Apple Positioning iPhone and iPod Touch as Mobile Gaming Devices

[MacRumors]

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs acknowledged that the iPhone and iPod touch "may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market this holiday season."

The sentiment also echoes comments made by Apple's Greg Joswiak, the vice president of worldwide iPod marketing, when asked about the state of iPhone and iPod touch gaming.

I think you're going to see a wide variety (of games on the App Store). And they range all the way from casual to big time action games. This is where we are, less than four months into it. Squint your eyes and imagine where we will be in six months time, or a year. The graphics capablity is greater than the DS, we have multitouch, the screen is larger and there's an accelerometer. And we have the App Store. I think it's the future of gaming.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Sega has sold over 500,000 copies of Super Monkey Ball and that about 25% of the more than 200 million applications distributed by the App Store have been games.

These success stories have started to attract big name developers, including id Software who is said to be working on two iPhone games at this time.

TouchArcade.com covers the emerging iPhone gaming market which has recently seen the release of a wide variety of genres, including shooters (Defend!), 3D platformers (Armado) and retro remakes (Crystal Quest).



Article Link: Apple Positioning iPhone and iPod Touch as Mobile Gaming Devices

[DMann]

This was certainly in the cards.

[intel]

Games on the iphone have ruined my life. My wife left me and my kids think i'm useless because i spend too much time playing. Bring on more games, i still have my life savings to spend to buy more games before my wife gets it all.
Woohoo, more games! (This is where i hope 2 wrongs make a right.).

[danbirchall]

It's interesting that SMB has sold more than half a million copies already. This bodes well for it eventually cracking the 1 million mark. Right now, Wikipedia lists only 8 mobile phone games as having sold more than a million copies. Of course, since the Touch isn't a phone, I suppose once something sells a million copies, it'll need its own section on that list, like the DS and PSP have.

[Rybold]

This has already been posted. More info...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=594635

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1226...oo_hs&ru=yahoo

[arn]

Originally Posted by Rybold

This has already been posted.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=594635

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1226...oo_hs&ru=yahoo

The businessweek article was slightly different. I think Jobs' comments are notable, as I've always heard that he's always been anti-gaming.

arn

[teflon]

I think the success of iPod touch/iPhone games is because iPod touch/iPhone are excellent multimedia devices by itself. There are far more people who like to listen to music/ watch videos on devices than people who like to play games. Only the avid game players want to carry a gaming only device with them all the time. PSP had multimedia functions, but they were nowhere close in terms of user interface. But now, all these people who carry iPods anyway to listen to music have access to games. So now when they're bored, they'll whip out their iPod and play a few games. I never had a DS or PSP before, and I was never really interested in games, but now I too play games on my iPod touch when I'm bored.

[oyebto]

how bout a comparison with the PSP? haha.. i think it has better graphics but no touchscreen.

[CalmEnvy]

Doesn't matter to me, I don't play games to much on my touch anyways. I mean, it's never going to see a game like Crisis Core or God of War on it. I'll be sticking with my PSP for portable gaming.

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

Originally Posted by teflon

I think the success of iPod touch/iPhone games is because iPod touch/iPhone are excellent multimedia devices by itself. There are far more people who like to listen to music/ watch videos on devices than people who like to play games. Only the avid game players want to carry a gaming only device with them all the time. PSP had multimedia functions, but they were nowhere close in terms of user interface. But now, all these people who carry iPods anyway to listen to music have access to games. So now when they're bored, they'll whip out their iPod and play a few games. I never had a DS or PSP before, and I was never really interested in games, but now I too play games on my iPod touch when I'm bored.

I'm with you there. I would never buy a stand alone mobile gaming device because it would see so little use. But if I can have it alng with my phone/iPod/PDA/etc, then so much the better.

[nowonder24]

Originally Posted by QCassidy352

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)



I'm with you there. I would never buy a stand alone mobile gaming device because it would see so little use. But if I can have it alng with my phone/iPod/PDA/etc, then so much the better.

I'm with you guys, too.

And I wouldn't restrict this to gaming. As an amateur photgrapher, I would never buy a standalone camera with the specs and the dimensions of my phone. But as it happens to come with one, I have found myself using it from time to time.

[Eric Isaacson]

This is significant news, but I hope it doesn't dissuade other Apps from being worked on.
Some basic office functions Apps really need to be added to the Iphone to make it more viable for the business community.

[raggedjimmi]

It's not a popular opinion here, but as a GBA, DS and PSP owner I'm not seeing the iPhone as a proper gaming device. It seems to have casual and high-score games by the abundance - but no engrossing games like the above 3 systems that suck time away.
The GPU is just a shard off the PSP's, yet the CPU is leaps ahead. But it's completely limited by it's main feature; the touchscreen.
Even gamings biggest legends at Nintendo couldn't make gaming fully touchscreen only as the DS also has buttons. Some games work without buttons (Zelda, Kirby) but some genres flat out do not work and will never work on touchscreen alone.

Don't get me wrong. I have a few games on my iPod Touch but it's certainly never going to impact on the traditional handheld gaming systems.

[craig1410]

Originally Posted by raggedjimmi

It's not a popular opinion here, but as a GBA, DS and PSP owner I'm not seeing the iPhone as a proper gaming device. It seems to have casual and high-score games by the abundance - but no engrossing games like the above 3 systems that suck time away.
The GPU is just a shard off the PSP's, yet the CPU is leaps ahead. But it's completely limited by it's main feature; the touchscreen.
Even gamings biggest legends at Nintendo couldn't make gaming fully touchscreen only as the DS also has buttons. Some games work without buttons (Zelda, Kirby) but some genres flat out do not work and will never work on touchscreen alone.

Don't get me wrong. I have a few games on my iPod Touch but it's certainly never going to impact on the traditional handheld gaming systems.

Just wait until someone (possibly Apple themselves given SJ's recent comments) brings out a little gaming cradle into which the iPhone/iPod can be fitted to provide standard gaming controls. I think Belkin(?) had been rumoured to have such a device a little while back.

It's early days but I think we'll see the iPhone/iPod making huge leaps forward in the coming months.

Cheers,
Craig.

[Astro8973]

While I love my iPhone and use it all of the time, I don't play games on it very often. When I am bored I will whip out a game of Break or Tris, but that's it. When it comes to games, I want a real machine that can hook up to my monstrous tv. Until the iPhone can output video in 1080p, Support for surround sound, and play games that are equal to the games on the ps3 or 360; I will stick to my 360.

[gkarris]

They gave me Missle Command, where is Asteroids?

(runs off screaming...)

[raggedjimmi]

Originally Posted by craig1410

Just wait until someone (possibly Apple themselves given SJ's recent comments) brings out a little gaming cradle into which the iPhone/iPod can be fitted to provide standard gaming controls. I think Belkin(?) had been rumoured to have such a device a little while back.

It's early days but I think we'll see the iPhone/iPod making huge leaps forward in the coming months.

Cheers,
Craig.

That's the problem though, I'd rather not have to buy a secondary device for an already expensive product just to get the same level of control as a £30-120 dedicated gaming device. And then have to carry that product around too and cross my fingers, hoping that devs support a peripheral, potentially low-selling device.

[xxii]

The iPhone/touch will be a player in gaming. Will it be in the hard core gaming market? Probably not, but that market is not where the majority of the population is. It isn't all about graphics-- take the Wii for example. Not even close to the Xbox or PS3 visually, but very popular. Complex games with stunning graphics don't always equal more fun. Are there some good games that have great graphics? Sure (Halo, etc), but some of the most fun games are still the old classics (Asteroids, Mario, Tecmo Bowl). If developers push the limits and make good games for the phone/touch, we might see the gaming market change more toward the masses.

[ph0rk]

Originally Posted by Astro8973

While I love my iPhone and use it all of the time, I don't play games on it very often. When I am bored I will whip out a game of Break or Tris, but that's it. When it comes to games, I want a real machine that can hook up to my monstrous tv. Until the iPhone can output video in 1080p, Support for surround sound, and play games that are equal to the games on the ps3 or 360; I will stick to my 360.

That isn't really the mainstream mindset though.

I've been in the "too much eyecandy, not enough gameplay" camp for a number of years, and some of the gems that people have produced for the iPhone are -very- encouraging.

[kgeier82]

it may have a similiar processor to DS/PSP blah blah blah...

but My DS got 20hrs of battery life. This, and sadly, the iphone will never touch. Which is why I see it as a quick-fix gaming solution, BEJEWELED2 here i come!!

that and there are no control pads, which lets face it, they can say "revolutionary" all they want, but come on. Its not on the same page as PSP/DS.

[Kan-O-Z]

Originally Posted by Astro8973

While I love my iPhone and use it all of the time, I don't play games on it very often. When I am bored I will whip out a game of Break or Tris, but that's it. When it comes to games, I want a real machine that can hook up to my monstrous tv. Until the iPhone can output video in 1080p, Support for surround sound, and play games that are equal to the games on the ps3 or 360; I will stick to my 360.

Wow that's a fair comparison. Comparing a little iPhone to a PS3 or 360? That's like saying I'm not going to listen to music on an iPod because it's little speaker just doesn't sound like my 500W home theatre surround sound system.

Here's a question for you. Do you normally have PS3 or 360 on you while you wait in line for something so you can quickly whip it out and play a 1080p surround sound game?

Please don't compare Apples to Oranges

Kan-O-Z

[Scarpad]

Originally Posted by kgeier82

it may have a similiar processor to DS/PSP blah blah blah...

but My DS got 20hrs of battery life. This, and sadly, the iphone will never touch. Which is why I see it as a quick-fix gaming solution, BEJEWELED2 here i come!!

that and there are no control pads, which lets face it, they can say "revolutionary" all they want, but come on. Its not on the same page as PSP/DS.

I agree spend two hours gaming then your out of luck when you need to place a call.

[liptonlover]

the iPhone isn't the best gaming device, but the touch is. It gets a lot more out of the battery since you don't need to worry about any of the phone stuff. When I play galcon, that drains my batter pretty quick. But any other game is fine. And I think no keypad or buttons is fine... I've played a few games with the artificial pads and it works great for me, besides the fact that the other ways of controlling games are great too.

I don't want all the big names coming in and taking over the device though... that'll make it so much harder for us small guys

[DMann]

Originally Posted by teflon

I think the success of iPod touch/iPhone games is because iPod touch/iPhone are excellent multimedia devices by itself. There are far more people who like to listen to music/ watch videos on devices than people who like to play games. Only the avid game players want to carry a gaming only device with them all the time. PSP had multimedia functions, but they were nowhere close in terms of user interface. But now, all these people who carry iPods anyway to listen to music have access to games. So now when they're bored, they'll whip out their iPod and play a few games. I never had a DS or PSP before, and I was never really interested in games, but now I too play games on my iPod touch when I'm bored.

Also, you can combine features and functions - play a game while listening to your favorite music. The utilization of the accelerometer in combination with the touch screen has radically increased the potential of this platform - X Plane 9 makes flying seem more realistic than it does using most other gaming controls.

[happydude]

Originally Posted by Kan-O-Z

Wow that's a fair comparison. Comparing a little iPhone to a PS3 or 360? That's like saying I'm not going to listen to music on an iPod because it's little speaker just doesn't sound like my 500W home theatre surround sound system.

Here's a question for you. Do you normally have PS3 or 360 on you while you wait in line for something so you can quickly whip it out and play a 1080p surround sound game?

Please don't compare Apples to Oranges

Kan-O-Z

i thought everyone carried around a gasoline powered generator on the bus or train during their commute to plug in their 40" plasma screen and xbox. i don't know what you do for gaming on the go . . .