I discuss it, I slate it, I adore it in design but loathe it in function yet I cannot deny that the iPhone is king of the mobile phone world at the moment. My humble Google phone (or the G1 for those who know it personally) lies beaten in popularity by the behemoth from Apple and now if your phone can’t download useful apps and have a touch screen it’s nothing in the mobile world. Despite my dislikes of the technology, one thing I do find admirable is its positioning as a gaming platform.
When it launched I discussed with friends and co-workers at the time that it could be the biggest threat that Nintendo ever faced in the handheld gaming market. This claim was perhaps slightly grand however when you look at the figures, it is not without merit. Whilst not a dedicated machine there are 40 million iPhones and iPod Touches out there at the moment and unlike the DS and PSP that figure is growing. The breadth of choice is admirable as well, with four thousand games marking a distinct move from the pathetic mobile gaming efforts of the Java era. Gone are the days when it was shovelware and licenced shovelware. Now titles like Super Monkey Ball and Crash Bandicoot aren’t just classics of the platform but enjoyable games in their own right. From those early titles we’ve moved onto increasingly sophisticated software with everything from online play, online integration (posting high scores instantly to Twitter), location recognition and increasingly impressive use of the touch screen and motion control. The titles using this are not just the simple puzzle games once thought to be the only game that could work on a mobile phone. Big name titles like Tiger Woods, a new Doom created solely by John Carmack and even ports of retro titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog are all on the platform and wouldn’t look out of place on the DS.
If not the past then the promise of what is to come will convince you of the gaming pedigree of the iPhone. Broadly speaking there are two main reasons why the future of the iPhone is the future of handheld gaming. The recent release of the OS 3.0 for the iPhone marked a significant increase in what is possible for gaming on the phone. Bluetooth functionality enables local multiplayer gaming and microtransactions now sit pride of place within the iPhone’s repertoire. The iPhone 3GS is the other reason why iPhone gaming is very much the future. A general speed increase aside, the addition of OpenGL ES 2.0 increases the graphical quality substantially and combined with the new OS marks not just a significant increase in the sophistication of the hardware but also shows that Apple sees the gaming potential behind the iPhone and is willing to support it. Perhaps most telling however is the timing. The iPhone 3G was released about a year after the original, and the 3GS is about a year after 3G. So just as you consider an upgrade, a new iPhone is about. Nothing unusual about that, but considering that the OpenGL 2.0 support means that you will start getting games that are potentially exclusive to the 3GS you could consider each iPhone a generational cycle similar to the 4-5 year cycle we have in console gaming. I had criticised the quick release of the 3GS for splintering the userbase, but if you consider it as a gaming platform then this is normal and indeed expected if the technology permits.
Most telling perhaps is that what I’m saying isn’t stretching. You can speak legitimately about the iPhone as a gaming platform using gaming terminology and it holds up, it feels like what we all love. Every year we hear the rumours that Apple are planning on getting into gaming and releasing a console. Well they already released one, it just happens to be disguised as a phone.
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