From what people tell me, there are longer gaming experiences to be had on iPhone. I don’t know how popular those games are but they are there.

But if the most popular games settle for under $5, then developers will probably just make shorter games, give you 5-10 hours of gameplay at most. Lot of console games are in that range or a bit longer.

I figure with the size of the screen and battery limitations, gaming on the go is like eating tapas instead of a multicourse, sit-down meal.

And it’s probably going to apply to the PSP2 and whatever Nintendo comes out with next. I’ve heard Sony is courting the smaller arcade types of games they feature on PSN as well as retail-type games.

But apart from the iPhone and smart phones possibly changing the format of mobile games — another analogy would be how music went from singles to LP to CD to now singles or individual MP3 tracks as playback technology changed — you have the issue of price. Smart phones will be subsidized to $200 and offer movie-playback and variety of applications besides games.

Dedicated gaming devices, especially the PSP line which has positioned itself as having the best performance, would have to pack more expensive silicon and still deliver a competitive price.

Without the subsidies that smart phones get.