Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
GDC09: iPhone gaming roundup
The Game Developers Conference is on in San Francisco, and game companies are starting to pull out the major announcements on what's coming to the iPhone in the next year. Here's a roundup of all the titles we've heard mentioned already.- EA announced a huge lineup of ports from their already popular games: everything from Command and Conquer: Red Alert to SSX to FIFA, Madden, and NBA are all coming in some form to the iPhone. They're also working on bringing over the Wolfenstein RPG and Spore Creatures (which was the DS port of Spore), as well as a big list of casual board games (Scrabble is only the beginning), and versions of Need for Speed: Undercover, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. And most amazing? All of these are due out before the end of the year. Someone's lighting a fire under iPhone developers at EA.
- id software announced that they're bringing Wolfenstein 3D Classic to the iPhone in an official form -- that one's already been submitted to the store and should be out soon.
- Ngmoco, whose CEO already gave a keynote out in San Francisco, isn't slacking either -- they announced not one but two sequels to Rolando, both followed by free level pack updates, and they say that they're also collaborating with developers Secret Exit, makers of the popular (and excellent, and beautiful) Zen Bound.
- They've also been showing off LiveFire, the app that was originally premiered at Apple's iPhone 3.0 event. Both good and bad news from that one: the "Would you like to buy a rocket launcher for 99 cents?" screen that we saw during Apple's event was real, but only for the demo. They don't plan to let in-app purchases unbalance the gameplay in a way that's not fair. But at the same time, they're leaving all of their options on the table. It may not be from ngmoco, but we'll definitely see some overpriced in-app content before this is all said and done.
- Our good friends at Joystiq are actually at the show (lucky bastards) -- they've got a report on who took the gold at the Independent Games Festival's mobile awards, and it was Fieldrunners, Zen Bound, and Galcon.
- Joystiq also has a report from a panel presented by Nvidia showing off some of the best independent games in the planning stages. Some really great stuff in there: Depict and Picopoke work kind of like social scavenger hunts for photos, and FastFoot Challenge uses data from Google Earth to track you and your friends' races around the city. That last one is just the kind of thing we're looking for in an altered-reality MMO. It could be a lot of fun if you have friends with iPhones and a city (or even a forest) to run across.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
caleb roberts said 12:43AM on 3-25-2009
If people are complaining about apps that are greater than $5 (me being one of them for various reasons) and they expect people to buy guns for a buck each? Right....This whole in app purchases could really turn me off buying apps that make me upgrade to get the full effect of the app.
But that is me...
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Andrex19 said 1:01AM on 3-25-2009
Hey guys I know this is completely unrelated to the post, but does anyone know where I could find a Seagate FreeAgent Go icon for my desktop? And/or a Garmin 250W icon? I you know or know where I shoul ask could you let me know?
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Andrex19 said 1:14AM on 3-25-2009
The Seagate HDD is black*
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ghostshadow said 1:58AM on 3-25-2009
Wolfenstein is already in the iTunes store.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=309470478&mt=8
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huth.sebastian said 8:14AM on 3-25-2009
I'm really excited about Madden. SSX sounds promising as well…
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GiantTalkingCow said 1:23PM on 3-25-2009
Seems to me like most of the big-name games mentioned above are ports that would work just as well on any other portable system; I'm glad to see that the indie developers are picking up the slack and actually trying to take advantage of some of the unique features of the platform. That racing game certainly looks interesting, and I'd love to see another Rolando.
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Beanbag said 6:30PM on 3-25-2009
I'm totally psyched about the SSX old time fan
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marti said 5:58PM on 3-26-2009
If you guys are still at GDC, you should check out HermitWorks Entertainment and their Space Trader: Moon Madness for iPhone. The game is getting rave reviews - I'd love to see what you guys think! Here is some info off the press release:
Space Trader: Moon Madness is a 3D trading game set in a science-fiction universe. The game features fully interactive and explorable environments, innovative first person controls and challenges that make each mission an amazing experience.
In Space Trader: Moon Madness the gamer takes on the role of a Space Trader trying to make a profit buying trading and selling over 30 price-fluctuating commodities, everything from medical supplies to food and precious metals as they travel between three interstellar locations. The goal is to make as much money as possible within the allotted time limit. Players jump between the Moon, a traveling convoy ship and planet Earth in search of the best deal. Numerous side quests help gamers achieve the highest score.
The game uses a heavily modified version of the open source iD Tech 3 Engine, also known as Quake 3 engine. Customized for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Tech 3 engine delivers groundbreaking 3D visuals and intense on-screen action with a consistently smooth frame rate.
"Space Trader: Moon Madness is a full size game on a bite-size device. We've taken the tried and true, beloved elements from classic games and we've added everything you'd expect out of a next-gen title. Each game is a new experience and offers hours of entertainment. The player will enjoy exploring the environment, meeting new characters and trying out new missions," said Cameron Tofer, CEO and founder of HermitWorks Entertainment." As commodities rise and fall, and planets orbit, the player will have to develop new strategies each time they play to achieve the high score. We're excited to be able to offer such a compelling gaming experience and expect that the upcoming updates will further expand the Space Trader: Moon Madness universe and community."
The game will be released in coming weeks at an $0.99 introductory price point. Several subsequent updates will take place after the initial release. These updates will add new gameplay elements, such new levels, game modes and achievements. The most notable new game play mode will be combat missions. The combat feature will bring new ways to get missions done and earn extra cash. The release of the iPhone OS 3.0 will offer the possibility of a multiplayer mode.
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