Hi guys. I haven't played in a while (except for four hours of the Target for Today scenario). In fact, other than that, I don't think I've played since the Battle Over the Winter Line scenario. A lot of things contribute to this; boredom, player numbers, dar being constantly down and the suggestion by a trainer that I wasn't very good. I guess after 19 years he was right so I stopped playing. I've still been lurking around the boards a little but not like I used to.
During this time I bought my first smart phone. I was a relatively early adopter of cell phones but when I lost my job for over a year I dropped mine due to cost and went several years without one. After moving a couple of years ago I'd bundled my TV, phone and Internet with Comcast but if my cable went out I was dead in the water. So, for that reason and the fact that I hate Comcast I dropped their TV (the building I live in offers it free at a level I'm happy with) and phone service.
So being a first time smart phone owner and having always liked racing games on my PC I downloaded Real Racing 3 despite my vow to never support anything by EA (after the Air Warriors debacle). I know, I know... in-app purchases... ugh! Well, it turns out that I'm now about 1/3 of the way through the game both in terms of events and cars purchased (with in-race earnings) and have spent $1.99 in real money simply to get the in-app ads to turn off. I had been thinking I'd be willing to pay for the game to not have the ads but an Internet search told me to make any in-app purchase and they'd go away so I essentially bought the game for $1.99. It's fun, the graphics are awesome, the physics are good and you can compete online against other players. All of this and I don't need anything other than my smart phone and $1.99. Not only that but I have my choice of touch or tilt controls.
So while I've been whiling away my time playing Real Racing on my cell phone I've been pondering the decline of Aces High. I notice that World of Tanks is also available for Android (but haven't tried it... yet). How can a game like Aces High, that requires a pretty good computer, special controls (if you want to do it right) and a $15/mo. subscription compete with this? Frankly, in the long run, I don't think it can without getting where the customers are, and there are more of them walking around with a smart phone than there are sitting in front of a computer at any given moment.
I'll admit that my PC racing games have higher fidelity than Real Racing but it's not that far off. I have to believe that HT could create a suitable version of AH for mobile devices, if only as a means to draw people into the game on PC. And if they don't go for the PC version that's OK as long as he can find a way to monetize the mobile app.
I know some think the new graphics update is going to draw people back into the game and, to some degree so do I but it's mostly not going to be new blood, but older players returning to check out the changes.
Buying this cell phone has really opened my eyes to the possibilities and as these things get more refined and more powerful I think it's going to be a rough road ahead for most PC games. I had been thinking about upgrading my desktop a while back but am coming to the realization that the only reason to do that is for AH. Outside of that my laptop and smart phone do everything I need. How many people can you convince to spend $1000+ on a computer, $100 on controllers and $15/mo. on a subscription just to play a game? A few I'm sure but it seems to me the competitive landscape of PC gaming is changing and doing so rapidly.
I'm sure HT is already thinking about this if not working on it. If not he may be the last buggy whip manufacturer.
