iPhone dev believes 3DS is "gimmicky," NGP will be "dead on arrival"

Neil Young has some fighting words for the 3DS and Sony's forthcoming NGP. Not the legendary musician, mind you (although that would be all shades of awesome), but the head of iOS publisher ngmoco who believes any system aiming to compete with theapp gaming market is either dead or dying.

“I think they are hurt; I think they're clearly hurt,” declared Young during a GDCinterview with Industry Gamers, clarifying, “I think PSP is done and the new [NGP] is dead on arrival. It's really difficult to compete with an app store that has hundreds of thousands of applications and a wide range of options where the average price paid is around $1.20 and there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of free applications that are really high quality. So I just don't think Sony's going to be able to compete with that.”

Young later shot down thenotion thatthe NGP's reported ability to play PS3 quality games would be a competitive advantage over the average app, claiming the iPad and iPhone's bevy of features make up for any graphical disadvantages.

Turning his attention toNintendo, Young admitted the 3DS' chances were slightly higher, but its success relies less on 3D technology and more on developer support, saying, “"I think Nintendo will likely be competitive. My personal opinion is that the 3D piece of the puzzle is kind of gimmicky. But Nintendo has great franchises and there are tens of millions of people who want to participate in those franchises, so that always helps... But the real question is the degree to which there's a third-party community."

To re-iterate, ngmoco is a publisherwith a considerable stake inthe iOS market. It also knows a thing or two about what sells, having released iOS hits like Rolando and We Farm. So while Young's commentsmay bebiased (thousands of "high quality" free apps? We don't think so...), they're also somewhat informed. Regardless, it'll take a few years todetermine whether hislatest predictions havemerit or if he's just stirring the pot.

[Source:Industry Gamers]

Mar 2, 2011

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Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.