Smart Phone Gaming is Killing the PSP and the Nintendo DS
Here's a little secret: A lot of us middle aged women are gamers. Some of us started young, with Frogger, and Joust and Pong, moving through Atari and NES and SEGA, and some of us still have all three major game systems as well as a gaming computer in our homes. But the dirty downside of gaming is that as you grow older and get more responsibilities (and kids) raiding in World of Warcraft begins to look like just another job, and even fragging the bad guys in Halo isn't what it used to be, mostly because we don't have time for yet another all-engrossing storyline laden hobby.
Thank goodness for smart phones. My Android phone, a G2 (I had a G1, until I killed it and had to upgrade) has the ability to play pretty much any game from the old consoles and yes, there are emulators available. Zombie Ate My Neighbors, here I come. When I'm at the doctor's office (and I forgot my knitting), I pull out my phone and play games. At the hairdressers, again, I'll pull out my phone. During a break at work, I'll get through a level or two of Angry Birds, or at least increase my score on a level.
This, though, is bad news for Sony and Nintendo. Remember the handheld game consoles? Me neither (just joking). But I'm not going to buy one again. Why would I, when I have a multi-purpose unit I can game on, text on, answer calls on, take pictures with, check prices with? And I can entertain kids with my phone, too, without having to spend a dime I didn't already spend. It has been said that women control the purse strings in America. That's half true. Women do most of the shopping for the family in America, which often means they decide what games get bought for the kids, if any. For me, and I'm sure for a lot of other women out there, there's no point in buying a hand held system, when the kids can play the Wii or the Playstation 3 at home (at my house the Xbox belongs to my adult son, and he never learned to share), and when out and about, they can just pull out the cell phone you bought them to make sure you can stay in touch with them.
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