Apple VP says PSP is the 'past,' iPod is the 'future of gameplay'

The iPhone is the "future of gameplay." Well, that is, if you believe Apple's VP of iPod marketing, Greg Joswiak. In an interview with T3, he says that the iPhone and iPod Touch offer "the future of gameplay ... whereas a lot of these devices [DS and PSP] are more in the past."

So, why is the iPhone the future? Maybe it's because it's all about a touch screen ... but, isn't that what the Nintendo DS does so incredibly well? Maybe it's because of the graphics hardware? We don't think so (see image, above).

According to Joswiak, the reason why iPhone and iPod will become the future of games is "the electronic distribution of the apps." He argues that delivering games directly to the consumer is a win-win for game developers and consumers. Buyers can get games instantly and for cheap, while developers no longer have to worry about licensing and sales targets.

It's true that the App Store is impressively large (in fact, it's one of the things we said Sony should do to "fix" the PSP). However, a single killer app has not yet emerged from Apple's offerings. This argument is a bit short-sighted as well. PSP now has a digital store, available on PC, PS3 and on the PSP itself. So long as Sony offers more PS1 classics, more original downloadable games, and PSP applications through the Store, we see PSP being able to match and exceed Apple's offering quite handily. And let's not forget, PSP fanboys probably like using buttons when playing games. It may be "antiquated" in the eyes of Joswiak, but we think it works.

[Via 1UP]