It's been just over a year since we officially noticed that Apple was pushing towards gaming on the iPod touch, and while their advertising hasn't stopped pushing, the actual push hasn't quite gotten to a shove. If you look at this holiday season, certainly the iPod touch is a popular device, butt kids are still asking for the PSP Go and the Nintendo DSi, handheld units meant specifically for gaming. If Apple wants to trounce gaming the same way they've trounced the smartphone market with the iPhone, they've got a long road to travel.

But don't count them out yet, says analyst Michael Pachter -- he says the iPod touch is the "most dangerous thing that ever happened to the [major video game] publishers, ever." Apple's main handheld gaming device is $200 this Christmas, but he says next year it'll be $149, and the year after that, maybe $129. When, in the future, you can put down $99 and walk away with an iPod touch, says Pachter, then "every nine year old kid is going to have one of those instead of a DS or a PSP, and if you train kids that this is the game that you want to play... How about Tetris? Why would you pay USD 20 for Tetris when you can get it for USD 6.99 or USD 3.99 on iPod touch?"

Interesting point. It's true that console manufacturers have been hesitant to lower prices on their products (in fact, Sony's latest version of the PSP actually had a price increase), while Apple seems committed to pushing the prices on iPods ever cheaper. And yes, as long as companies keep releasing the same games on both devices for $30 on the DS and less than $10 on the App Store (and why shouldn't they -- no packaging, no distribution costs), people will go for the cheaper one. I don't expect to see the iPod touch as a huge winner this year (as a gaming competitor, I mean -- of course it'll sell by the truckloads), but Pachter seems right: wait until the prices drop, and the iPod touch might have traditional gaming devices shaking in their D-pads.

Neil Young (not that Neil Young, the other one), former EA exec and head of ngmoco, fresh from his appearance at the Apple iPhone 3.0 event the other day, showed up on a keynote stage at the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco to talk about the big, wrapped present that the iPhone and the App Store are to game developers. The platform is "better than the DS, better than the PSP," he said, referring to Nintendo and Sony's handheld gaming devices, because not only is tops in terms of usability (it's "always on, always with you"), and not only is it easier than any other platform to develop for, but the market is gigantic and growing -- unlike Sony and Nintendo's markets, there are no first party titles to compete with.

Which makes a lot of sense (and Young should know -- his company is poised to become one of the platform's early big developers). Other game developers agree, too -- according to a survey at Games Beat 2009, the iPhone has beaten out social networks, web-based content and even consoles as the area that has the most potential for gaming. There's no question at all: the future is extremely bright for gamers on the iPhone.

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.

[via Big Download]

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.

As we found out this past year, gamers have Macs, too. When you think of gaming gifts, you don't usually think of getting suggestions from a Mac blog-- most of (if not all of) the best games this year aren't playable on a Mac at all. But nevertheless, we're out there-- people who love gaming and Macs, living in two worlds both aimed at the same thing: having a great and beautiful user experience.

If you're shopping for one of us this holiday season, here's a quick guide to a few good gift ideas.

Rumors are flying in Seattle that Bungie, makers of Halo and, much more relevant here, Marathon and Pathways to Darkness, may be splitting from Microsoft. A complete and total rumor, unsubstantiated and unsourced, but like all good rumors, it has just enough good reasoning that it might actually be true. Microsoft certainly has no reason to let go of Bungie, but it's totally believable that Bungie is tired of being the Halo company, and ready to do some developing on its own again.

And of course, if Bungie breaks away to work on the platform of its choice, it's almost a given that we'll see a brand new Bungie game on the Mac. And how fortuitous, says Christopher Price-- he cites Bungie's rumored split as part of a trinity of Mac gaming developments lately that all point to one thing: Apple is poised to return to (and take over) gaming.

We are securely in rumorland here, so take all of this with a full tablespoon of salt. But you can smell the storm coming in terms of Apple and gaming-- something is brewing in Steve Jobs' head. I don't know if it will come on AppleTV (because of course that's a "hobby," and Apple's real power isn't in the set top box -- it's in the insanely fast and beautiful Macintosh computers), but the stars are aligning, and if Apple wants to get into gaming, it can definitely do it. Make no mistake -- Leopard is the priority right now, and likely will be through the end of the year. But next Christmas, don't be surprised if gamers want something under their tree from Apple.

Thanks, Christopher!

Inside Mac Games has a nice roundup of reactions from various Mac OS X game developers on the news of Boot Camp. Reactions on the whole are positive concerning the opportunities that Boot Camp offers, and speculation from the likes of Aspyr, MacSoft, Freeverse and Ambrosia are hopeful that this will help boost the Mac gaming platform even faster.

Check out the roundup, as there are some great comments from individuals at these companies that touch on where they think the market is headed, and what we can expect in the not-too-distant future of Mac gaming.