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Throughout the entire time that the iPhone has been out, there have been tons and tons of debates about the device. Is it really a capable phone given that it only supports EDGE and not 3G? There have been debates about the lack of keyboard/keypad functionality. People were debating about the AT&T network lock-in and even more debates raged about whether you should unlock/jailbreak your phone and people even tried to debate the supremacy of the iPhone web browsing experience (which, IMHO, is not open for debate. iPhone is the single best mobile browsing experience PERIOD). One debate that I rarely saw any discussion of was the iPhone's use as a gaming device. Nobody was comparing the iPhone to the PSP or the DS. Why? Because the PSP and the DS are dedicated gaming devices while the PSP can also play movies and I think has some other features as well. But, the iPhone is still a phone and the iPod Touch is still an iPod that also has a tremendous amount of connectivity functionality, including mobile Safari.
So then the iPhone SDK/enterprise keynote arrives on March 6th and what do we see - full buy-in from Electronic Arts and Sega validating the iPhone as a potential gaming platform with EA showing off Spore (quite possibly one of the most anticipated games of 2008) and Sega showing off Super Monkey Ball, a gravity-centric game that takes full advantage of the accelerometers on the phone.
This got me thinking... is the iPhone up to the mobile gaming challenge?? Here are my thoughts:
iPhone Specs of Interest:
PSP Specs:
DS Specs:
First, don't compare Mhz numbers directly to each other. MIPS and ARM can't really be compared at the Mhz level in much the same way as we used to be unable to compare the old Mac PPC RISC chipset speed against Intel chipset speed.
So, when you look at the information above, one thing stands out to me : the iPhone actually has a damn sight more horsepower than one would expect from a phone/mp3 player. Not only that, but it's got a respectable amount of processing power for a mobile gaming device. Add to that the fact that not only are Spore and Super Monkey Ball coming to the iPhone, but the Super Monkey Ball guys actually had to re-do the artwork for the game because they underestimated the power - they increased the fidelity of the graphics because the iPhone actually had horsepower to spare!
So, if I can have a freaking blast using the Nintendo DS with a combined 100Mhz of ARM processing power, then my guess is that my iPhone has a lot of fun stuff in store for me at 620 Mhz. Add to that the fact that I'm already toting the phone around as my phone, my PDA, my MP3 player and my everything else device - if I want to tote around a gaming device, am I going to bring along a second device or just get games for my phone?
Also keep in mind that, come June, we will be able to browse for, pay for, download, and install games for the phone wirelessly through Apple's distribution channel. Games on the iPhone could be the "killer app" that nobody expected...
You're not the only one to notice it. In fact, not only is gaming one of
the big things for the iPhone, the momentum may well extend to Mac games
too.
That's an awesome idea... Sort of like when the dreamcast used to have that
little LCD screen on the controller that showed little icons and had that
detachble button thing you could use to do things on your controller while
something else took place on the screen. I think one game let you choose
your team's next play from a book in football so that nobody looking at the
screen could see it. Combining the full 3D capabilities of the iPhone, plus
the iPhone's accelerometers, plus the iPhone's ability to make socket
connections and the iPhone's ability to discover remote devices and
services via Bonjour - could be game-changing stuff!
Did you get your $99 sign-up to go through? I tried to sign up for the
program but I got a message that basically said "we'll get back to you."
You forgot about the AppleTV -- It seems to me, that the Apple TV shares
much of the same screen concepts and use concepts - except maybe via remote
control instead of directly touching the screen -- but if you can port your
Video Game to the iPhone, you've basically already ported it to both the
Mac AND also AppleTV -- imagine AppleTV running 30 FPS video games with
multiple remote controls all in HD, large-screen video with surround sound
blasting through the speakers... Now imagine purchase of one video game,
for your iPhone but having it run on your desk, the iPhone and the AppleTV
all from the same purchase...buy a game on the TV and use it on your
iPhone, have five friends all playing the same game on the HD screen, each
with their own remote - make games that use the internet and people can
play from their desk or their phone or their living room and carry their
experience between all of them - what a great Dungeons and Dragons game
that would be huh?
I'm sold... I want to play D&D from my iPhone sitting in front of an HDTV!
The only thing that would complete the experience is if I had to literally
shake the phone yahtzee style in order to roll for initiative!
Yeah I've been thinking the same thing for a long time. Even if there were
no Open GL ES, the iPhone+Bonjour+SQLite is the _best_ remote controller
there will be this decade.
