While Apple continues to market the iPhone as a 3-in-1 device -- web, phone, and iPod -- it's clear that Jobs has a 4th market clearly in his sights. It's no accident that EA and Sega were both selected to demonstrate their skills with the
iPhone SDK during last week's press event. Now Gameloft, the worldwide number one mobile game publisher in terms of revenues -- has committed to developing games for the iPhone. "Over 15 titles" are expected in 2008, in fact. Oh iPhone, is there anything you can't do with your 3D processor, multi-touch display, and 3-axis accelerometer? Oh right, GPS, 3G data,
corporate Exchange, A2DP Bluetooth audio, MMS, ... you get the idea.
Update: John Carmack -- co-founder of Id Software -- just
commented that, "We (Id) have put in our application like everybody else." So yeah, it'll
play Doom... officially this time.
posted Mar 10th 2008 6:53AM
well obviously the ability of this iphone isn't important as this is a foot in ready for the next generation portable consoles that inculdes a new iphone.
Herb Br
yukky
i was left hanging!
11:57
Sam Luckkins
therell be more posts about the new reading..
WHAT?
It's John Carmack, not John Carmac. Minus 50 geek cred points for Thomas Ricker.
Clearly in his SITES?! Come on.
sights. as in gun sights. as in what you aim with. you do aim, don't you?
Me fail english?! That's unpossible!
Magnalus-
The 'paid writer' of the item you cited is perfectly right in saying "sight." Why the libelous indictment?
Because the article said "sites" before, not "sights".
Its limitations are well-known but what it does, it does extremely well, and in most areas, much better than any other phones on the market.
It's the interface, integration and display and presentation that have all the other manufacturers scrambling to play "catch-up", don't you think?
I agree with you about the MMS though. Why? Still, it can easily be added in the near future, no?
Actually the iPhone stands little chance of usurping the PSP or Nintendo DS-Lite, mainly due the poor gaming interface. Sure, it might garner some users in the PDA/phone games market, but just try and play a game that required a joystick and buttons, you'll be left SOL. So, we'll see novelty games, cards, tap-able games, and maybe a few text-input, but this is nary enough to oust the PSP or DS-L. Good try though!
@Azayzel
Try telling that to Sony, have you seen the patents for the PSP-Phone that were all over the net in the last couple of days?
Looks like they are going for a single touch screen, just like the iPhone, that displays buttons to look like a phone in one mode and has a PSP layout with pixel/touch based buttons in the other mode.
iPhone developers could do exactly the same as Sony's PSP-Phone, within the limits of not infringing their patent.
BUT CAN IT PLAY DOOM 2???
Maybe they can copy all of the cool accelerometer games on the Nokia N95...
Which ones are those?
One of two things are going to happen in this area of gaming for the iPhone in the next few months/year if Apple are indeed serious about this:
1. Several companies along with accessory/peripheral makers are going to request a tactile D-Pad and button accessory that clips into the iPhone/iPod Touch dock connector.
2. iPhone 2 is released which has even greater ability for playing games and an improved form factor for doing so. (dependant on the success of gaming on the system up until that point...which I imagine will be good (revenue, popularity).
People compare iPhone games to the Nintendo DS which is a fair comparison but there is a reason Nintendo included a D-Pad and button on the unit aside form the touchscreen factor. So, if Apple is serious about gaming on their touch devices then the form factor of the unit will change or an official add-on accessory will be produced. Otherwise a good bulk of the games will be quick little novelty experiences, while only a few games will be A+ titles (Monkey Ball or a Brain Training like clone).
I do agree that developing games for this thing will need some careful thought about it's strengths and limitations.
"Virtual" buttons suck. The emulators available with Jailbreak show that.
As long as developers are careful about the types of games they make (most likely no FPS games), and think the control system all the way through, the lack of a D-Pad won't be horrible. Some of the ideas I've had to consider (I'm a dev too):
1. gesture-based controls: quite a few games that typically rely on a D-pad could be handled using gestures instead of a virtual D-pad; i.e. to move in a direction, you place your left thumb anywhere on the left side of the screen and slide it to the direction you want to move, then hold your thumb in that position. You could then slide your thumb in another one of four directions to represent the respective push on the D-pad.
Virtual D-pads use your absolute location on the screen, while a gesture-based D-pad would rely solely on the direction you shift your thumb. It actually works really well in practice.
2. Accelerometer left/right: tilting the iPod or iPhone slightly to the left or right is fairly simple and is a reliable form of input. Any extra reliance on the acceleromaters isn't as reliable, unless you're making a game like Super Monkey Ball.
3. Placing buttons along the edge of the screen: if a game *requires* a button, placing it along the edge of the screen works best since it's the easiest place to locate without having to think about the positions of your thumbs. Alternatively, you could dedicate entire quadrants of the screen to button presses to give the user more of an area to hit.
4. Analog left/right: if your game needs analog input along one axis only and you don't want to use the accelerometer, using a virtual "strip" along the lower-left edge of the screen could work pretty well. You'd keep your finger on the center of the trip and slide it back and forth to represent the analog stick. Unfortunately, 2-axis analog input breaks down horribly and wouldn't work in practice.
Ive said this about a dozen times on different sites. There is only one genre that cannot work on the iphone as it currently exists, and it's not FPS. The iphone doesn't need a d-pad.
Can't wait for version 2.0 in the summer. It needs to be 3G with HSDPA AND HSUPA, and have a GPS chip. MMS would be nice, not sure why it isnt in there yet. A forward facing camera with video iChat would round out the perfect device.
Bring it on Jobs!
I agree the iPhone desperately needs 3g. And mms would be nice, but not critical. And GPS? I wanted it, until Apple updated so I can locate myself using google maps. Which seems to work within a block. In other words, it works well enough that I don't care about a dedicated gps.
What the iPhone needs is 3g.
Oh and ability to sort phone calls by:
1. All
2. Missed
3. DIALED. Seriously, is that so freaking hard to do? Every cell phone I've had has had that ability since, oh, 1994. And most regular phones for that matter.
Are we talking about the iPhone here or what? Don't tell me, someday it will replace game consoles. Come on it's THE IPHONE! The superphone that's missing features of mid-end phones.
@ Sam Winter
As I understand it, HSUPA assumes HSDPA's download speeds.
Also, AT&T currently does not have plans to offer two-way video conferencing over its 3G networks. It does, however, offer "Video Share" which is a one-way video transmission accompanied by two-way voice communications. The iPhone's rear camera would be ample enough for Video Share with 3G and a usuable speakerphone feature.
It's interesting you would mention HSPUA and AT&T's choice of Video Share over honest-to-God Video calling.
HSPUA does not offer HSPDA speed speeds, actually, it's closer to that of UMTS downlink speeds--which is fast for uplink. On the book, the reason why AT&T has chosen Video Share over Video calling is because the American consumer would not have interest in it as it has really be warmly embraced by Asian and European consumers. Now, the real reason for this is the company's lack of 3G uplink speeds fast enough for video calling. With HSPDA, Video share is nice, because it is one way, with one person sending a real-time clip with the other person downloading it, so to speak. The uplink speeds aren't currently fast enough to allow video calling, which would mandate both phone download and upload at fast enough rates to maintain a smooth, real-time conference.
Long Story short: When the HSPUA rollout is complete, I'm sure AT&T will change it's tune. As AT&T would be the only US provider to have video conference--what's more, Sprint and VZW will not. With T-Mobile's being a Europe-based company, I could not imagine their not allowing video calling in their SU 3G network--this would but AT&T behind, technologically, and I don't see them doing this.
Most importantly: American consumers, such as myself, love novel features. Do *most* people need it: nope. But will they want it and more importantly are they willing to pay for it? Indeed.
I just don't see how any company can beat Nintendo in the hand held market, they just seem to have the edge over everyone. Who wants to play a hand held system without Mario?
The Nintendo DS currently has nearly 68M units in circulation. The Sony PSP has nearly 32M. That is 100M total units in this generation of handheld game consoles, compared to 50M total standard videogame consoles (PS3, 360 and Wii combined).
Then handheld gaming market is HUGE business, currently with only 2 players. Apple has the opportunity to get in on that multi Billion dollar industry without needing to create specific hardware--they would be the stupidest company on the planet if they didn't go for this market with both bug iGuns blazing.
And you know WHY the handheld gaming industry is so big? It's because handhelds are cheap, and they've got a big libraries (especially the DS, as it has the GBA library as well). The iPhone could theoretically compete with a big library, but when I can buy a DS AND a PSP for the cost of one, it's not going to come even close to competing.
Put Advanced Wars on it and thats one less thing i have to take with me next time i travel.... seriously, someone please do it!
Thats unlikely. Advanced wars has always been a nintendo exclusive.
it could take on the DS market but no way its taking the PSP market...
Its games will be a joke compared to the PSP.
It might be able to outdo the underpowered childish DS, but not the PSP.
Specs look good on paper, but they will never be utilized to even a small fraction of its potential.
sorry...psp is a joke...get a real console get a DS
@ Oinquer
You really need to play God of War.
Or Mgs portable ops, and soon FF crisis core.
holy bust-a-move rip off.
Seriously! I wonder if Taito know about that.
Let me put it this way, the idea of the iPhone competing with PSP, DS or even NOKIA in terms of gaming or even applications is almost very bad and disappointing! Apple has announced that no developer nor company is going to be able to create applications that can work in the background, meaning that AIM application or even push mail well not work fine unless you are inside the application it self, which also means that if you are playing a game, you can't listen to music or have a 30 minutes phone call with your girlfriend, also means that whenever you get a phone call, the game or whatever app will simply shut down and lose your progress unless you luckily save your game or your application status every 1 minute!
I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but at least when I'm using a NOKIA phone, a game or application will still keep running in the background which is fair enough and acceptable for a phone/smart device holder.
You see, this is only one problem that I, as a normal reader, have found to be annoying, I wonder what other problems might pop up for game developers and gamers, or even application users (everybody).
What do you think?
I think thats balls...iPhone 2 ftw!
It's more likely the game will auto pause/auto save when you get a call and a button asking if you want to accept the call will appear, or something along those lines.
As far as the ability to play with yourself while talking to your girlfriend... it's hard to say.
You have not been paying enough attention on the rumor sites. The apps don't shutdown, they are frozen in memory, ready for you to return later. I personally don't want a game to continue in the background eating processor and battery time, while the game continues unattended, that would be crazy. I'd rather have the game pause until I'm ready to play... like the iPhone and Nokias do ;)
Sweet! I was worried that I would have to buy a DS for 120 dollars and then choose from a library of both 1st and 3rd party games, many of which have fantastic storylines and immersive gameplay, and some of which you can play online for free with your friends.
But no! My days of oppression are over. Finally, I will be able to pay over 500 dollars for a phone plus 60 a month for a plan, and then play a hundred different versions of Bejeweled, Tetris, and the occasional movie tie in, none of which keep you entertained for more than 10 minutes and none of which you can play online! Apple, you clever dog, you, you've done it again!
As long as they have a decent version of Tetris. But it would be very hard to equal Tetris DS.
Tetris Company... are you listening?
Tack on the fantastic controls that will take up part of the iphone display itself and offer tactile responsiveness....brilliant!
The title of this article shows how much engadget's love for this device blurs their common sense some times.
No physical keys? But how I'm going to do my combos in street fighter without looking? =(
Magnulus you are incorrect. The phrase "in their sites" refers to someone having a target in their gun sites, i.e. ready to fire. The phrase was both used and spelled correctly in the article. The word does not mean "sights," it's a completely different word.
No, I don't aim any gun sights because I don't use guns. See, I'm not from the United States.
(The whole point was that "sites" is not an "accepted" spelling for "sights", something a paid writer should know. It's basic spelling, really, which is why I made the comment I did.)
I love playing games with my fingers in the way. Seriously. Stevsie should have thought about this earlier and instead of a single button, maybe a directional pad that, you know, could act as a single button, but also as l r u d. I'm not talking about making it a full tilt game pad, but sometimes a clickwheel or directional pad would be handy.
"Oh iPhone, is there anything you can't do with your 3D processor, multi-touch display, and 3-axis accelerometer?"
Supporting all media formats would be nice. Divx, and various internet radio formats. I really want to use the iphone to listen to espnradio.com on the train, but until they support various media formats I won't be buying one.
And flash support... That's lame it can't support flash...
all the more reasons as to why i want to buy an iphone.
Thomas Ricker - I don't know if you're trying to be 'edgy' because you're new or if it's some inherent part of your personality, but it comes off as petty and just a bit silly. Will you continue to list features 'missing' from every device you cover? Will Engadget have you covering the 360? Great device, but no built-in WiFi and Blu-Ray drive. Maybe you'll sing the praises of the Nokia N810 only to bemoan the fact that it isn't a phone. And so on, and so on.
I hope you can see just how ridiculous you sound. Enough with the color commentary and stick to the news, pal.
New to Engadget are we?
Thomas
Michael,
Thomas Ricker has been writing crappy story summaries for at least the past few years, so I don't know what you're talking about.
As far as the quality of his postings, well I'm not really a fan.
Sad to say, in their never-ending quest to be hip and pithy, many of the editors here just churn out schlock. Ryan and Peter are the only ones who can reliably pull if off.
Back to the story at hand, I'm pretty surprised by the number of developers who seem anxious to see what they can do on the iPhone. Looks like there may be cool stuff coming out
A-GPS from Verizon really sucks. 3g from Verizon depending on browser and system also sucks compared to WiFi.
I used my Voyager with VZnavigator to find a bookstore, it declared the nearest Spanish bookstore was on 81st when the most famous and oldest was on 14th street.
My iPhone lacking 3g and more importantly GPS found and located a route within a minute. I gave up my Verizon service this week.
Gaming though on the iPhone from the demos was much better than I thought. I think Nintendo will have problems from Apple. It will not be that difficult from to control the games from the demos Jobs showcased.
Gaming is a money maker for traditional phones but with Apple it could be huge. The screen quality is outstanding. With Apple's approach to supporting 2007 phones with the new 2.0v OS there's a huge market to keep supplied even when the A-GPS/3G/Video/Zeiss lens 2008 iPhone comes out after the June OS SDK formal release.
I couldn't program my way out of a paper bag, but I finally watched the SDK presentation 2 nights ago. Last night. Holy crap, I was blown away with what they were doing with it. Graphing framerate in realtime, and then picking the low points to see what system calls were being made? Awesome.
And seeing John Doerr speak... Blown away would be putting it mildly. Honestly, my first thought was "what is Steve Jobs blackmailing this guy with?" I mean, Steve makes money by hyping Apple and selling products. John Doerr makes money by BEING RIGHT, and he seems more excited about the iPhone than even Jobs is. I have a hard time believing Doerr is anything other than way off when he says "bigger than the PC," but he didn't get rich by being wrong.
i dont know why everyone is comparing the iphone games to ds/psp. im sure the games will just be enhanced versions of regular cell phone games.
Did you even see Sega's part of the demonstration? If not, go look it up on youtube and watch it. Pay attention to what the guy is saying. The version of Super Monkey Ball they had running on the iPhone is not a cell phone game. It's a full console game running on the iPhone. They even had to bring an additional artist in just to rez up the artwork to match the iPhone's output capabilities.
Everyone is comparing the iPhone to the DS/PSP because it is COMPARABLE to them now. You obviously didn't read this. EA and SEGA are developing REAL games for the iPhone. Not just ports of Doom and Tomb Raider, but real current-gen handheld console gaming.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vxjmTtZwK-E
Iphone SDK Sega Super Monkey Ball demo
Have to agree with "yeah yeah" on this.
Games that make good use of tilting the device will do well, but I just don't see it translating well to the great majority of games well.
Tactile controls are needed to seriously take on PSP or DS, IMO. That said, PSP and DS (in particular), need to put more emphasis on selling games on the web, and obviously they won't do as well on games that make good use of tilting.
Much like the DS and also PSP, Apple will do well with games that make good use of the unique controls and characteristics of the hardware, but I don't see it surpassing or even coming close to surpassing traditional console sales. It will just be another choice in the casual gaming arena, IMO.
I agree with the general feeling of enhanced phone games.
It won't be replacing a DS/PSP, but those demos were no ordinary "cell phone" games. Super Monkey Ball alone was easily the best "cell phone" game I've ever seen, and a perfect fit for the motion sensor input method.
I have an iPhone and a PSP. They both have a place in gaming for me. My iPhone will be used for quick bursts of play, nothing big kinda like all cell phone games are. While my PSP will see the likes of Silent Hill:O, God of War:CoO, Patapon, plus the many PS1 games being ported to the PSP.
The lack of REAL buttons doesn't make the iPhone ideal for games, I want to be able to SEE the WHOLE screen when I'm playing, with a touch screen my fingers will get in the way and theres only so much control that is possible with the accelerometers.
Yeah no surprise herer. I mean all the rumors of apple releasing their own console. If you watched the presentation for iPhone SDK the dude was pushing the idea of 3d sound from the iPhone... basically apple might just pull it off. With iTunes's digital distribution and stuff, awesome!
Every time I see a hand holding an Iphone, I think of Zoolander and David Duchovny...
meh, i dont see how this will grab more than the pop-cap/pocket sudoku market share.
Gods damn it, I didn't reply to this, I replied to a different one!
heh, my trick worked.
He said "sites". Then he fixed it.
Just allow the hook up of a PS3 controller over bluetooth. BAM!
"Sites" was correct, Thomas! Look it up!
No. It's not. I have looked it up. Sights are on guns, sites are on the interwebs.
Having just completed Day Of The Tentacle on my WinMo phone thanks to the magic of ScummVM, I'm hoping LucasArts cash in on the abundance of touch screen and release their classic adventure titles for iPhone, WinMo and Nintendo DS. Guaranteed cash moneyz.
... yes, because everyone will be rushing out to buy a $500 phone instead of the $110 DS and roughly equivelantly priced PSP, both of which have infinitely better controls. On another topic, my phone played Doom from the first day I got it, back in July (HTC Touch).
Did I just witness a nervous breakdown?
FFS this is a phone that does lots of great things, all the new extras from the SDK are icing on a very nice cake, who gives a shit if it takes PSP or DS marketshare.
pffffftttttt, yeah right...
It's John Carmack, not John Carmac.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1454928825
Check this out.
One thing a lot of you are forgetting when talking about the costs of owning an iPhone over say a DS or PSP is that I'm guessing that nearly all of the games will work on the iPod touch, which works out alot cheaper than the iPhone when you take into account the lack of a contract. Plus rumour has it that the touch may be coming down in price soon.
I work for a games testing company and we're looking seriously into the iPhone as a few of our clients have planned on supporting it as a gaming platform.
And whilst people are comparing the iPhone to consoles, think about this, by the end of the year the iPhone and touch will have roughly the same market-share as the PS3, and how many people have bought one of those primarily for Blu-Ray? So devs will be hoping it kicks off as it should mean a cheaper way to get games out and maximise profits.