Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, iPod Family, Apple, App Store
Analysts catch on to Apple's games play
We want to personally welcome analysts to earlier this week -- we realized right after Tuesday's big event that Apple was making a foray into the handheld gaming world with the new iPod touch model. If there was any question, Apple even sent out an email this past week to customers asking them to "game on" with the touch 2G, and as business observers are finally noting, Apple is moving the iPod touch away from its former positions as a media player and a cheap iPhone to be game central.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the push will work -- obviously, the handheld games market has a few very entrenched opponents in it, and Apple has attempted to sneak into the videogames market before, with unsatisfactory results to say the least. But there's no question that the iPod touch is an amazing piece of hardware (at least until Nintendo comes up with a "WiiBoy"), and that integrating the iTunes store gives Apple's unit a nice advantage over units like the PSP in terms of media viewing. There is that nagging tactile controls problem, but moving the touch away from Apple's other lines and throwing it out there for would-be gamers this holiday season is a solid business decision on Apple's part whether it pans out or not.
[via IMG]
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the push will work -- obviously, the handheld games market has a few very entrenched opponents in it, and Apple has attempted to sneak into the videogames market before, with unsatisfactory results to say the least. But there's no question that the iPod touch is an amazing piece of hardware (at least until Nintendo comes up with a "WiiBoy"), and that integrating the iTunes store gives Apple's unit a nice advantage over units like the PSP in terms of media viewing. There is that nagging tactile controls problem, but moving the touch away from Apple's other lines and throwing it out there for would-be gamers this holiday season is a solid business decision on Apple's part whether it pans out or not.
[via IMG]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bender Bending Rodriguez said 12:03AM on 9-12-2008
This week's presentation was titled Music and JObs said in an interview it was about music, but that all changed when he introduced the new Touch. Even the Touch commercial released that day completely focused on gaming.
What isn't know is how far Apple is willing to take gaming. It's certainly the most powerful handheld gaming device out there and the price is only $100 more than a NintendoDS. Take into account that someone with a DS or PSP probably has an iPod, too, you end up with a very aggressive price that should interest many.
On top of that the games can be developed faster since no physical production is required and you can ship a game that isn't as complete (level wise) or with less testing since you can push updates at any time. All this lowers the price of the games.
If Apple really wants to tackle this market they will need to get a proper D-Pad system. While many games will work fine and new types of games can be developed to take advantage of the touch screen there is no replacing a real control for a real gamer. I think we'll see a game Framework in the iPhone SDK if Apple is going to go for the DS and PSP market, not just keep it an added value. This framework would allow for coding of on screen controls that would move to a physical controller if a D-Pad is plugged in.
Here's hoping!
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Sridhar said 9:19AM on 9-12-2008
hi.. sorry to post in this. but the iPhone 2.1 upgrade has been released just now i guess..check apple.com thats good news..
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Vandil said 9:42AM on 9-12-2008
I've seen mockups online for devices that enclose around the iPod touch/iPhone and connects to both the dock port and the headphone jack which turns the touch/iphone into a more traditional "hand held" with the tactile buttons.
Perhaps Apple will release one. Imagine the possibilities: they could design this wraparound to have a set number of hardware buttons and then have any extra buttons as touch screen "buttons". It could be a DS killer.
Without having to worry about physical carts/discs and being able to redownload apps if your touch/phone gets hosed, the touch/phone platform is a perfect way to attract gamers.
Maybe even toss up an Achievements system with your Apple ID on a gamer-themed Apple website to boast your accomplishments...
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Galley said 9:42AM on 9-12-2008
Once the App Store was announced, I sold my PS3. Seriously. It was the 60 gigger, so I was able to sell it for a nice profit, and besides, I tend to prefer handheld games that require a much smaller attention span, and are MUCH cheaper. PS3 games are $60 a pop; iPhone games are $1-10.
If only I still had a BD player...
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danw said 4:59PM on 9-12-2008
"obviously, the handheld games market has a few very entrenched opponents in it"
I think Apple has demonstrated the ability to excel in a market with an entrenched competitor, and that it doesn't have to be number 1 to achieve success.
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Speed8ump said 11:25AM on 9-12-2008
How hard would it be for Apple to extend the touch surface to the entire glass surface (not just the part overlaying the screen)? Allowing that blank space to be used as control surfaces would seem like an obvious extension. Since that area doesn't need to be see-through some etching could be done to provide tactile feedback when your fingers are in that area.
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dimitrios said 1:40PM on 9-12-2008
Does anyone honestly think that Apple is now going to take gaming seriously? I mean please, put down the crack pipe for half a nanosecond and get with the program.
If apple was serious about gaming I should be able to put an ATI 4870 in my MacPro and be able to use it with OS-X, instead of my boot camp partition. When that happens then we can start sucking each other's dicks about Apple embracing gaming.
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Bender Bending Rodriguez said 3:06PM on 9-12-2008
You're missing the big picture. You're focusing on the type of gaming you want, not the type of gaming that Apple wants. And what it wants is anything that grows that the brand and improves the eco-system. Gaming on a Mac Pro isn't going to sell many Mac Pros, but gaming on an iPhone/Touch will. People are already moving from PC games to consoles anyway.
It will push people into the higher-end devices, they will consolidate a cheap iPod and PSP/DS into a Touch or consolidate a cheap cellphone, iPod and PSP/DS into an iPhone.
The games can be cheaper than what Sony and Nintendo can provide and keeps people in the iPod/iTunes ecosystem.
If you haven't seen this week's presentation on the Touch or its new commercial you should watch them. The entire focus is on games.
AKA_Ben said 1:58PM on 9-12-2008
I think if Apple REALLY wanted to make a push for the gaming sector they should have created a games browser for the touch (versus having a whole page of individual icons) and put that in the dock next to photos instead of the music store. Additionally, if this is the direction they are going to take I think it'd be more than wise to implement a xbox live style service for iPod touch/iPhone and provide an API for developers to implement the service into their games/apps.
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labrats5 said 4:17PM on 9-12-2008
I think this is a great move for apple. The ipod touch is a great handheld gaming device, and marketing it as such is a natural decision. A lot of people seem to think that apple need to release a D-pad accessory to really compete (and admittedly, the demo of that soccer game didn't help apple's 'no buttons' argument), but really most genres work just fine if not better on a touch screen+accelorometer:
puzzle games, strategy games and sim games all just work better with a pointer, so already 3 huge genres that have more potential on the ipod touch then with D-pad controls. Likewise, racing games, flight sim games, and the largely unexplored genre of tilt-based platformers all make great use of the accelerometer.
Really the only genres I feel are left out are fighting games, First person shooters, and traditional platformers. That's not that big a loss. Fighting games and first person shooters have never been that big a presence on handhelds anyway. The only one that hurts is the traditional platformer, but tilt-based platformers can make a good substitute.
But dungeon crawlers, real time strategy and even third person shooters all have possible control schemes on the ipod touch that would work well and in some cases better than traditional console controls. All it takes is a little bit of common sense and imagination.
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