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iPhone Dominates 2009 Mobile Game Developers Conference

sammich said:
That's a lot more Touch's than I thought. Jackpot for Apple.
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I work at Wal-Mart in electronics and I gotta say the iPod touch is one of our best selling items. Kids snap these things up. Ever since they first came out last year, kids have been turning up their noses at the 129-dollar Nintendo DS and the 170-dollar PSP and going straight for the 300-dollar iPod touch. They sell like crazy!!! :apple:
 
Doesn't surprise me. I know, personally, I use my iPhone for games way more than my PSP or DS.
 
Nice but since the PSP and DS mainly use established studios and not independents for their premium titles it's not an indicator of success.
 
The iPhone and iPod Touch continue to take the gaming world by storm, this is no surprise to me. It is probably the easiest platform to instantly reach millions of potential customers.

Also, Zen Bound continues to get tons of praise. I bought it and agree that it is a beautiful, well made game, and it is very original, unfortunately I find it to be very boring after the first few times playing. Maybe it's just me.
 
WhySoSerious said:
i guess i'm probably the only one who thinks this is stupid.

i wanted the iphone to be a smartphone first.....gaming, not so much. if i wanted to have a device focus so much on gaming, i would have bought a PSP or DS.
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I don't disagree with you, but that being said when it comes to non corporate devices there is a pretty strong demand for games etc which has been seen by how few games or at least how many demo vs full feature games you seem to get on a device these days so the carriers can nickel & dime you by making you download (over the air) more games, ringtones etc and thus making more money from you.

At least with the iPhone (& iPod Touch) you can do it all via iTunes without the excess charges.
 
Great News for the Platform

I finally got an iPod touch 2G last week and immediately bought a few of the games in the winner and runners-up list.

Zen Bound is fantastic, especially when using headphones.
Eliss is a trippy puzzle-like game
EDGE is a block puzzle game.

Another I found mentioned elsewhere is geoDefense.

They all have fantastic graphics and sound. It's amazing to see this level of game in a handheld computer!

I'd been using a Palm and played a few games on it, but these iPod touch games are incredible in comparison. It's a new world!

Apple is putting OS X into the pockets of millions of people, setting new standards and forwarding the platform in ways we couldn't have imagined a few years ago.
 
DELLsFan said:
I've seen how kids use the PSP and DS. I'd rather not subject my iPhone to this kind of "attention". For that matter, given how many iPhone apps tend to be commandeered for pr0n purposes, I don't think it's appropriate for minor children to own an iPhone or iPod touch.

Just my two cents. :apple:
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iPhone 3.0 will have more advanced parental controls.
 
Re: Zen Bound, I'm going to need a free lite version with three levels before I buy it.

And the iPhone is a smart phone. What smart phone doesn't play games? Though I only use mine for casual games (LD50, TanZen, Solitaire, Freecell, Falling Up, Glaurung).
 
I love the iPod Touch/ iPhone but...

If you are a real gamer (not just a casual gamer that thrives off of cheezy flash-like games) you know that the iPhone will NEVER beat out the DS/PSP in quality of gameplay.

The iPhone has quite a few good games, but none that can compare to the good DS/PSP games.
BUTTONS BEAT JUST TOUCHSCREEN (for gaming)
 
BongoBanger said:
Doom and Quake have been out on WinMo and S60 phones for years. In the meantime the PSP has Rainbow 6: Vegas and Resistance: Retribution.
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What screen size did those Phones have?
And what kind of UI and control scheme did they have?
I really don't know, and could be wrong, but I image subpar compared to the iPhone

I have to agree that as far as competeing with the established and dedicated handheld gaming consoles that it will be more of an uphill battle for the iPhone OS. But the delivery model Apple has is superior and cheaper for the developer/ publisher - no mfg / distribution costs. This is, of course, part of the reason for the explosion in small time independent offerings.

And while this makes for more chafe to sift through in the app store - and actually more innovation/ideas, I think it will also put pressure on the big names in development to become more competitive in thier pricing. Because
they will not be able to completely ignore the iPhone gaming market. And that
will be a win win for the handheld gamers.

The iPhone has made inroads into a new market or more effectively tapped a simmering potential market. I'm a good example - I did some light computer gaming before kids. I never would have bought a psp or ds. But I do buy games for my iPhone. And now that my kids are old enough to play games on a handheld and it can be an effective currency as a parent, - Am I considering a ds or psp as a second unit since I have two kids? Nope, I'm thinking iPod Touch. I already bought the games. Why spend more and actually much more per game? In this way the iPhone/iptouch can actually take market share.
 
Jamo12 said:
If you are a real gamer (not just a casual gamer that thrives off of cheezy flash-like games) you know that the iPhone will NEVER beat out the DS/PSP in quality of gameplay.

The iPhone has quite a few good games, but none that can compare to the good DS/PSP games.
BUTTONS BEAT JUST TOUCHSCREEN (for gaming)
Click to expand...

Buttons may beat a touch screen for some things, but the touch screen beats buttons for others, such as more intuitively interacting with selectable objects Heck the accelerometers for steering a car are great. Someone in a previous post thought it wasn't accurate, I feel quite the opposite. Tell me what was the last car you actually drove where you pushed buttons to steer? No you actually moved and rotated something to turn the car.

The one area where buttons beat a touch screen is in tactile feedback.
And when you're really pounding on them. Not something that I or many others would feel comfortable doing to thier touchscreen.

I think it's a moot point anyway, because with OS3.0 offering hardware tie-ins through the dock connector/USB it's only a matter of time before someone makes a control dock with buttons like in that belkin rumor from last year.
 
Niko03 said:
Buttons may beat a touch screen for some things, but the touch screen beats buttons for others, such as more intuitively interacting with selectable objects Heck the accelerometers for steering a car are great. Someone in a previous post thought it wasn't accurate, I feel quite the opposite. Tell me what was the last car you actually drove where you pushed buttons to steer? No you actually moved and rotated something to turn the car.
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That's a failed argument, because realism of control rarely makes a good game. To use your own example, Mario Kart Wii offers a steering wheel control that literally mimics actual driving motions, but anyone who's tried it can tell you it pales in comparison to good ol' analog stick play. And when you steer your car, does your whole windshield rotate as well?

I really enjoy games on the iPhone, and we're seeing more and more great ones every day. But the kinds of games I play on that platform are very different from the kinds of games I enjoy on my DS. The DS just offers a deeper, more nuanced gaming experience. There's a reason you don't see many RPGs on the iPhone. iPhone gamers are looking for a quick get-in, get-out experience, so regardless of the controls, you're never going to have the features or complexity you'd find on a traditional console. That doesn't make one better than the other. Just different.
 
I couldn't imagine developing games for mobile other than the iPhone. It's been long since I've seen a truly creative game being developed for other mobile. Even if I wasn't a developer and just an avid fan of the iPhone, I couldn't imagine playing games on other devices. Stifling!
 
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