The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) http://www.tuaw.com en-us Copyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Gamers and the faster iMacshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/09/gamers-and-the-faster-imacs/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/09/gamers-and-the-faster-imacs/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/09/gamers-and-the-faster-imacs/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Peter Cohen over at Macworld continues his sideline analysis of Apple's gaming chances with a post about how the brand new faster iMacs are indeed faster, but still not fast enough for gamers. And to a certain extent, he's right -- gaming on the Mac is like that old beat-up, "someday I'll fix it up" convertible your father's had in the garage covered with a tarp since you were a kid. Getting it out and putting a new engine in it might help it run better, but it's still not going to turn it into a car that anyone wants to drive around.

But (and we talked about this extensively on the Talkcast a few weeks ago with Brian Akaka from Freeverse) it's a step. A faster video card, even if it isn't blazing, will run games better than before, and it'll do a little to bring not only gaming customers but developers back to the Mac. Cohen is right -- that old convertible needs an actual mechanic to take a look at it, and it needs the seats to be reupholstered, and sooner or later it's going to need a new can of paint (not that, like your Dad's actual convertible, these things aren't ever going to happen -- we continue to hear rumblings that Apple is aiming for gamers).

But something is something -- the very fact that Apple is offering faster video cards is a sign that they're interested. And, other than simple profiles of games on their website and cameos by game execs at keynotes, that's more than we've had in a while.
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]]>analysisApplecloser-than-everfaster-imacsgamersimacmacworldnew-video-cardspeter-cohentalkcastMike Schramm2008-05-09T08:00:00+00:00Raging Thunder races onto the iPhone (unofficially for now)http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/raging-thunder-races-onto-the-iphone-unofficially-for-now/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/raging-thunder-races-onto-the-iphone-unofficially-for-now/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/08/raging-thunder-races-onto-the-iphone-unofficially-for-now/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The iPhone continues to impress in terms of gaming possibility. Raging Thunder isn't actually done yet on the iPhone (obviously -- judging by this video there are more glitches on this thing than a Matrix full of black cats), but once it gets rolling, the award-winning game, put together by Polarbit, looks like a pretty sweet racing experience. The accelerometer actually serves as a nice wheel (with a little help from the Wii wheel), and the graphics aren't too shabby, either.

We've already seen a few different games like this floating around at TUAW (including one from a big developer that we can't tell you about), but with a little bug fixing and optimization, the right tuning, and a horizontal mode, the iPhone could easily have a great accelerometer-controlled racing game available at launch. And that's just launch -- we can't wait to see what happens when a game like the Wii's latest Boom Blox (which lets you push and pull Jenga-type block structures around -- multitouch, anyone?) makes its way over to our little Apple handheld.

Racing Thunder is available right now on Installer.app, but this kind of stuff is what we're really looking for in the SDK when it comes out in June.
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]]>boom-bloxgamesgaminghorizontalinstaller.appiphoneracingraging-thunderreleasesdkMike Schramm2008-05-08T07:00:00+00:00Ambrosia's Uplink goes universalhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/ambrosias-uplink-goes-universal/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/ambrosias-uplink-goes-universal/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/07/ambrosias-uplink-goes-universal/#commentsFiled under:

Who among us didn't want to start a career in illegal computer hacking after watching the movie Wargames (and who actually did)? You can fulfill your cyber crime fantasies with Uplink, Ambrosia Software's corporate hacking game.

You play as a covert agent hired to gain information from rival companies' computers. As you go, you earn money to upgrade your own equipment, gain deeper access and more.

I only played briefly, but I had fun. Ambrosia released verison 1.6.0 earlier this week, which is a Universal Binary. Other changes include
  • Updated game content
  • Toggle fullscreen and change resolutions in-game without restarting Uplink
  • Various bug fixes and enhancements
If you like DEFCON, another Ambrosia title (we took a look at DEFCON here), you'll probably enjoy Uplink. A single license costs $25US. Uplink requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
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]]>ambrosiadefcongaminguplinkDave Caolo2008-05-07T14:30:00+00:00Phun 3.5http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/06/phun-3-5/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

For (let's say) "phans" of Crayon Physics, Phun 3.5 is a similar kind of physics simulator created by Emil Ernerfeldt for his thesis at Umeå University, Sweden. Not only is it Swedish, but it's just been released for the Mac.

Sure, it's rough-around-the-edges, and it follows pretty much none of the Mac's interface or key-combination conventions, but it's sure a fun (with an F) toy. Phun is Universal Binary, and freeware.
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]]>educationfreewarephunphysicsrobert-palmerRobert Palmer2008-05-06T17:30:00+00:00Flickr Find: Grand Theft Auto hides Apple and iPhone parodyhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/01/flickr-find-grand-theft-auto-hides-apple-and-iphone-parody/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/01/flickr-find-grand-theft-auto-hides-apple-and-iphone-parody/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/01/flickr-find-grand-theft-auto-hides-apple-and-iphone-parody/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

What do the authors of Grand Theft Auto IV think about Apple users? Tossers. (Warning: definition link NSFW). They've embedded a brilliant Apple parody into one of the Internet cafe computers in the game.

Among other points, they take down Apple (called "Fruit") for being overpriced minimalism. A white shiny unit, superficially similar to the "i" sits next to a near-cinema display and readers are encouraged to "Think Fruit" and live in the Fruit Cocoon.

And if that's not enough, the site advertises a new banana-shaped iFruit phone. Its sales points made me laugh out loud: No buttons, no reception, no storage capacity, all Ego!

Kudos to GTAIV and thanks to Dylan Unutmaz for sending in the links.

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]]>Grand Theft AutoGrandTheftAutoiFruitOverpriced MinimalismOverpricedMinimalismPhoneThink FruitThinkFruitTossersErica Sadun2008-05-01T11:30:00+00:00Rivet media sharing for Xbox 360http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/21/rivet-media-sharing-for-xbox-360/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/21/rivet-media-sharing-for-xbox-360/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/21/rivet-media-sharing-for-xbox-360/#commentsFiled under: ,

Mac users who have wanted to share audio, video, and pictures with their Xbox 360s have had to depend on Connect360 from Nullriver Software. Now, however, there's a new option: Rivet from Cynical Peak Software. Frankly, it does about the same thing as Connect360, running in your menu bar and allowing you to share media to your Xbox 360, though it does add a few convenient features.

According to the developer, Rivet allows you to "supply multiple search paths for your media" and display your folder media folder hierarchies properly (instead of in a long, flat list). So if you've been frustrated by those limitations, Rivet is worth a look. In my brief testing it worked just about as well as Connect360.

Rivet is $18.95 and a demo is available from Cynical Peak Software.
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]]>Connect360Rivetxbox 360xbox360Mat Lu2008-04-21T18:30:00+00:00TUAW Talkcast tonight: Mac and iPhone gaminghttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/20/tuaw-talkcast-tonight-mac-and-iphone-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/20/tuaw-talkcast-tonight-mac-and-iphone-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/20/tuaw-talkcast-tonight-mac-and-iphone-gaming/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Yes, the world famous TUAW Talkcast is back on the virtual air this evening kicking off at 10pm EST over on the Talkshoe site. Mike Rose is out of the hosting chair this week, but worry not -- I, Mike Schramm will be sitting in said chair running hosting duties as well as I can. And since I'm in charge this week, we'll of course be talking about server virtualization and security options for large scale enterprises. No, I'm kidding -- we'll be talking about games, and gaming on the Mac and iPhone.

Brian Akaka of Mac gaming giants and all-around good guys Freeverse will be on the show to chat not only about gaming on the Mac (and why it's not as big as it could be), but also what it's like to design games for the iPhone, and what kinds of things we might see coming out of Freeverse and other developer come June and the App Store. Dave Caolo and some other friendly voices from TUAW should be on as well. And of course we'll have the cast of thousands hundreds whoever joins us on the conference call, and they're very nice folks, too.

Be there at 10pm EST this evening for a talkcast to remember. Pertinent technical and sign-in info after the break. We'll see you there!

Continue reading TUAW Talkcast tonight: Mac and iPhone gaming

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]]>conference-callmike-rosemike-schrammpodcasttalkcasttuawtuaw-talkcasttweet-thisMike Schramm2008-04-20T14:00:00+00:00TUAW hands on with CrossOver Gameshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/17/tuaw-hands-on-with-crossover-games/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/17/tuaw-hands-on-with-crossover-games/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/17/tuaw-hands-on-with-crossover-games/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


We posted about the release of CrossOver Games a little while ago -- it's a version of Codeweavers' Windows virtualization software that allows Windows games to be played on OS X and Linux. I grabbed a copy of the software for TUAW, and spent an afternoon running it through its paces.

You can check out the hands-on after the break -- after installing CrossOver Games, I first tried to load up Guild Wars using their installer's package interface, and was able to get it working pretty well. I then tried one of my favorite games, Civilization 4, and unfortunately, that one didn't turn out quite so well. And just for kicks, I also gave F.E.A.R. a shot -- it's not on CrossOver's compatibility list at all, but I've had a copy sitting around for a while that I haven't played yet, so I let the virtualization app take a crack at getting it working.

The hands-on is in this simple and easy-to-use (which is more than I can say about CrossOver Games) gallery format -- just click the picture furthest to the left down there and begin our journey into the exciting world of virtualization and game installation. I can tell you're excited already.

%Gallery-20700%

Update: Arjun found the problem with Civ in the comments; apparently only the Steam version is compatible. Which vibes with the rest of what I found: if you want to play any of the Steam or built-in games with CrossOver, they'll likely work just fine. But if you want to install another game from a CD (especially unsupported games), you're out of luck.
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]]>civ-4crossover-gamesgameguild-warshands-onhandsontesttuawtweet-thisvirtualizationMike Schramm2008-04-17T08:00:00+00:00Massively offers bi-weekly roundup of Mac MMOshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/15/massively-offers-bi-weekly-roundup-of-mac-mmos/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/15/massively-offers-bi-weekly-roundup-of-mac-mmos/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/15/massively-offers-bi-weekly-roundup-of-mac-mmos/#commentsFiled under: ,

Massively, one of Weblogs, Inc.'s newer gaming blogs, recently started a Mac-centric feature devoted to all things MMO. MMOS X is published bi-weekly and tells you all about the latest native Mac MMO's ... none of that virtualized or Bootcamp stuff, only the good native games.

So, if you're looking for some great MMO's for your Mac, be sure to head over to Massively twice a week.


Thanks to Barb for the tip.
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]]>BarbjoystiqMacMassivelymmoMMOsCory Bohon2008-04-15T09:00:00+00:00Sega producer talks about Super Monkey Ball for the iPhonehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/sega-producer-talks-about-super-monkey-ball-for-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/sega-producer-talks-about-super-monkey-ball-for-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/14/sega-producer-talks-about-super-monkey-ball-for-the-iphone/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

You'll remember that one of the game demos on the iPhone SDK was Sega's Super Monkey Ball franchise -- Spore got all the headlines, but Sega did show up with a pretty nice port of a game that could do very well on the iPhone. And when producer Ethan Einhorn sat down to talk to GameCyte about the port, he said all the things I want to hear: casual, pick up and play gaming on the iPhone, with interface innovation akin to the Wii and gaming performance comparable to other handheld gaming devices, even with a team that had never touched Cocoa and Open GL before.

There are some nice promises from Sega here for at least one cool game in the App Store in June. We'll continue to hope Sega (and Apple, and all of the other companies stepping up to develop games for the iPhone) can deliver.
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]]>developmentgamingiphoneproducersegasuper-monkey-ballMike Schramm2008-04-14T17:00:00+00:00Found footage: Quake 3 multiplayer on iPod touchhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/05/found-footage-quake-3-ipod-touch-multiplayer/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/05/found-footage-quake-3-ipod-touch-multiplayer/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/05/found-footage-quake-3-ipod-touch-multiplayer/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Despite getting punk'd on the Mortal Kombat for iPhone April Fool's joke, we're still innocent and trusting enough to buy into this video demo of Quake 3 running -- in multiplayer, accelerometer-enabled fragging glory -- on a pair of iPod touch handhelds. Is it real? Is it coming soon to a jailbroken device near you? Can you even stand the suspense until June when the SDK-based games start shipping? Yep, us neither.

[via 9to5 Mac / Techmeme]
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]]>gamesiphoneipod touchIpodTouchquaketweet-thisMichael Rose2008-04-05T18:25:00+00:00Mortal Kombat heading to iPhone/iPod Touch?http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/01/mortal-kombat-heading-to-iphone-ipod-touch/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/01/mortal-kombat-heading-to-iphone-ipod-touch/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/01/mortal-kombat-heading-to-iphone-ipod-touch/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Update: yeah, it was a joke. Bummer!

OK, confession time, without a shadow of a doubt, Mortal Kombat/Mortal Kombat II is one of my favorite video games of all time. I don't really want to admit how much of 6th grade was wasted playing the SNES version of MK II.

TRMK.org is reporting that a port of Mortal Kombat is being developed by Midway for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apparently Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat co-creator) posted coded message on his site, spelling out TOUCH. TRMK says that a source revealed to them that a Touch version IS in the works and was also able to provide a very, very convincing video demo.

The demo shows what looks to be motion controlled movements for the characters and the animations and actions looked pretty realistic to simply be pre-recorded (though I'm not ruling that out). From the characters in the Demo, it appears that this port is either of Mortal Kombat Trilogy or perhaps a new edition altogether.

Keep in mind that today is April 1 and that this could all be a hoax/joke. Mortal Kombat was one of (if not the first) fighting games to feature hidden characters and other Easter eggs ("Toasty!" and Noob Saibot anyone?), so this could all just be a really good prank. Still, the potential to see Mortal Kombat on an iPod Touch or iPhone is pretty exciting -- at least to a old skool gamer geek like myself. What about you? Would you play a 2-D platform fighting game on your iPhone or iPod Touch?

Thanks Luke!
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]]>gamesiphoneipod touchIpodTouchmortal kombatMortalKombatChristina Warren2008-04-01T18:15:00+00:00Unity engine to power iPhone gaminghttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/31/unity-engine-to-power-iphone-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/31/unity-engine-to-power-iphone-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/31/unity-engine-to-power-iphone-gaming/#commentsFiled under: ,


At this time of year, every press release must be taken with a grain of salt, but sometimes products announced on or around 4/1 can prove to be real even when they seem a bit unlikely (1GB of free email? Must be a hoax). It's in the vein of strange-but-true (I hope) that Unity Technologies announced a beta program for Unity 3D on the iPhone.

Unity's dynamic game development system (used by some fairly big names), if it makes the leap to the iPhone and iPod touch successfully, will give game creators a spectactular platform for rapid development. Hopefully that will include the unique interaction modes (multitouch, accelerometer & maybe even location awareness) that we saw at the SDK announcement. Can't wait!

Thanks fursund
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]]>gamesiphoneunityunity 3dUnity3dMichael Rose2008-03-31T17:30:00+00:00CrossOver Games released, designed to play Windows games on Mac and Linuxhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/26/crossover-games-released-designed-to-play-windows-games-on-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/26/crossover-games-released-designed-to-play-windows-games-on-mac/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/26/crossover-games-released-designed-to-play-windows-games-on-mac/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Codeweavers has released CrossOver Games, a games-specific version of CrossOver, their Windows emulation software. Jeremy White has the story behind the release over on their blog -- apparently the application team wasn't working quite as quickly as they wanted, but the games team was chugging right along in terms of compatibility, so they decided to go ahead and ship what they'd done with games on its own.

The compatibility list isn't bad (most of the Steam stuff is on there, which is great, although it is a little weird that they brag about World of Warcraft and EVE Online, considering that those two run natively on Mac just fine; guess you Linux folks need your MMO fix, too) but nothing really jumps out here that might encourage you to use CrossOver rather than just, say, Boot Camp-ing the game up yourself. DirectX 10 is apparently causing problems, too, since neither Crysis, Gears of War, or Unreal Tournament III are on there.

Still, a valiant effort, and if you're desperate to get one of these games working and playable on your Mac (and don't have a spare copy of Windows sitting around to install with Boot Camp), CrossOver Games might be just what you need. TUAW is working on getting a copy of it, and as soon as we do, we'll run it through the grinder and see what we can get to come out the other side.

[Via DF]
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]]>crossover-gameseve-onlinegears-of-warunreal-tournament-3windowsworld-of-warcraftMike Schramm2008-03-26T22:00:00+00:00iPhone has the potential to take over handheld gaminghttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/22/iphone-has-the-potential-to-take-over-handheld-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/22/iphone-has-the-potential-to-take-over-handheld-gaming/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/22/iphone-has-the-potential-to-take-over-handheld-gaming/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Roughly Drafted has a nice, long analysis of the iPhone as a gaming device, and they hit on a lot of great reasons why the iPhone seems destined to be a great gaming platform. Not only will it have the hardware chops to play games (including a few input devices that no other handheld gaming consoles have ever had), but Apple's SDK implementation, when it finally gets off the ground in June anyway, seems poised to let almost anyone develop any game ideas they have for the device.

Throw in a great distribution platform and a relative lack of competition on the handheld platform (Nintendo is undoubtedly working on a successor to the DS, but other than that, there are no real next-generation contenders so far), and Apple apparently has the potential to do very well in the gaming market.

In fact, the only problem that Apple might bump up against in building up in the iPhone as a gaming device is the cost -- at $400, it'll be the most expensive gaming handheld out there. But given that it's actually a smartphone, and thus actually benefits from an already installed user base (people who have the iPhone may very well be people who will have never purchased or used a handheld gaming platform before), the price may not be that big an obstacle to ownership.

And if they can build up a respectable library of game titles, they could even brand an iPod touch/phoneless iPhone as a gaming unit, and sell that at a price that would compete with Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS. Apple has never historically pushed for the forefont of anything in gaming, but if their showing at the SDK event is any indication, they may be lining up to make the iPhone the place to play handheld videogames in the future.

[Via IMG]
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]]>appledevelopmentgaminggaming-deviceiphonenintendonintendo-dsplatformpricesdksonysony-pspMike Schramm2008-03-22T11:00:00+00:00Next up for gaming: the MacBookhttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/18/next-up-for-gaming-macbook/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/18/next-up-for-gaming-macbook/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/18/next-up-for-gaming-macbook/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Peter Cohen's got a good commentary up at Macworld about Apple's should-be next target for gaming, the Macbook. Finally, as of the iPhone SDK announcement, we've seen some serious movement on the gaming front from Apple -- they brought EA in and commissioned their own programmers to punch out some game software to show off the iPhone SDK implementation (and as I've said before, including on the talkcast a few weeks ago, we're only seeing the beginning of what's possible with gaming on the iPhone). So maybe they're finally seeing the light on gaming.

But as is, the Macbook isn't winning any awards as a gaming machine. As Cohen says, yes, the integrated graphics card puts the consumer Mac laptop hopelessly behind the times, but the problem isn't just upgrading the hardware -- the software itself needs to be optimized and redesigned. Apple has always been at the forefront of development, and Leopard especially, with Core Image functionality, looks great in the OS and in applications.

But when even mainstream sports titles, the kind that are on all platforms from day one, can't even play on your hardware, it's time to go back to square one. As Cohen says, we're not asking for much -- but games are a core part of the personal computing experience, and Apple shouldn't sideline that demographic any more than the others they serve.
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]]>analysisgamingmacbookmacworldpeter-cohenMike Schramm2008-03-18T01:00:00+00:00Abandon your Sunday plans: Return to Dark Castle shipshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/15/abandon-your-sunday-plans-return-to-dark-castle-ships/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/15/abandon-your-sunday-plans-return-to-dark-castle-ships/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/15/abandon-your-sunday-plans-return-to-dark-castle-ships/#commentsFiled under: ,

As Brett noted in February, the long-in-development next installment of the classic Mac game Dark Castle has been expected "any day now" for years. Rent fans sing along with me: No Day But Today -- the release of Return To Dark Castle has finally happened, and you can buy the game at this moment from the SuperHappyFunFun site. Unfortunately, the planned level editor will not be included with this version of the game.

On the one hand, I'm very excited to revisit this diversion from my childhood; on the other, I wonder what my jaded offspring will make of the throwback fun of pitching rocks at bats and jumping off of ropes. $30 says they'll enjoy it as much as I did back in the day.

Full feature list after the break.

Thanks Mark!

Continue reading Abandon your Sunday plans: Return to Dark Castle ships

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]]>classicdark castleDarkCastlegamesretrotweet-thisMichael Rose2008-03-15T21:30:00+00:00Yet more great apps coming for the iPhonehttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/13/yet-more-great-apps-coming-for-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/13/yet-more-great-apps-coming-for-the-iphone/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/13/yet-more-great-apps-coming-for-the-iphone/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Yesterday we posted about the Apple press release announcing that the SDK had been downloaded more than 100,000 times in four days. It's also worth noting, however, that Apple basically confirmed that several well-known developers are officially supporting the iPhone and bringing some exciting applications to everyone's favorite handheld. In addition to the developers represented on stage at the SDK event, of particular interest are:
  • Intuit (of Quicken fame) which wants "to create powerful iPhone applications."
  • Namco, specifically mentioning Pac Man and, my favorite, Galaga.
  • NetSuite, developer of SuitePhone (CRM software similar to salesforce.com).
  • PopCap games, working on the extremely addicting Peggle as well as classics Bejeweled and Zuma.
  • Six Apart, which is developing an iPhone native TypePad blogging client.
In short, it's obvious that the App Store is going to be chock full 'o goodness once June rolls around. Personally, I'm slightly worried that with Peggle and Galaga on my iPhone I'll never get anything done.
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]]>GalagaiPhonePegglePopCapQuickenTypePadMat Lu2008-03-13T12:15:00+00:00Gameloft to release 15 iPhone games by end 2008http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/08/gameloft-to-release-15-iphone-games-by-end-2008/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/08/gameloft-to-release-15-iphone-games-by-end-2008/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/08/gameloft-to-release-15-iphone-games-by-end-2008/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Gameloft announced that they will bring 15 of their games to the iPhone platform. Gameloft, as you may already know, has released some iPod games on iTunes already. Pocket Gamer has a mock up of what one of the games may look like.

Interestingly, this screenshot was shown off in Gameloft's keynote speech in the days leading up to the iPhone SDK announcement. Gameloft produces some big-name games for other mobile platforms, including: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Rayman, Might and Magic, and Prince of Persia.

[via MacRumors]
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]]>GameloftgamesiPhoneiPod touchIpodTouchSDKCory Bohon2008-03-08T08:00:00+00:00Apple shows off iPhone gaming chopshttp://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/06/apple-shows-off-iphone-gaming-chops/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/06/apple-shows-off-iphone-gaming-chops/http://www.tuaw.com/2008/03/06/apple-shows-off-iphone-gaming-chops/#commentsFiled under: ,

While Apple did not release any games at today's event they did begin to show what's possible with several tech demos. Apparently the SDK has only been available for the last two weeks or so, even inside Apple, which makes what they showed that much more impressive. First up, a team inside of Apple cooked up "Touch Fighter," which appears to be a kind of space-based shooter that you steer by tilting and aim by pointing. The game is 3D and uses OpenGL graphics.

Next up was Travis Boatman from EA who showed an iPhone version of the eagerly-awaited game Spore (also shipping for Macs later this year). It's clearly cut down from the desktop version, but as Johnson said of the dog walking on his two hind legs: "it is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all!" Considering that EA had two weeks, this suggests the iPhone has the power to be a serious gaming platform.

Finally, Ethan Einhorn from Sega showed off a build of Super Monkey Ball, naturally also using tilt controls. What's interesting there is they actually underestimated what the iPhone could do, and ended up having to bring in another artist to upscale the art from what they had anticipated. Again, the take home message: the iPhone is a real platform for game development.

It's worth noting that these were all demos and there are no guarantees that any of them will be released. Nonetheless, it's an impressive showing for two-weeks with the SDK and we can only imagine what things will look like in June when firmware 2.0 is released to consumers.

Update: Engadget says that EA has confirmed Spore for iPhone; release in September.
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