[Colonol Dekker]

Until today this site was displaying a countdown. That countdown has now finished. But I have no idea what any of it means.

[TrashMan]

It's Final Fantasy.
OF COURSE it makes no sense!

[Lorric]

There's some information on this out there in Google-land now. It's going to be a cellphone game.

I wouldn't trust it though, not after the unbelievable bull**** they pulled with Final Fantasy All The Bravest:

http://www.gamerankings.com/iphone/699927-final-fantasy-all-the-bravest/index.html

I expect any of those reviews will do if you don't know what I'm talking about. I came pretty close to posting a long rant on that here on HLP at the time.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I cannot wait until mobile gaming dies and the masses move on to the next fad. Just hope they don't take the entire gaming industry down with them. There are a frightening number of similarities between gaming now and gaming in 1983 when the house of cards came crashing down the first time. Different platforms, same predatory and overly opportunistic business practices. Those who learn nothing from history...

[The E]

I cannot wait until mobile gaming dies and the masses move on to the next fad. Just hope they don't take the entire gaming industry down with them. There are a frightening number of similarities between gaming now and gaming in 1983 when the house of cards came crashing down the first time. Different platforms, same predatory and overly opportunistic business practices. Those who learn nothing from history...

The analogy to the 83 crash is flawed, to say the least. It's a vastly different industry these days.

Also, remember that the vast majority of mobile games aren't made for gamers. Being annoyed at something that was never meant to appeal to you is silly

[TwentyPercentCooler]

I cannot wait until mobile gaming dies and the masses move on to the next fad. Just hope they don't take the entire gaming industry down with them. There are a frightening number of similarities between gaming now and gaming in 1983 when the house of cards came crashing down the first time. Different platforms, same predatory and overly opportunistic business practices. Those who learn nothing from history...

The analogy to the 83 crash is flawed, to say the least. It's a vastly different industry these days.

Also, remember that the vast majority of mobile games aren't made for gamers. Being annoyed at something that was never meant to appeal to you is silly

The industry is different, for sure, but the similarities are there. Eventually, if there's enough shovelware, it'll start to erode consumer confidence in gaming. Mobile games may be targeted at a different demographic, but they're still people who are no more or less intelligent overall than those of us who consider ourselves gamers, and if they get screwed over enough, there will be backlash. Normally, I'm aware that other industries get away with this kind of thing all the time, but an industry being able to destroy itself from within is a risk of targeting a "fad." It's really kind of sad to watch. It doesn't have to be this way, but the honest and earnest are being buried under a landslide of junk.

[The E]

Eventually, if there's enough shovelware, it'll start to erode consumer confidence in gaming.

No, it'll start eroding the confidence in the marketplaces. Which just means that the market transitions to a more curated model, not that the market itself will go away completely.

Also, I really do not buy the argument that a big failure in the mobile F2P space will have an appreciable effect on the other forms of video gaming.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Eventually, if there's enough shovelware, it'll start to erode consumer confidence in gaming.

No, it'll start eroding the confidence in the marketplaces. Which just means that the market transitions to a more curated model, not that the market itself will go away completely.

Also, I really do not buy the argument that a big failure in the mobile F2P space will have an appreciable effect on the other forms of video gaming.

Nah, I don't mean the whole industry - console and PC gamers are too entrenched to care about what happens to mobile gaming, but I meant the mobile industry. Sorry, I should have specified! I think the demographics of mobile and mainstream gaming are so different they might as well be separate from each other.

The current business model is definitely heading for destruction. You're probably right in that a new business model will take its place, but whether or not it remains successful is kind of a crapshoot. The last time it happened, Nintendo came along at the right time with the right ideas and resurrected it, but if mobile gaming doesn't have a company like that that will get the timing right, who knows what'll happen to it?

[Hobbie]

It may have been this:

Incidentally, when this is released I'm going to play the crap out of it.

[Mr. Vega]

I cannot wait until mobile gaming dies and the masses move on to the next fad. Just hope they don't take the entire gaming industry down with them. There are a frightening number of similarities between gaming now and gaming in 1983 when the house of cards came crashing down the first time. Different platforms, same predatory and overly opportunistic business practices. Those who learn nothing from history...

The analogy to the 83 crash is flawed, to say the least. It's a vastly different industry these days.

Also, remember that the vast majority of mobile games aren't made for gamers. Being annoyed at something that was never meant to appeal to you is silly

Two very big differences between now and 1983: the infinitely larger and more diverse consumer base and a much less top heavy industry. The enormous mass of AAA publishers is dying slowly rather than in a sudden crash, which is allowing lower budget and indie games and alternative development models to slowly take over their market share. Maybe a crash is coming, maybe an impact will kill the dinosaurs suddenly, but the mammals are already well along in their evolution.

[Dragon]

TBH, that would probably refresh the industry quite a bit. Though I'm not too fond of very low-budget games, a well done indie game can be much better than stuff AAA publishers make. Heck, even the very institution of the "game publisher" slowly starts becoming redundant. Hardly anyone buys box versions of games these days (the last game I wanted to do that for was ArmAIII, but the perspective of alpha access made me revise that decision).