Sega, Pangea, Digital Legends show off $9.99 iPhone games

We saw an early demo of Sega's Super Monkey Ball back at the iPhone SDK event in March, but it looks like the real thing is ready for WWDC, with some 110 stages and all four classic monkeys, including Baby. We just caught a quick run-through during the keynote, but the graphics look unbelievable compared to anything we've seen on a cellphone before -- easily DS-quality graphics.

Also demoing games was Pangea, whose Brian Greenstone showed off Enigmo and Cro-Mag Rally, a racing game that uses the iPhone itself as the steering wheel, via the accelerometer. Again, the graphics were high-quality, and gameplay was described as "totally playable" with just a minimum of porting effort -- three days for each game.

Finally, Digital Legends Entertainment demoed a God of War-type game that they had developed in only two weeks that featured graphics somewhere between the DS and PSP. It'll be ready sometime in September.

Pricing for all three games was set at $9.99 to start -- high for a cellphone game, sure, but super competitive with other portables.

[wayne @ Jun 9th 2008 1:32PM]

monkey ball is great, iPhone, well some people like it. great game. i wonder what the controls would be like.

[mr.me! @ Jun 9th 2008 1:38PM]

Its uses the tilt sensors for controlling it i think...

[wayne @ Jun 9th 2008 1:40PM]

well that should be cool. it seems to be the only way. fortunately, i will never be able to find out. i have my blackberry.

[Jamma @ Jun 9th 2008 1:44PM]

Not too bad a price considering the graphics.

But how much will the actual 2.0 update cost for iPod Touch Users???

[carlo2 @ Jun 9th 2008 5:22PM]

9.99

[Flashpoint @ Jun 9th 2008 1:45PM]

Monkey throughs pile of poo...




"MAXIMUM STRENGTH"
*throws iphone at Monkey*

[wayne @ Jun 9th 2008 1:48PM]

throws poo not throughs.

maybe we should throw poo at iPhone.

wait, we wont be able to tell where poo ends and iPhone starts.

[Eviil @ Jun 9th 2008 1:47PM]

how is the battery time for the iphone. Can it be compared it to the ds or psp?

[fof @ Jun 9th 2008 1:52PM]

I get around 15 hours of play time with my DS. Could be more or less depending if I use headphones or not.

[Abuzar @ Jun 9th 2008 2:02PM]

I had to charge my iPhone every night. I didn't call or surf much, just played a crap load of copter.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 9th 2008 1:53PM]

Nice. Need to see it in action though.

As for $9.99, not bad in comparison to the £8.00 Nokia charge for some of the N-Gage games.

[Ralphie @ Jun 9th 2008 1:56PM]

While the games maybe only 9.99, it's going to be difficult getting over the sticker price of the iPhone and its data plan.

Wonder if these will also be available for the iPod touch (also expensive)?

[TimeyWimeyStuff @ Jun 9th 2008 2:02PM]

Is anyone else bored?

Get on with the good news Steve!!

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 9th 2008 2:07PM]

Right. Because you need to post this message in multiple topics.

Go take your Ritalin, kid.

[TimeyWimeyStuff @ Jun 10th 2008 5:44AM]

I was bored, had nothing else to do.

Seems like you were bored too, reading ALL the comments

Go take your insulin, twat

[Rob @ Jun 9th 2008 2:11PM]

$10? Too high. Oops, I forgot, it's the Apple logo, therefore the high price is justified. I use Mac OS, own several iPods, but the high cost of the unit plus accessories is ridiculous. But, I guess I contribute to the problem as well. "You whore, you dirty whore." (Peter Griffin)

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Jun 9th 2008 2:11PM]

I think Ngage has been owned right here.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 9th 2008 2:14PM]

Mmm... dunno. NGage has some good titles already.

But graphically... yes, yes it does.

[De @ Jun 9th 2008 7:36PM]

n-gage present graphical flagship games (creatures of the deep and One) can compete, but it nice to see apple joining the game.

[xValentine @ Jun 9th 2008 2:26PM]

The God-of-War-like iPhone game just crushed NGage.

[Magallanes @ Jun 9th 2008 4:23PM]

No, Digital Legends will works TOO for ngage.

[required @ Jun 9th 2008 2:32PM]

God of War is available as a cellphone game http://wireless.ign.com/articles/799/799811p1.html

[jonathan @ Jun 9th 2008 3:10PM]

uh n-gage had graphics better than DS. For example, System Rush. It's Super Monkey Ball was a GBA port but it could have handheld more. See: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

I want to see how this Digital Legends game plays on iPhone. Easily the most interesting.

[Galley @ Jun 9th 2008 3:16PM]

There's a video preview of SMB at http://www.apple.com/iphone/appstore/

[De @ Jun 9th 2008 7:39PM]

Yes digital legends is very good at producing good graphics in games. they also produced One for ngage

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4ou4R0FOlY0
this is a possible future release

[skoops @ Jun 10th 2008 3:20AM]

also, $9.99 when the appstore launches