Many people disown the fact that games are playable on mobile. Surely if it doesn’t involve a controller or mouse hooked up to a monitor it can’t be a valid system, right? Wrong.

While mobile gaming certainly isn’t a powerhouse way to play video games, it’s certainly valid and without a doubt the most accessible. Everyone has a smartphone and nearly everyone uses it to play games in some way. In fact, mobile gaming made 34.8 billion USD in 2015 alone and accounted for 27 percent of the market in 2014. To say that mobile gaming isn’t valid would be almost the same as saying CDs don’t constitute album sales. Actually scratch that, no one uses CDs anymore.

Pictured here: two terrible, terrible things.

Let’s take a look at the scale of games coming out. Sure, you have your everyday small games: Peggle, Flappy Bird, Boom Beach, but what you also have is a growing scope of big games. Titles like Infinity Blade and Assassin’s Creed Identity, but feature full 3D graphics. Identity even features an open world. These games are beginning to be on par with handheld consoles such as the Vita and all 2 million of the DS models.

Ahhh, gorgeous PS2 era skylines…

The most important aspect of mobile gaming, though? Emulators. Remember every Arcade, NES, SNES, and Genesis game you have fond memories of? Through emulators of varying legality, you can now play those on the go. This brings an entirely new scope of gaming and the ability to introduce these games to a younger audience. Ever wanted to show a niece or nephew how difficult Contra was but don’t want to dig out an NES? Now you can, but in a format they’ll be more comfortable with and you don’t have to rummage through boxes of your parent’s old dildos to find the cartridges you need.

It’s gotta be in here somewhere…

So, instead of being a twat complaining about how all 10-year-olds do nothing but play Angry Birds on their iPhone that costs enough to feed a family of 4 for two weeks, why not just buckle up and admit its better to have them there than on GTA Online, okay? All gaming devices are created equal. Except the Ouya, that things a piece of shit.

About the Author

Cameron Corliss

Cameron Corliss is a freelance games journalist who sometimes comes off as professional. He usually has a controller in his hands, and a woman in his arms. One of those statements was false.