Has the NGP Killed All Hope for 3DS First-Person Shooters?

To keep things simpler, I'm just looking to compare first person shooter games; that is, a game viewed from the first person perspective where your most frequent task is shooting, and you play as a human or humanoid figure that you have full control over. There are certainly some games that include first-person gameplay sections, such as TRON 2.0 Killer App for the Game Boy Advance, maybe you could play a third-person shooter in first-person perspective if you wanted, or something like Touch the Dead that is most definitely first-person, but fully on rails. I'm looking at the most frequent, default gameplay style. 

Video games let even her do this.

It may surprise you to know that the DS has more first person shooters than the PSP. Though, maybe not. Maybe you see the "one analog stick and it's on the wrong side" thing as a big enough hurdle for first person shooters, so it just makes sense, even if it seems like the PSP has the processing power to better accomadate the genre. Despite those considerations, it may still surprise you to know that the DS has almost twice as many first-person shooters as the PSP, and the PSP only beats out the GBA in first-person shooter count by one.


It's really worth noting how many more third-person shooters the PSP got over the DS. For some styles of third-person shooter games, the gameplay is really not very different from a first-person shooter, but this is more about the expectations in terms of controls. I think it's obviously reflected by the number of third-person shooters on the PSP over first-person shooters; developers/publishers felt that the shooter controls that they thought they could implement in the game were more acceptable to the consumer in the form of a third-person shooter. You could look at Sony's own second-party effort, Resistance: Retribution. First-person on Sony's DualShock controller, but third-person when it made it's way to PSP.

The fact that the DS has more first-person shooters than the PSP is striking to me because when I look at the genre today, it seems that developers/publishers lean toward the more powerful systems with the genre. But that may not necessarily be because of the console power, and instead be a factor of the audiences, which may or may not be attracted to more detailed graphics and/or the violence inherent to the genre. While the PSP has more processing power than the DS, many might argue that the placement of the analog inputs of each device (analog nub, touch-screen) meant that first-person shooters can control better on the DS (and iOS devices, arguably). But the NGP appears to trump the 3DS in both graphics and controls, depending on your affinity for 3D. An original first-person shooter game and/or first-person shooter IP for a handheld appears to be riskier than just making the game for a current home console when you start approaching console level presentation with the 3DS, NGP, and PSP. With the NGP a port of a high-dollar console first-person shooter could be made relatively easily and cheaply. Good sales for those ports could show developers/publishers that an audience is behind the platform to support more first-person shooters, which encourages higher-quality ports/version for the platform, as well as new games in the genre.

All this doesn't necessarily steal first-person shooters away from the 3DS. More telling is simply that the NGP already has quality first-person shooter games shown off and promised in the future, such as Killzone, Resistance, the Call of Duty series, and the NGP has the approval of Mark Rein, vice-president of Epic Games who are the makers of a few first-person shooters and the popular Unreal Engine(s). 3DS doesn't have anything solid* as far as first-person shooters go. Sure we could reasonably assume that n-Space will make more versions of the yearly Call of Duty games, but 3DS doesn't have the advantage of it's own Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt pack-in to lead a developer/publisher to believe that an audience of people wanting first-person shooters is available right off the bat. This could mean that the NGP gets its first first-person shooter game before the 3DS gets one, despite the difference in projected release dates. We can hope that the Renegade Kid team (and a publisher) are comfortable with the 3DS price model (buying and developing games), and confident enough in a 3DS exclusive first-person shooter to make one. Or three. High Voltage has hinted very strongly at a 3DS game from the Conduit series*, but my best guess is that it is currently a port of the first The Conduit or Conduit 2, and that any publisher they would secure would only be willing to support a port of the first The Conduit or Conduit 2, rather than an entirely original game from the series. Whatever you think of the quality of the first The Conduit, it remains that most (including myself) that wanted to play it already have, and it stands to reason that without any solid information, someone looking forward to Conduit 2 would get the Wii version rather than waiting for an announcement of a 3DS version.

n-Space, a reliable developer of handheld FPSes.

Not to be so glum about the situation, we should definitely consider that 3DS could get it's own Renegade Kid, a development house dedicated to the system and fans with a penchant for first-person games. Or we could look forward to a number of smaller, focused first-person shooters through the 3DSWare service, like we see from the App Store or WiiWare. A few ports of first-person shooters "courtesy" of GameLoft, perhaps. And of course Renegade Kid and High Voltage could continue to support Nintendo systems and fans with first-person shooter efforts.

I don't mean to seem like I put a lot of stock in first-person shooters, either as an vital component of selling a consumer on a system, or as a vital component of the quality of a system's library. First person shooters are certainly big sellers (at least in the states), but I myself only pick up one every 12 to 18 or so months currently. For the price that I suspect the NGP to be, I don't think I will be picking one up over say, a PS3 or 360. I have a 3DS pre-ordered, and as I mentioned I think the control options it has, whether touch-screen or gyroscopic, would lend themselves to a fun first-person shooter no less and no more than what the NGP offers. I am particularly interested in seeing a first-person perspective game of any genre in 3D, and usually those are of the shooter variety. As well, a gyroscopically controlled first-person game has been the "dream game" of mine for many years, a virtual window into another world, and the addition of 3D only amplifies that experience to a new level I never even imagined, so I hope you see why I would be so interested in the subject and genre to write a piece just about that.

Do you guys see the NGP poised to steal some FPS thunder from the 3DS? Does it bother you that the 3DS doesn't have any FPS thunder in the first place yet?

EDIT: High Voltage slipped this little confirmation by me as I was researching, writing, and posting this piece. They are definitely working on a Conduit series game that they plan to shop around to publishers. No confirmation if it is a first-person shooter, but it's most likely over a top down version ala The Grinder on PS3/360. They seem excited about the prospect of being a stand out title for the 3DS, so the implication seems like it will be a first-person shooter.



Below are just a collection of the shooters I came across while researching this piece. The lists for first-person shooters are complete, I believe. However the lists for third-person shooters are likely to be very incomplete.

GBA first-person shooter: Ecks vs. Sever 1 & 2, Dark Arena, Serious Sam, Doom 1 & 2, Duke Nukem Advance

DS first-person shooter: GoldenEye Rogue Agent, Quantum of Solace, GoldenEye 007, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Mobilized, Black Ops, World at War, Modern Warfare 2, Dementium 1 & 2, MOON, C.O.R.E., Peter Jackson's Kind of Kong, Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011, Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'D, Bionicle Heroes

PSP first-person shooter: Call of Duty: Roads to Victory, Medal of Honor: Heroes 1 & 2, Brothers in Arms D-Day, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Coded Arms, Coded Arms: Contagion, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

App Store first-person shooter: Star Wars: Imperial Academy, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Archetype, N.O.V.A. 1 & 2, Modern Combat: Sandstorm & 2: Black Pegasas, Puppet War: FPS, DOOM: Resurrection, Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum, DOOM Classic, Eliminate Pro, Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front, Rise of the Triad, Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies, Duke Nukem 3D, NEX, iFPS Online, Prey Invasion, Hill Billy, Alien Mangle, Zombie Mansion, Cube

GBA 3D third-person: Kill Switch

DS third-person shooter, on-rails, first-person other: Brother's in Arms DS, Touch the Dead, Bloodstone, Deep Labyrinth, Unknown Soldier (japan), Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune, Custom Robo: Arena

PSP third-person shooter, third-person other: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 & Predator, Space Invaders: Evolution, Star Wars: Battlefront Elite Squadron, Renegade Squadron, II, Resistance Retribution, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror & Logan's Shadow & Combat Ops, SOCOM: Tactical Strike & Fire Team Bravo 1 & 2 & 3, Gun: Showdown, Chili Con Carnage, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, James Bond 007: From Russia with Love, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Essentials, Infected, Dead to Rights: Reckoning, 3rd Birthday, Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops & Peace Walker, Gundam Battle Tactics, Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable (Japan), Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (Japan), Oretachi no Sabage Versus (Japan)