Is That a Console in Your Pocket?

The war for gamers is moving (has moved?) out of the living room:

A long-running battle between Apple Inc. and Google Inc. for mobile dominance is spreading to the most lucrative genre of apps: videogames.

The two Silicon Valley giants have been wooing game developers to ensure that top-tier game titles arrive first on devices powered by their respective operating systems, people familiar with the situation said.

In exchange, Apple and Google are offering to provide a promotional boost for these games by giving them premium placement on their app stores’ home pages and features lists, these people said.

Apple and Google’s battle is the headline story at a time when Microsoft and Sony’s latest releases still have that new console smell.

I’m not sure I’ve touched our Xbox 360 — released not long before the original iPhone — since the App Store opened the following year. And I’ve had no desire to buy and Xbox One or a Playstation 4, even with small boys in the house, in need of distractions.

Are the console wars over?