Developers talk about iPhone's gaming prowess

Folks just need to learn how to optimize for the iPhone. If you look at a game like Aqua Forest you see a lot of pretty effects and all but it bogs down so much when fun stuff starts to happen. If they'd optimize their graphics and sound effects though, it would be a lot more playable.

The same is true for Aurora Feint. Great crisp graphics but it can slow down a lot when the effects and sound files and animations are all going at the same time.

They'll get there. The hardware is there for a very good gaming platform and the mass appeal is there to make it profitable for a lot of devs so its looking good all around.

I love simple puzzle games, and the iPhone has been a great interface for that. I've spent hours playing Sudoku, crosswords, Imangi, etc, and have found the iPhone to be a great platform for that kind of game. I think that with time, more developers will figure out how to leverage the strengths of the iPhone to create an excellent gaming experience.

The thing is, I don't see myself playing games that are too involved on my iPhone. I bought Monkey ball, didn't like it, Bandicoot racing, liked it some, Motion-X Poker(with the dice), play the hell out of it. Simple game, I know, but I think these work better for a phone. Maybe it's just my mindset, or the control scheme, or that I'm getting older. Who knows...

Even something as simple as Bejewelled slaughters the battery on my iPod Touch. If my experience is typical, this is a pretty substantial hurdle to overcome.

Any chance of having a plug-in controller? (e.g., into the dock?)

Jail broken apps used the accelerometers great. Now the "Pros" at EA say it is tricky? labyrinth was great when I played it in reguards to the accelerometers. Maybe its just now "easy" enough for the EA guys.

I love the iPhone and all of it's games, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to say it's on par with the Dreamcast. Maybe they meant to say Saturn; that I would believe. And if it is *is* that powerful, then they need to prove it for goodness sake. The monkey in Monkey Ball only being a sprite (not rendered like other games), the lackluster detail in most racing games, and the flood of basic, quickly-assembled titles is not helping their claim. That said though, if PopCap gets it's life together and releases things like Peggle and Bookworm Adventures on it quickly the iPhone could capture the casual games market. My wife has played the iPhone non-stop the past few days, despite us having so many other options available.