![]() ![]() Also, the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS have dedicated controls and tactile buttons, which are very important for certain kinds of games-I certainly don't think Tekken or Zelda will translate very well to the iPhone. ![]() Now I'm not saying the iPhone should be seen as primarily a gaming device-it is first and foremost a cell phone no matter how you look at it. Sure you have to cough up $200 or so for the device, but each game will sell for $10 while most DS games are $30 to $40. The true genius behind the iPhone's gaming potential lies in the low introductory cost. Suddenly, my Sony PSP (which I haven't touched in months) doesn't seem so hot. Of course, you not only get all these games, you also get a cell phone, a media player, and a GPS unit, all in one device. Not to be outdone, Digital Legends Entertainment even promised a full-blown RPG in the form of Krull, a caveman adventure where you can fight off bad guys, swing from rope bridges, and more. Pangea Software's Cro-Mag Rally also uses the accelerometer so you can drive simply by "steering" the iPhone left or right. Sega's Super Monkey Ball was especially a highlight, fully utilizing the iPhone's accelerometer as a way to tilt the ball through various mazelike structures. And these weren't just simple Tetris-like games either (The one exception was Enigmo by Pangea Software, which is a 3D puzzle game). Out of the 12 or so applications that were demonstrated, 4 of them were games. However, after the keynote at WWDC, I find myself suddenly excited about the future of the iPhone as a genuine gaming platform. Still, these were just demos, and I wasn't sure if they would pan out to anything substantial. I was first intrigued by the Touch Fighter game Apple developers whipped up to show off the iPhone SDK way back in March, and even more so by the scaled-down mobile version of Electronic Arts' hotly anticipated Spore. It's one of the many reasons the majority of cell phone games are still really simple, like puzzles and card games, with the occasional retro game like Pac-Man thrown in for good measure.īut the iPhone's luscious touch-screen display and internal accelerometer seem to promise something more. I have both a Sony PSP and a Nintendo DS would gaming on a cell phone really be good enough to compete? We've all witnessed the debacle that was the Nokia N-Gage, and how terrible that turned out to be. When the SDK was announced, game developers leaped on the chance to develop games for the iPhone, which seemed like an exciting new playground for mobile games. One of the more intriguing outcomes from the iPhone SDK and the upcoming App Store is the notion of the iPhone as a mobile gaming platform. Sega's Super Monkey Ball will be ported to the iPhone ![]()
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