In the Electronic Arts booth here at E3, nestled in among the raucous noises of various first-person shooters, is a completely white room with a few cell phones on tables. This is the EA Mobile space, and it was here that we got to play Spore Origins, the iPhone version of Will Wright's sure-to-be masterpiece.
Like the EA Mobile space, Spore Origins is pretty simple and clean, and stands out as a fairly calm experience among the racket of a lot of other iPhone games. Spore takes you through a civilization from ameoba to space travel, but Spore Origins sticks with just the ameoba stage. You play a creature of your own creation and float through the microbial ether, eating things that are smaller than you, and running away from things that are larger.
Read on for TUAW's impressions of one of the most anticipated iPhone games, and why it might not be all we had hoped.
CrunchGear has a cool video of the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed running on an iPhone. The first half is just dialog and cinematics from the game, so feel free to jump ahead a bit.
You'll see how the game makes use of the iPhone's touch screen. For instance, different gestures produce different effects (Force power, lightsaber deflect, etc.). I'd like to see how other aspects of the game work as well, like piloting a ship and other battles.
It definitely looks like fun, though constantly having your finger on the screen could get distracting. In any case, the iPhone is certainly becoming quite the little gaming platform.
Now that the App Store has launched various developers are talking about the iPhone's capabilities as a gaming machine. Gizmodo paraphrases a developer from EA as saying: "On a scale of the three, it's in between the DS and the PSP, but sliding more towards the PSP." Over at Kotaku they have SEGA of America president Simon Jeffery saying that the iPhone is about on a par with the old Sega Dreamcast.
On the downside, control remains a bit of an issue. The EA developer compared the iPhone's accelerometer to "a loose analog stick" with lots of "random data" that has to be smoothed out. In any case, I think it is impressive to hear developers talk about how powerful the iPhone really is. This naturally gives good reason to hope for even more impressive games as developers get more comfortable with the device and its capabilities.
I'm at E3 in Los Angeles all week for TUAW's sister site Joystiq, and this afternoon we got to see the Electronic Arts press conference at the Orpheum Theater. Among bigger EA games like Spore and Dead Space, Travis Boatman (who has graced these pages before talking about mobile games on the iPhone) of EA's mobile games division came out on stage to talk about iPhone gaming. He said that obviously there is "a lot of interest" around mobile gaming lately, especially around the iPhone, and that EA is committed to capitalizing on that interest.
They premiered three games in the App Store at launch (Sudoku, Tetris, and Scrabble), and Boatman pointed out that they've tried to innovate in all three -- Tetris features a unique piece-drawing system, and Spore (full name: Spore Origins, a mini version of the bacteria stage of the game, complete with a creature creator) will use the accelerometer to control its creatures. Additionally, EA wants WiFi to be a big part of their games on the iPhone -- they're planning on releasing a patch to the Scrabble game that will allow people to play together online.
Finally, Boatman hinted that they were aiming to do a lot more with the iPhone's processing power -- they plan ports of Tiger Woods and Need for Speed on the iPhone. As Mac gaming fans, EA isn't exactly our favorite game developer, but getting big developers behind real innovation on the iPhone will help lift the tides of the software in the App Store.
Like Erica, I've been poking around the App Store all morning. Unlike Erica, I'm not brave enough to install the firmware without the official word from Apple, but in the meantime, here's a few free apps in there that are definitely worth a download right away.
Phonesaber: Yes. This is exactly what you think it is. And it's free.
Light: Don't spend money on one of those other flashlight programs -- get Erica's original for completely free. (In fact, you might as well go ahead and get all of her apps, they're all great.)
MixMeister Scratch: Free vinyl scratching over your iPod touch or iPhone's background music. Silly, but fun for aspiring (or, more specifically) wannabe DJs.
Zenbe Lists: A pretty good-looking free alternative to all the other To-Do applications out there.
???: I have no idea what this is (looks like some kind of Memory-type game), but it's free and it's hilariously beautiful. Update: Actually, this looks like the non-English version of Jirbo Match. But still, it looks like amazing and colorful fun.
NetNewsWire: This and AIM aren't really hidden, but they're must-haves, of course.
Have more that you've seen? Link us in the comments. I may not have the ability to install apps on the phone yet, but when I get it, I'll be ready.
id software's CEO Todd Hollenshead met up with Kikizo for an interview recently, and the conversation turned, as often seems to do with id nowadays, to gaming on the Mac. Hollenshead was confronted with what his peers Gabe Newell (of Valve), and id's John Carmack had previously said about Apple, and he agreed that while "the Apple guys would probably frown to hear me" say so, it's true: Apple has stepped up on gaming before, and never "followed through" with their support.
He doesn't paint an extremely dark picture -- he says that Apple did send engineers this time to promise their support for the future, and that developing on Intel architecture makes things much easier than dealing with the "weird PowerPC" setup. And in Apple's defense, we've seen more support for gaming out of them, both on the Mac and on the iPhone and iPod, than ever before.
But so far, it's all talk on Apple's part, and we have yet to see indie games on the App Store and working day 0 releases from id and EA. Hopefully, Apple's following through this time, and those things are right around the corner.
First EA, and now gaming giant Ubisoft has inked a deal with Transgaming to wrap their titles in Cider and port them over to the Mac. Which seems like great news -- Ubisoft has a huge number of quality titles, and bringing those to the Mac must be great for gamers who appreciate a better operating system. But not so fast.
First things first, Cider hasn't exactly proven itself in terms of making great games, or even ports for that matter. And apparently Ubisoft is taking it slow -- rather than bring us games like Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed or the great Rainbow Six Vegas series, we're getting... wait for it... Catz and Dogz. Oh, and CSI: Hard Evidence, which was hardly a blockbuster on game shelves.
It's definitely good news that Mac gamers are getting more to play, but if this is all we're going to get, they can keep it. If they wanted to port us Far Cry 2 when it comes out, or maybe even the long-awaited Beyond Good and Evil 2 whenever it's done, awesome. But if all we're going to get is years-old bottom-of-the-barrel crapware, we'll stick with original Mac game developers, thanks.
Here we go. You guys sounded really jaded on the comments for the kart racing game, so here's an iPhone game that might actually break some new ground. It's called Rolando -- Simon Oliver is the developer, and he sent us a tip and the trailer above, and if you're looking for some fun and innovation in iPhone gaming, here you go. It looks kind of like a cocktail of LocoRoco, Lemmings, Kirby's Canvas and Katamari Damacy all mixed together with some iPhone originality for good measure. With a mix like that, you can't go wrong.
Simon tells us it's a "physics-based platform/puzzler.". He says that there will be four different worlds in the game, with ten levels each, including boss levels and bonus stages, and while it's not seen in the video, there might be a little accelerometer action as well. There are a few different versions of the little circular guys, called Rolandos (the King Rolando, with the crown in the video, has to be moved around by the others, for instance), as well as various implements throughout the levels that can be controlled directly. Simon's aiming to get it in the App Store by August, and while pricing hasn't been finalized, he's thinking $9.99 sounds good.
Don't like kart racing on the iPhone? As long as we can get a few good original games looking as good as this one does, you may not have to worry.
As we get closer and closer to the App Store launch (I'm still holding out for seeing an updated iTunes on July 8th, one week from today), a few big name game developers have announced that they're checking out the market for gaming on the iPhone.
First up is Bioware, one of my favorite developers and makers of the classics Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and the recent Mass Effect. In an interview with Patrick Klepek over at MTV Multiplayer, Bioware's CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk said that yes, they are watching the iPhone as a game development platform, but they're mostly keep an eye on "what type of consumer buys games on it and what type of experience they're looking for." I worry a bit that they mean that if only casual games sell big they'll stay away from it, because gentlemen, I'm playing games on the iPhone, and I would love a solid, in-depth RPG to play. Who wouldn't, really?
And former EA exec Neil Young has split from the company to form his own development house, called "ng:moco" ( we have no idea what that means, either). They'll focus exclusively on making games for the iPhone -- Young says that they want to step up to be the "spiritual first-party" for the platform. He points out that the iPhone has the power of a PSP, except that it's also got a camera, an accelerometer, a multitouch screen, is location-aware, has all your media on it, and is always on and always connected. Just like we've always said, that's a great gaming device, and it's exciting news that a former EA exec like Young is going to work on getting some great games developed for it.
Have you been wondering "where are all the Mac games?" Well, ChannelFlip (our newest favorite Mac-related podcast) has been asking the same question. In their latest episode, Mac Gaming 101, they take many points on the topic and explain why Mac users wait longer for ports of games.
You may recall last Mat's post last night about Blizzard; if only other gaming companies would do the same thing. You may also remember WWDC '07, when many game companies (including EA) promised PC/Mac releases on the same day -- while they have almost held up their promise, it still leaves us wanting more.
Mac Pro users -- it's time to power up the graphics capability of your machine! ATI has announced the new Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition. Whether you're a serious gamer or a graphics designer, this new card features 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 frame buffer memory, 320 stream processors, twin dual-link DVI ports to run two 30" Apple Cinema HD displays, PCI Express 2.0 support, and more.
One of our readers pointed out that you can even use the HD 3870 in Windows running in Boot Camp on a Mac Pro. The Radeon HD 3870 runs in any Mac Pro and will be available in late June for a MSRP of $219.
Our WWDC liveblog has the story -- Apple demoed a whole slew of apps (more than any one person would ever need) at the keynote today, but for my money, the most interesting were probably the least useful: I bought an iPhone to play games with.
Sega was up first, demoing that version of Super Monkey Ball they've been working on. The real key on this one will be the amount of content they can come up with, and the devs have said they're planning to put in lots of levels -- the more the better. It will debut for $9.99 right at launch.
Pangea was up next, showing off a few ports they've put together -- Cro-Mag Rally is a "caveman racing game" that uses the accelerometer (surprise) to drive a vehicle. This is, unfortunately, the problem you run into when you get a really innovative set of controls on a gaming device. It takes innovation not only to come up with the controls, but to find new ways to use them. Just as the Nintendo Wii suffers from thousands of useless minigame collections, the iPhone at App Store launch will likely suffer from thousands of "accelerometer racing" games, with only one or two really worth playing.
But Apple saved the best for last -- a company named Digital Legends was invited to show off their action/adventure platforming game, and it showed real promise (you can see some good screenshots on Engadget's liveblog). Unfortunately, this one won't be out until "a few weeks" after the App Store launch, but hopefully for every touch jewel puzzler and accelerometer racing game we have on release day, we'll have a truly innovative gaming delight later in the iPhone's lifetime.
Are we the only ones unnaturally excited for the iPhone App Store? We don't know how distribution will work, but imagine great applications available from top-notch OS X developers at the touch of a finger. Bored in a waiting room? Try out a new game, buy it and play it right then and there. You know it's not a piece of junk because it's been approved for the store. We can't wait.
Ambrosia is teasing one of their future offerings this week with Aki Mobile Mahjong. It's a take on the ancient Chinese game that features cool graphics and nifty sound effects (check out the screenshots and game play video). Ambrosia notes that their aim is to create games that can be launched and quit quickly and easily (for instance, when that important call arrives).
Also interesting is this little tidbit: "Download additional custom levels via EDGE/Wi-Fi...." Cool!
Oh my. Still need convincing that the iPhone/iPod touch is the greatest gaming platform ever made? Then check this video of a couple Japanese researchers playing a game they claim to have put together "in about an hour": multiscreen, touch-based Pong.
On first glance, it looks like the game is even checking orientation of the iPods, but if you watch it a little further, when things go faster, you can see that it's actually just pushing the ball from screen to screen as it leaves. Still, if nothing else, a quick demo like this shows that multiple Touches (via a certain website, or on the same WiFi network, maybe, or -- hopefully -- just in close proximity to one another through Bluetooth or another protocol) can easily be made to connect multiplayer gamers.
As a demo, very nice (and it seems fun as a game as well). Can't wait to see a full-featured game that takes advantage of all of the iPhone's connectivity options.
TUAW was lucky enough to spend a little time recently chatting with Anders Nilsson of Polarbit.com. Polarbit is an independent game developer based in Europe. They recently ported their mobile Raging Thunder racing game to the iPhone and released it as a free beta to the jailbreak community. (It's hosted at the Big Boss repository.) Built around the iPhone's accelerometer, Raging Thunder really expresses the fun, interactive potential of the iPhone as a gaming platform.
Read on past the jump for the full transcript of our interview.
Like Erica, I've been 
id software's CEO Todd Hollenshead met up with Kikizo 
First EA
As we get 
Are we the only ones unnaturally excited for the iPhone App Store? We don't know how distribution will work, but imagine great applications available from top-notch OS X developers at the touch of a finger. Bored in a waiting room? Try out a new game, buy it and play it right then and there. You know it's not a piece of junk because it's been approved for the store. We can't wait.
