Why is gaming on Android still lacking and so bad?

[NaOH]

well, use skyfire or splashtop remote or cloud browse or anything along those lines.

The difference is that there are alternatives for missing bits and pieces, whereas you can't actually do anything about lack of actual gaming apps.

html5

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Well, use Skyfire or Splashtop Remote or Cloud Browse or anything along those lines.

The difference is that there are alternatives for missing bits and pieces, whereas you can't actually do anything about lack of actual gaming apps.

Sure you can , if I'm not mistaken HTC has partnered with OnLine to bring that services to their devices. That's as valid of a solution as using Splashtop and has the added advantage of allowing users to access games that are actually good.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

DD runs better on my Atrix then my iPhone, and it looks better. You can go game by game if you'd like, the fact is that you are running a phone with an utter POS for a GPU and it's holding it back, badly.

This is just a pathetic excuse. The Droid isn't that old. It's not even 2 years old yet.

The GPU might not be top notch but it blows past an iPod touch 1G, 2G and the iPhone 2G and 3G. Yet all those devices run Angry Birds just fine. Look, I admit the Droid isn't the fastest thing, but we're talking ANGRY BIRDS.

You can tell me how slow my GeForce 3 is, but if my 2ghz Pentium 4 can't run Starcraft 1 smoothly, it's not because of my old hardware. It's probably software. That shit was designed to run on a 400mhz system without a 3D accelerator.

The funny thing is that HTC cranked out a bunch of Adreno 200 phones like the Nexus One, Desire, and ALL THOSE WINDOWS Phone 7 devices which are all inferior to the original Droid's SGX530.

You're making sorryass excuses for why Android games can't run well. The overhead is just TOO GREAT. You don't need state of the art hardware to run Angry Birds. You're basically saying that if you don't have the latest and greatest, expect your shit to run slow and tough luck.

It was never like that on iOS until iOS 4 hit the iPhone 3G. But then again what do you expect from a truly antiquated device with an ARM11 processor right?

 

[alent1234]

I don't think the iPhone 3g even had a gpu. The 3gs was the first one in 2009

 

[runawayprisoner]

Sure you can , if I'm not mistaken HTC has partnered with OnLine to bring that services to their devices. That's as valid of a solution as using Splashtop and has the added advantage of allowing users to access games that are actually good.

OnLive? Last I checked, their apps only allow you to view what's going on and not play it.

I'd justify using Flash via remote desktop to view websites and watch videos, but I don't see how it can work for playing games. Tried OnLive on my computer. The delay was really horrible. You'd have to be a precog to be able to use it decently.

Perhaps when all of us get Optic Fiber for $10/month with unlimited data allowance.

And either way, the lack of gaming on Android is still real.

I don't think the iPhone 3g even had a gpu. The 3gs was the first one in 2009

iPhone 3G does have a PowerVR MBX that is quite decent at 2D acceleration.

 

[Seero]

I have been toying with an HTC Inspire and I am shocked at how bad the gaming is compared to IOS. I could understand a year or two ago, but 300k plus Android phones are being activated a day and marketshare is steady increasing

Lack of standard, specifications and tools. Look at how many games made for Unix/Linux.

This will change once game engine starts to show up, but that may also mean that you need a new phone.

 

[Red Storm]

Lack of standard, specifications and tools. Look at how many games made for Unix/Linux.

This.

If it's really that big of a problem for some of you, then... well, get an iPhone. The pros of having a wide range of devices on all carriers far outweighs mobile gaming.

 

[cheezy321]

This.

If it's really that big of a problem for some of you, then... well, get an iPhone. The pros of having a wide range of devices on all carriers far outweighs mobile gaming.

Sure its nice to have choice. But you only make that choice one time. Its not like you can change the choice of your phone/carrier every single month. You do download apps for that phone on a continuous basis. That choice happens all the time over the course of a month. The choice of an actual phone only happens once, the choice of an app happens hundreds of times over the lifetime of the phone.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Sure its nice to have choice. But you only make that choice one time. Its not like you can change the choice of your phone/carrier every single month. You do download apps for that phone on a continuous basis. That choice happens all the time over the course of a month. The choice of an actual phone only happens once, the choice of an app happens hundreds of times over the lifetime of the phone.

Your choice of a phone and carrier is only made once, but it affects you constantly for as long as you have that phone.

The iPhone isn't a bad choice for a lot of people but if you want a larger screen, or SAMOLED, or a keyboard, or 4G, or if you want to go on Sprint or T-Mobile, you can't get that with the iPhone. There are plenty of reasons to recommend the iPhone but that argument isn't valid.

 

[cheezy321]

Your choice of a phone and carrier is only made once, but it affects you constantly for as long as you have that phone.

The iPhone isn't a bad choice for a lot of people but if you want a larger screen, or SAMOLED, or a keyboard, or 4G, or if you want to go on Sprint or T-Mobile, you can't get that with the iPhone. There are plenty of reasons to recommend the iPhone but that argument isn't valid.

Yes, of course it affects you throughout the ownership of the phone. Still, that choice only happens once (every 2 years). That is all I am saying.

 

[BenSkywalker]

The GPU might not be top notch but it blows past an iPod touch 1G, 2G and the iPhone 2G and 3G. Yet all those devices run Angry Birds just fine.

And V2 SLI could run Quake 3 faster at 800x600 then the original GeForce could at 1600x1200. Think hard, you may be able to figure out the relation

You're making sorryass excuses for why Android games can't run well.

The games run amazingly well, better then on my iPhone for titles on both. I don't know if you are simply trying to be absurd or if you simply don't grasp the fact that you have a massively outdated POS phone that wasn't very good when it launched. It had great marketing behind it and sold well, much like the original iPhone, that doesn't mean the device was very well made.

Edit-

Went and found a link with some scores to look over, on these graphs there should be an orange block between the green and yellow. That orange block is how well the part handles 2D acceleration features, the original Droid is the slowest part for that particular task. This isn't some crazy idea I came up with in my head, your exacting problem is very well known with the phone you bought, it has nothing at all to do with Android, it has to do with your phone.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/ultimatedroid/100171-what-quadrant-scores-you-getting-rom.html

 

[ibex333]

Its a smartphone, not a gameboy.

This comment has FAIL written all over it. I dont understand why so many people agreed with it.

Why cant a smartphone be a gameboy at the same time just because it can?! Eh? Apple can do it. Why not Android?

Oh but android phones have so much various hardware while Apple uses the same hardware... Well, how about we stop the hardware race and focus on software for a change? After all, what good is a dual core CPU, when you cannot do anything with it?

And the very excuse about the various hardware... Gimmie a break! Games are written for Linux. Why cant they be written for android? And Angry Birds? Not good enough, when the iPhone got STREET FIGHTER IV!!!

But.. The Android platform got emulators... Possibly more of them than on the iPhone. And the iPhone does not offer a physical keyboard. Good point. That's very true. But that's basically all Android got going for it, game wise.

Seriously. This is just not right. Something's gotta change. People keep talking about how Android is so great and it will destroy Apple eventually.

I just dont see it happening any time soon. I got an Droid 2 Global. Big mistake. I should have gotten an iPhone. Now I am stuck with this useless device, that keep lagging, and freezing every now and then for another 2 years.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

And V2 SLI could run Quake 3 faster at 800x600 then the original GeForce could at 1600x1200. Think hard, you may be able to figure out the relation



The games run amazingly well, better then on my iPhone for titles on both. I don't know if you are simply trying to be absurd or if you simply don't grasp the fact that you have a massively outdated POS phone that wasn't very good when it launched. It had great marketing behind it and sold well, much like the original iPhone, that doesn't mean the device was very well made.

Edit-

Went and found a link with some scores to look over, on these graphs there should be an orange block between the green and yellow. That orange block is how well the part handles 2D acceleration features, the original Droid is the slowest part for that particular task. This isn't some crazy idea I came up with in my head, your exacting problem is very well known with the phone you bought, it has nothing at all to do with Android, it has to do with your phone.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/ultimatedroid/100171-what-quadrant-scores-you-getting-rom.html

The Motorola Droid is NOT MASSIVELY OUTDATED. If it takes THAT much horsepower to run Android or Android Games, then perhaps the software is too bloated? Like I said, this is VERY comparable to an iPhone 3GS which is in no way outdated or struggles to run its basic operating system. Plus, the CPU is easily overclockable to beyond 1.1ghz. The phone isn't even 2 years old. Like I said, you're just making this argument because new phones are coming out and every new phone that gets released just leads to you calling the previous phone MASSIVELY outdated. Sorry, but if an i7 920 to you is massively outdated because it came out in 2008, and that's your explanation for why performance isn't good enough on Windows 7, because you *NEED* a 990X processor or something, then perhaps you should re-evaluate what is "MASSIVELY OUTDATED"

So maybe you should read your own post and look at what you are looking at. First of all, you're comparing against a stock Moto Droid, which we know SUCKS BALLS. The top result you see is an optimized and overclocked Moto Droid.

The original Moto Droid lacked JIT with Android 2.0. JIT gives you a HUGE Quadrant boost, and all of this is theoretical anyway. It's like having an insane 3D Mark score. Nonetheless, the overclocked Moto Droid kills the Nexus One stock. In fact a STOCK Moto Droid kills a stock Nexus One in gaming performance.

I am not running a Milestone STOCK. It's overclocked to 1.1ghz and gets Quadrant scores in the 1300 range. Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of custom kernels, so we can't cross the 1500 area as easily yet.

Yeah, you can cry all you want about how my device sucks or whatever, but your own thread that you linked has people saying Quadrant means absolutely nothing in day to day performance. JIT isn't gonna make your 3D gaming run 3x faster just because it triples your Quadrant score.

Similarly Linpack tests really favor Snapdragon processors, even though most people know OMAP and Hummingbird are slightly faster clock for clock. You can easily get 2x performance on a similarly clocked Snapdragon processor in Linpack. Thus, these synthetic benchmarks are practically useless.

But at the end of the day you want to criticize my device all you want, when a 2009 iPhone doesn't get crushed by software today. I once again reiterate it's Angry Birds. I'm not asking the phone to run DD or any crazy software out there. A simple 2D game like Angry Birds which runs smoothly on all iOS devices without hitches. You still can't dispute the fact that my device offers better GPU performance than a Nexus One (even your own link shows the overclocked 2D performance beating a stock Nexus 1). You also don't address why other devices like the Desire or a handful of WP7 devices which run the inferior Adreno 200 GPU.

So basically you are suggesting that if I say pick up a Nexus S, I'll never have an issue with performance again, and if I complain that Angry Birds cant run smoothly, you'll tell me its because I have a POS phone compared to a dual core Atrix or dual core Sensation. Yeah, keep making all the excuses.

Also your V2 SLI vs GF2 is a terrible analogy. Do you even have benchmarks of the V2 SLI killing a GF2? If so, you most likely are choosing a scenario where you're CPU limited.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/585/12

 

[BenSkywalker]

Plus, the CPU is easily overclockable to beyond 1.1ghz.

Your CPU is NOT the problem- I even linked you benchmarks. Your *GPU* is the worst in the database for accelerating 2D functions. This isn't me making anything up- I posted a link with charts.

The original Moto Droid lacked JIT with Android 2.0.

/facepalm

If JIT and overclocking the CPU increases your 2D performance score it means your GPU isn't accelerating 2D functions.

You also don't address why other devices like the Desire or a handful of WP7 devices which run the inferior Adreno 200 GPU.

The Adreno 200 is significantly faster then your GPU at accelerating 2D functions. This wouldn't surprise anyone who is familiar with the lineage of each of them honestly.

A simple 2D game like Angry Birds which runs smoothly on all iOS devices without hitches.

Back to my original point, guess I'll have to link it up for you to understand-

http://www.anandtech.com/show/429/6

At 1024x768 the V3 3000 scored 42.5 FPS while the GeForce DDR only scored 35.5 at 1600x1200- and yes, that is almost exactly the same type of comparison you are doing.

So basically you are suggesting that if I say pick up a Nexus S, I'll never have an issue with performance again, and if I complain that Angry Birds cant run smoothly, you'll tell me its because I have a POS phone compared to a dual core Atrix or dual core Sensation.

Get a phone that has a GPU with decent 2D acceleration and you won't have to worry about it. It really is that simple. When running a game your phone's CPU is splitting duties between game code and graphics code- get a phone where the GPU handles the graphics code for you and it will run just fine.

 

[Bateluer]

You're arguments are invalid.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...magic-2-homm-2-on-android-and-boy-is-it-good/

So, when I heard that Heroes of Might and Magic 2 was ported to Android (yeah, it’s free and open source), I had to check it out immediately. I’ve been playing Android games for over a year, but none of them survived on my phone for more than a few weeks (the record keeper is Tower Raiders). Even though HOMM2 is quite old (15 years), if I could get it to run on my phone or tablet, it would provide hours of entertainment that these devices are still missing to this day.

 

[Pliablemoose]

The fandroid's heads would explode with gaming on the iPad...

But I guess it's a tablet and not a GameBoy, oh wait...

 

[Commodus]

Extra factors to consider: exposure and piracy.

Developers to this day complain that it's very hard to get seen in Android Market. Much of it is lain out in a way that exposes just a sliver of the apps you'd expect. Not that Apple is perfect, but how many times now have we seen a tiny indie developer explode in interest on iOS because they got mentioned or included in a category? It's hard to be a pro Android game developer if you know your app might be buried from day one.

On piracy, there's definitely much more of a culture for it than on iOS. Remember, the main reason Angry Birds on Android is ad-supported is because Rovio didn't think most customers on the latform would buy, even at 99 cents. Android apps aren't necessarily cheaper; it's that users expect the Android versions to either cost less or ship for free, and a few of them are adamant enough to pirate it to make it free.

In an environment like that, why would you want to spend your money writing an Android game when you know you'll make more money on iOS?

 

[Anubis]

Its a smartphone, not a gameboy.

this

i never have and never will think of my phone as a gaming device

seriously i play angry birds maybe once a week if that, and that pretty much only if im taking a shit and want to waste some time

 

[BenSkywalker]

The fandroid's heads would explode with gaming on the iPad...

This is very true, but the iPad is still relatively new, you have to give Apple and developers time to come up with something other then a tech demo, and you also have to allow developers time to wrap their heads around the giant leap backwards to a 4:3 form factor for gaming. Yes, gaming on the iPad right now is terrible, but be fair and give them time and things should improve steadily. If it weren't for the enormous amounts of retro gaming openly available for the Android tablets they would be in even worse shape then the iPad for gaming(yes, as hard as it is to believe, that is possible).

Extra factors to consider: exposure and piracy.

Exposure is largely due to developers. You want to build awareness for a quality game? Submit it to reviewers, as many as you can. If I'm a game developer I'm not expecting WalMart to give my title better shelf space then the rest of the random crap that comes in, in fact I expect to have an inferior location if I have an inferior marketing budget. If you self publish your titles, it is your responsibility to promote them.

Remember, the main reason Angry Birds on Android is ad-supported

You mean why they started with an ad supported version? They have a paid version without the ads for Android now. On a realistic basis though, Rovio is making ~$2Million a month in advertising-

http://www.arcticstartup.com/2011/04/13/rovio-revenue-14me-in-q12011

Even giving a game away for free, you can still make lots of money if its' done right.

In an environment like that, why would you want to spend your money writing an Android game when you know you'll make more money on iOS?

Unless, Apple decides to reject your game. Either side of the fence has problems, one is something the developer can control(proper marketing, have the app 'phone home' to combat piracy) the other they can't.

 

[Pliablemoose]

This is very true, but the iPad is still relatively new, you have to give Apple and developers time to come up with something other then a tech demo, and you also have to allow developers time to wrap their heads around the giant leap backwards to a 4:3 form factor for gaming. Yes, gaming on the iPad right now is terrible, but be fair and give them time and things should improve steadily. If it weren't for the enormous amounts of retro gaming openly available for the Android tablets they would be in even worse shape then the iPad for gaming(yes, as hard as it is to believe, that is possible).

Gaming on the iPad and iOS in general are pretty good IMHO...