iPhone, Android and iPad, which is the best mobile gaming console? Why?

[programmingservices]

Planning to build a 3D Game on Mobile Platform

Please opine on which is the best mobile gaming console out of 3? Also to back it, if you provide a valid reason too.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

iOS at this point. Target iPhone and scale up for iPad, and you have the largest contiguous market. Android has compatbilitiy issues. The advantage of Android development you can use your PC, whereas iOS development needs the expense of a Mac if you don't already have one. Of course a little depends on the game. If you can offer something a little unique, you may stand out more on Android than iOS as there's less content on Android. Better yet, use a decent middleware and release on both iOS and Android.

You'd be better off asking on developer forums though. You'll have contact with developers who've tried both and can give better feedback.

 

[Mize]

Well, on top of that iOS just kills Android in 3D benchmarks and 3D energy efficiency.
I wish it were otherwise (I prefer my Android tablets to my iPad), but for gaming it's not even close.

 

[Arwin]

Depending on what your background is, you can also try Playstation Mobile, which runs on Vita and a few Android phones (will become more). It's currently in open beta and free, and comes with a lot of game related examples. It is a lot like XNA (C# based). Don't know if it is good enough yet for 3D stuff, but it's certainly interesting, and if it takes off, it could make life for Android developers a little easier. I certainly much prefer it simply because I'm not a fan of Objective C.

Right now of the platforms you mention iOS is a better eco-system in that more games are avaible on it and more people buying it, but for that same reason you might as well consider Windows Phone 8 / Surface as your target, as when that launches, there will be less competition commercially than you have on iOS (same for Vita).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Isn't PlayStation mobile Mono based? Mono seems a good choice and moreso if you'll be able to port to Vita for some small-market recognition.

 

[Arwin]

Isn't PlayStation mobile Mono based? Mono seems a good choice and moreso if you'll be able to port to Vita for some small-market recognition.

Yeah, pretty much. MonoGame2D has just been successfully ported by some people, and MonoGame3D is well underway it seems.

 

[liolio]

I would say iOS is more mature wrt to gaming than Android.
I heard an advertisement yesterday on the radio from gamestop where they were promoting the iOS platform/devices (rebates, exchange of you previous gaming platform). I think it's somehow relevant, iOS is turning into a real gaming platform.

After reading all the praise about the Nexus 7 and how the form factor is really good for gaming, I feel like what iOS really to get "there" is a cheap mini iPad (7 inches @299$).

 

[Arwin]

One huge plus for Android for 3D games though is support for controllers.