttersome layout that’s about as intuitive to pilot as a nuclear submarine. Oh and it introduces yet another layer of brand confusion to the already awkward tryst between Xperia Play, Playstation and Sony Ericsson.

But worst of all is the concept behind the Xperia Play. Who thought this was a good idea? Why would a console that is basically a PSP Go but worse, be a success? Where is the proof that what people want out of mobile games is ports of Playstation classics? Where is the evidence that what the public is craving is a hybridized mobile console? Do gaming buttons really improve Android gaming that much (in the small number of cases where there is even dedicated support)?

I’ll admit that physical buttons do improve a clutch of mobile games that are, at present, hindered by their touchscreen confines. But is that hindrance galling enough for me to happily secede to the adoption of all that extra hardware bulk in my handset? Nope – it’s not. Higher levels of specificity are not useful in the smartphone gaming space – that approach just fragments the market, a market still celebrating its freedom from the hardware fragmentation of the bad old .jar days.

If I can’t play something on my phone, I’ll play it on XBLA, PSN or Steam. The choice on mobile is already more than sufficient for me to find something I am interested in playing, without bemoaning my handset’s inability to handle dual stick shooters adequately (of which by the way, there are few in the original Playstation’s catalogue anyway). At home, I don’t bemoan the fact that my PS3 can’t handle Cut the Rope as deftly as my iPhone can. I just think, the hell with it, and play some Killzone 3.

Mobile gaming is beginning to mature. A year ago, I’d have been frothing at the mouth at the announcement of an iOS/Android version of the original Max Payne, a seminal hardcore game from yesteryear bequeathed to us by one of the all time great developer/publishers. Now though, I don’t crave that sort of validation for the platform – I’d much rather see Rockstar publish something that plays to the strengths of modern smartphone hardware.

Mobile gaming does not need to ape what’s gone before it on other platforms – it has plenty of its own beguiling tricks to show off. Has nobody learnt anything from Infinity Blade? Now there’s a hardcore game with hardcore mechanics, but with controls that are suited to the platform. The same goes for iD Software’s progressive approach to its smartphone realizations of its major IPs. Doom 3 and RAGE both sport excellent on-rails shooters on iOS that make the most of the point-to-target options afforded by a touchscreen, while confidently slicing out wholesale the need to navigate complex 3D spaces.

The Xperia Play has been an attempt to address what Sony’s shareholders no doubt see as a problem with the mobile platform, namely, the lack of successful core gaming experiences (and hence the business they are most experienced with and invested in) vs. the overwhelming cascade of casual and social gaming successes. The Xperia Play tackles this deficit from the wrong direction. It’s not that the hardware doesn’t suit the software – it’s the other way round – why invest in changing the device paradigm for hardcore mobile gaming, why not change the software instead? In other words, why build a device that can handle traditional hardcore games when you can build new kinds of hardcore games that work on touchscreen handsets (for a fraction of the price it has cost to launch the Xperia Play no doubt)?

Why hasn’t SCE set any of its first party studios, (currently twiddling their thumbs, probably on the latest mobile games, or on some soon to be defunct HOME project), to work on some new mobile IP that plays both to Sony’s strengths as a content provider and the strengths of current smartphone hardware? Its business and brands are much more nimble than Nintendo’s, which is steadfastly against leveraging its development experience on platforms it doesn’t control. There’s a competitive advantage within SCE’s grasp – will it make the leap?

With Sony plumping its finances into the PS Vita and two separate gaming tablets, it doesn’t seem likely that creating or publishing bespoke games for Android or iOS is on the cards for SCE – yet. It has at least three more hardware failures to trudge through before that happens. The point here is, hardcore mobile games are possible now – all the pieces are in place. Major players such as Epic, Ubisoft and EA have long since realized this. The sooner the other major players do, the sooner we’ll get Gran Turismo, Metroid and God of War, in one form or another, on platforms we are actually willing to carry in our pockets. I’d sigh discontentedly, but I’m having too much fun playing Anomaly Warzone Earth on my iPhone. (Source: Fraser Maclnnes)