'Best gaming device on the market' iPod Touch?

[zap2]

No, not yet....but with devs support, and if Apple really went out of its way, we could see a great gaming device here.


I'm loving the digital distribution!

 

[whooleytoo]

Not really, Nintendo (at least) have always built technology for games. It's why they pioneer input technology for home console use. Games are later adapted to new control setups but you cannot realistically control a complex game, say an FPS or most 3D games that require the intricate control of a complex character with such a basic input. It will work for some games (see the DS touchscreen only games) but not all. GTA for example would be impossible. Monster Hunter Freedom a pipedream. Precision games require precision controls.

And the iPhone/Touch will spur the creation of a new generation of games suited to their controls. To say the iTouch will suffer because it lacks conventional buttons could be like.. saying a Wii suffers because it lacks a conventional controller. Well, not really, games came along which were ideally suited to the controller and it prospered.

But they don't! Never has the 'most powerful' or graphically capable gaming system "won" a gaming generation.

Prove me wrong! Show how the GC and Xbox won last gen, how the best selling games and highest rated games are the most graphically demanding. Before GTA IV was out Mario Galaxy, an SD resolution game lacking many modern shaders and had a limited viewable horizon, was the highest rated.

Define "won". Sales? By that criterion, "I Kissed a Girl" is the best song in the world. If you truly believe that, then even a wet fish across the face doesn't do justice to your thought-crimes!

I gave three example above where graphics directly affected gameplay. You'd be hard pressed to deny them. Improved graphics also make new games and new genres possible. Options are good.

 

[whooleytoo]

I couldnt really be bothered to read the whole thread but:

The iPhone is NOT the best gaming device (in my opinion at least) until they release multi-player, either phone to phone or over wifi/3G. the 3G part would be excellent.

but for so many games, it is a lot better to have actually controls, like realistic racing games (like gran turismo for psp, when ever they decide to make it) and shooting...

and although games are a lot cheaper, you can quite easily hack a PSP to get free games, and you can now get cheap 8GB memory sticks as well.

another down side for the iPhone is that it doesnt interact with any other console. the PSP can get all the content on your own PS3 anywhere in the world with a WiFi connection. the DS can probably do somthing interesting as well. and graphics wise its ok, but not astounding. at least from what i have seen from cromag rally, super monkey and that football game.

games that would work very good are the games that are actually out now, platform and specific tilt ones like monkey ball, the labyrinth one and games such as echochrome would be quite good as well

For multiplayer, nothing has to be released by Apple. iPhone/iTouch developers are free to create multiplayer network games right now.

As for interacting with other consoles, again there's nothing preventing it. The platform has the ability.

 

[steveOooo]

Steve Jobs made a rather large sweeping statement, when he declared the iPod Touch as the "Best gaming device on the market". Now of course the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is what about the PSP and DS, and how on earth could the iPhone ever compare to those two?

No, he (jobs) actually said: "it's the best portable device for music, video, and now you could make a good argument that its the best for playing games on"

 

[liptonlover]

and what are we trying to do? We're trying to argue that it is the best, or very close to being so. He didn't declare it as a straightforward statement because he's pretty much a politician, but to me that says he thinks it IS the best.

Let's go over different game categories and rate it in each one.

Puzzle/card/board ***** - Card games aren't good or bad for the touch's features but puzzle especially shines on it I think.

first person shooter ***** - If someone is creative, you could have an amazing first person shooter. If the 3D world orients itself to the real world, you use the touch as your "viewpoint" into the 3D world and use it to aim, touch to fire. It could be amazing.

I'm not going to rate any other ones, because these are just the two that stand out the most to me.