I’m not going to join the general mindless adolation of the new PSP platform that’s happening around the web (and how interesting to see that there are still plenty of boxes on the shelves). To be honest, the new age of handhelds depresses me for one reason — they brought 3D to the handheld. This is the beginning of the end of what made the handheld so cool to a developer. Before this, the handheld was still a place where a team of 6 guys could make a hot shit, gameplay-driven little game. Now, the handheld is in the ridiculous arms race that has engulfed the consoles.

For my birthday, my brother got me a DS. I’ll admit, I’m not very much of a handheld guy. I liked playing Fire Emblem and Advance Wars quite a bit, but for the most part, I prefer sitting in front of a PC. Still, genres of gaming that was otherwise dead was reborn two or three years ago were able to live on on the handheld: puzzle games, arcade-y games, sidescrollers… all genres that have effectively disappeared from your PC and console.

Why? Because they aren’t realistic. And realism is now what motivates all of the big 3 console companies. They want to compete on teh shin3y.

When I was working at Ninjaneering, we were working on an MMO that targetted social gamers — you know, the kind of people playing Tetris and the Sims. We talked to one of the big three development companies, who said that they were extremely interested — provided we moved from our cartoon-y art style to a realistic one that better showed off their hardware.

It’s no secret that the most beloved and memorable of all games have highly memorable, highly iconic and recognizable art styles. WoW’s engine isn’t nearly as powerful as EQ2’s, but it’s art is much more compelling. You can simply glance at a screenshot of Zelda, the Sims, Diablo, Starcraft and Doom II and know exactly what game you’re playing. But even those companies don’t seem to ‘get it’: here Ron Gilbert talks about how depressing it is that Zelda is abandoning their unique, cell-shaded look for an ultra-realistic visual appearance… that looks like every other title on the shelves. Even more depressing, many of the responses in the thread argue against him.

3D and realism have some pretty negative effects on our games. Realism narrows your game focus, as designers eschew the fantastical and the silly for the realistically depicted (and usually the boring and forgettable). 3D usually adds a camera control element to the game that makes it less accessible — I love Sly Cooper and Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time, but there’s little debate that both titles are a lot harder to control than the old 2d Castlevania and Mario games. And lets not forget, added realism drastically drives up the price of creating content for the game, and that increase is not matched by an equal increase in the number of sales. Plus, it results in shorter games.

Last I checked, the first Doom was still the best selling FPS of all time, and no other one came close. Subsequent offerings added features (jumping, climbing, alternate weapons, mouselook, etc) that increased the cool factor as well as the difficulty, and somehow the industry was surprised when the market narrowed. The only FPS that comes close to Doom’s numbers? Deer Hunter, which is Doom without that pesky ‘moving’ complication. There’s a lesson here.

So anyway, I got my DS on my birthday, and it came with a free copy of Metroid: Hunter. I was so excited when I saw it there: Metroid was a favorite of mine for the SNES, and the GBA Metroid that came out a year ago had looked pretty exciting. Imagine my disappointment when I found myself playing the 3D Metroid (aka the Gamecube). While driving through a 3D landscape with a freakin’ stylus on the touchscreen. Also, even with a backlit screen, I had to go into a darker room to really see what was going on in the 3D engine. News flash to the game companies: I play most of my handheld games in airports and doctor’s offices, and those tend to be pretty well-lit places.

I don’t expect Nintendo and Sony to ‘get’ this, though. I expect them to get into a ridiculous arms race, and then end up wondering why there isn’t as much excitement over their new crop of titles. But really: why would you play Wipeout on a 4 inch screen when you could play it on your 45 inch HDTV? Why would you play Quake on a handheld when you can play it on a 19″ monitor with a graphics accellerator, 3D sound, fraggin 15 of your closest friends over the Internet? The games that will continue to excite on the handhelds? Pokemon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem. And Castlevania as long as they aren’t stupid enough to make it 3D too.

Here’s a hint: for everything that the PSP can do, the title everyone is talking about is the puzzle game.

Original comment thread is here.