Macworld has news out of CES that EA's mobile division president has good and bad news about the iPhone and gaming. The good news is that the iPhone is a terrific device -- but then again, you already knew that. But the bad news is that Apple's handling everything all wrong. By leaving out the actual distribution platform for gaming on the iPhone, Travis Boatman says that while Apple could be doing great things with games on the iPhone, they're actually hurting mobile gaming by delaying or refusing to turn the iPhone into a gaming platform.I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Apple is sitting on a goldmine in terms of games on the iPhone (well, they're sitting on a lot of goldmines with the iPhone, but this is another). With multitouch, the tilt monitor, the microphone, the networking capabilities, and the camera, this is a device that Nintendo would dream about building (their DS has half the features and it's selling like it prints money). It's the greatest handheld gaming device ever made. And yet because Apple has been so stingy with the SDK, there's not one official native game on it.
Not to mention that the "distribution platform" Boatman is talking about is iTunes -- there's no better way to get your games sold and out there. Hopefully, we'll see progress on this as soon as MacWorld (and as late as February, when the iPhone SDK is set to be officially released). But Boatman is right: the iPhone begs to have some great gaming experiences on it, and Apple, so far, is just not opening the door.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-08-2008 @ 3:18PM
Galley said...
The EA dude needs to chill out. I want games like Bejeweled 2, Peggle Deluxe, and Kitty Spangles Solitaire on the iPhone as much as the next guy, but I want it done right. If I have to wait a few more months, so be it.
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1-08-2008 @ 3:22PM
Fred said...
Ya know as much as I love Apple and the stuff they make this is absolutely spot-on. They always have had this kind of aversion to gaming. I wonder if maybe Steve still feels a little burned by the whole Bungie thing too? And that feeds this Apple-wide non-gaming stance? I mean they did all that horn-honking, and hullabaloo about EA coming back to Mac and all we got were a few mediocre ports?
But there is a flip-side to this coin and that's hardware upgrades. I have one of the first intel iMacs. It's a great computer, and runs Windows pretty well, etc. But that 128mb video card makes me want to throw it out a window sometimes. They need some kind of upgrade path for the video card, or they need to make sure that the cards are bleeding edge when they release the new machines. Otherwise, they're never going to get game-makers to bring their stuff to Mac.
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1-08-2008 @ 3:23PM
Fred said...
BTW I realize that this was more iPhone related, but I got carried away.
1-08-2008 @ 3:36PM
krye said...
I'm stick of the iPhone. At the keynote, if Jobs spends 55 minutes on the iPhone SDK and 5 minutes on other stuff, I'll be pissed.
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1-08-2008 @ 8:39PM
PSM said...
I feel the opposite way. At some point every day since last year's keynote, I've asked myself when Apple was going to release an iPhone I want to buy. If they don't have a lot of good news this year (at least 3G and the SDK for 3rd party software as open as competing platforms) I will be very disappointed. I am a huge Mac fangirl and it drives me nuts that I have to run Windows on my phone, and half the time I have to run Windows on my Mac just to do stuff to the phone. I'm just hoping Steve will announce something that will get me out of this Microsoft hell.
1-08-2008 @ 3:47PM
Jon said...
You really have to wonder why Apple wouldn't want games on the iPhone.
One, it helps sell more iPhones if you can do more with them. Two, if Apple charges a licensing fee they make more money. Threee, Apple could obviously make some of their own games and make money.
A business that doesn't want to make more money...?
Is that possible?
There must be a reason..
Thank god the SDK is coming. Let's hope it's not too long before we start seeing some great Apps/Games.
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1-08-2008 @ 3:48PM
Fernando said...
Great games on the iPhone? With no keys? Yeah right...
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1-08-2008 @ 3:54PM
Jon said...
Umm, yeah....right.
There definitely can be great games on the iPhone. You won't be playing a dual analog stick FPS, but you can bet your ass there will be great games available on the iPhone if apple allows it.
They may not be your traditional games, but then again neither are a lot of the more popular DS games. I can see a "Nintendogs" clone/ripoff game working great on the iPhone.
Games like Tetris would be PERFECT for the iPhone. It's a great little time killer and does not require much in the way of hardware buttons. Marble Madness (available via installer.app?) would be great with the tilt functions in the iPhone....etc
Free your mind man! There's more than one way to game!
1-08-2008 @ 3:53PM
required said...
I prefer the PSP to the DS and I've been a portable gamer since the original GameBoy. Better games. See gamerankings, metacritic, ign, etc.
Also, the PSP already has had for years now most of the same features that the iPhone/iPodTouch now have and a lot more features that Apple's aforementioned lack. Seriously. Besides, the PSP costs a lot less. 8GB memory cards can be had for under $80, 4GB under $20. They're hot-swappable and a 16GB is also now available.
Just pointing out the obvious.
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1-08-2008 @ 3:57PM
Jon said...
I don't think the iPhone is going to "out game" a PSP or DS, but that doesn't matter.
I already have an iPhone with me at all times, and I'm more than willing to buy some games and apps for it as soon as they are available. I have never bother to buy a portable gaming system since I know I'll never want to carry one around.
The cell phone/iPhone is the perfect gaming platform for a lot of people.
1-08-2008 @ 4:09PM
required said...
if you're into playing/buying cellphone games, give Digital Chocolate's Tornado Mania a whirl. Great game, only requires one button.
1-08-2008 @ 6:37PM
John Coxon said...
Firstly, the point that the poster was making was that DS is the best-selling handheld gaming device, I believe, which is undoubtedly still the case - for a recent news source, http://tinyurl.com/332dth is an NY Times article from early January. Secondly, the PSP is *not* a revolutionary media-playing device, as you claim elsewhere, because it hasn't revolutionised the industry. The DS has, but the PSP has not. Portable media players existed long before the PSP, the PSP merely added the ability to play games - that is a long way from a revolution.
However, the OP is missing a point - Nintendo don't want to make an iPhone. Nintendo's current focus is making hardware that is less powerful than its competitors but, as a result, more affordable - at the same time developing games for it that will make people want to play. Nintendo's current direction is about as far away from iPhone-lust as it is really possible to be.
1-08-2008 @ 6:44PM
required said...
John Coxon, the PSP is the second best selling media player in the world.
1-08-2008 @ 6:47PM
required said...
one more comment, your revolution simply differs from mine. the PSP truly revolutionized portable gaming. the DS is literally 2 gameboys duct-taped together.
cheers!
1-08-2008 @ 4:02PM
Mingus said...
The iPhone is a revolutionary handheld device...not a toy.
Let's keep the focus on making the iPhone a continually great and productive tool and not gameboy v3.0...
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1-08-2008 @ 4:10PM
required said...
The PSP is a revolutionary handheld device...and a toy.
1-09-2008 @ 4:32AM
unexpected said...
How the hell is the iPhone revolutionary? What? The touchscreen? Pfhh... Whatever, The touchscreen concept has been utilised before, as far as I can tell, Apple has just patented a way to interact with the screen with fingers, nothing more.The iPhone is just another smartphone to me.
1-08-2008 @ 4:08PM
Stephen Lang said...
Jobs has locked down the money-printing features of the iPhone, citing battery life and UI responsiveness concerns...
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1-08-2008 @ 4:17PM
required said...
In order to make as many sales as the DS or PSP Apple would need to get their price way down and find a lot of great unique content for their systems. In the meantime Steve could start dressing like a plumber.
1-08-2008 @ 4:12PM
Marcos said...
What he's really saying is:
"Apple did not let EA make games for the iPhone".
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