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Added by Brad Shoemaker on Dec. 15, 2008

Decent start. Now step it up a notch, people.
Decent start. Now step it up a notch, people.
Oh, iPhone. You've been going through a minor identity crisis since your sleek, sexy 3G model launched back in July, ushering in the iTunes App Store and a mountain of weird puzzle games and middling console ports. Do you want to get serious about games, or don't you? There must be a ton of companies who would like you to be successful in the traditional mobile market, but you might be better than that. You might have a shot at a big ol' slice of the real handheld pie. You might be a contender!

For the moment, at least, Apple's on-again-off-again commitment to gaming is apparently back on. Last week, the company's Director of Technology Evangelism John Geleynse made some comments in which he referred to the iPhone directly as a "gaming console" and went on to say "it's not a phone, it's a console experience." Doesn't get much more evangelical than that!

This is just a month after iPhone marketing veep Greg Joswiak called the device's graphics performance "significantly greater" than that of the DS. Not an assertion anyone will debate, but meaningful from a corporate-strategy perspective.

Lastly, the Engadget story quotes an Apple press release announcing some good old-fashioned synergy with EA Games.

Throughout the month of December Apple Stores in New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago will host special "EA Games Sneak Peek" events where Electronic Arts will discuss why the iPod touch and iPhone are amazing platforms for mobile gaming...

I've had an iPhone 3G since launch day and use it constantly--but never for games. The lack of traditional controls makes traditional game types--shooters and such--an unappealing prospect, and the titles tailored to the tilt and touch controls have seemed pretty hit-or-miss so far. As we've learned from the Wii and DS, consoles with weird input methods are at their best when developers are intelligently using those weird input methods. And we haven't seen enough of that on the iPhone yet, Monkey Ball notwithstanding.

Personally, I'm waiting to get excited about iPhone gaming till John Carmack drops something tasty on the platform. He's talked glowingly about the device's Dreamcast-like level of performance in the past, and if anyone is going to build something technically impressive, it's him. Whether id's iPhone games--or anyone else's, for that matter--can compete with the depth and breadth of gameplay on the DS and PSP is another matter entirely.

Do you game on your iPhone or iPod Touch? What titles have really grabbed your attention on the platform?

Filed under :

68 Comments

Arkthemaniac
on Dec. 15, 2008
Are handhelds considered consoles?
Last I checked, they weren't. 

RHCPfan24
on Dec. 15, 2008
Well, I played that game Cube and almost puked because of its awkward camera and controls. I think the iPhone has potential, but there hasnt' been anything that has caught my eye yet.

Impossibilium
on Dec. 15, 2008
sweet, that means I have been totally validated by claiming my old digital calculator watch was a video game console because it had that game where it flashed a random number and you had to press a button to stop it and the highest number won!

Gump
on Dec. 15, 2008
Filed under --> iPhone, Apple Inc.?

Drebin_893
on Dec. 15, 2008
I certainly play games on my Touch, albeit only occasionally.

PyjamaRama
on Dec. 15, 2008
Drop Ship is worth a look, DIzzy Bee 1&2, Spin, Frenzic and that annoyingly addictive but hard to master word game Imangi but to name a few.

Snail
on Dec. 15, 2008
It is a cellphone people not a gaming thing. It is has better games than other phones but it still IS A PHONE!!! THE GAMES ARE AVERAGE! I only liked Aurora Feint, Uno, Dr. Awesome, Super Monkey Ball and Spore Origins! The rest is a bunch of free games that someone made! A person! Not a company! IT IS A MOBILE PHONE!

GIVEMEREPLAY
on Dec. 15, 2008
I'm getting an ipod touch for Christmas and I intend to game on it. I plan on putting SCUMMVM on the unlocked system to play the old monkey island and sam and max games. Aside from that I don't see much else appealing for sale. I would totally go for a peggle, castlevania or something like that.

IF Apple was smart, they would use the button that takes you back to the main menu as a shoot button in games. Suddenly games like Unrea Tournament are feasible on the system... Let's see if they bite.

systech
on Dec. 15, 2008
Gaming console my ass.

Sephiroth9997
on Dec. 15, 2008
They need to do the right thing and get Guitar Hero on there.  That would establish the platform for sure.

erinfizz
on Dec. 15, 2008
Nonce is a really weird word to use in two articles today Brad.

PJ
on Dec. 15, 2008
Im personally waiting for the new Nokia touch screen phone thats supposed to be lightyears better then the iPhone, well thats not actually that hard since the iPhone isn't a good phone. I have a N95(a 3y old phone) and even its better then the iPhone.

ArbitraryWater
on Dec. 15, 2008
lol. The difference is that the DS still has the standard controls of all portable systems which still makes it viable for normal games, considering that most of the best games for the system don't use the touch screen that much. The i-Phone, while an amazing (if overrated and overpriced) piece of technology was never built for games.

It really annoys me that the mainstream media is spouting " i-phone has a more sensitive touch screen and better graphics than the DS, which automatically makes it a superior gaming system!" What was the last good game that made exclusive use of the touch screen? Phantom Hourglass, which for some reason I don't think anyone other than Nintendo can replicate.

cikame
on Dec. 15, 2008
I don't like touch screens

AndrewB
on Dec. 15, 2008
Don't you actually have to release games for something to be a gaming console? And no, Super Monkey Ball alone does not count. In that regard, you could call the Zune a gaming console because it has like, 5 games for it (all of which are okay, yet very much throwaway games you wouldn't spend money on).

The iPhone is a gaming console the same as the Ngage was a gaming console. Oh, sorry... the same as the Ngage *is* a gaming console. No, wait... I had it right the first time.

delicious_lie
on Dec. 15, 2008
i play peggle on my ipod video all the time
it's a console experience that can't be beat

Brad
on Dec. 15, 2008
@erinfizz

Almost as weird as keeping a tally of my daily word choice! :(

diz
on Dec. 15, 2008
Who's a "nonce"? 

What do sex-offenders have to do with iPhones?

I think we should be told.

Andrew
on Dec. 15, 2008
ArbitraryWater said:
"lol. The difference is that the DS still has the standard controls of all portable systems which still makes it viable for normal games..."
You know the Wii doesnt have "standard" controls and its the big dog this gen.. I think the iphone just needs to find its niche and it will do just fine as a gaming platform.
I guess if the DS and PSP are not considered consoles I would say the Iphone is not as well... but imho the iphone is no different than these systems.

Snail said:
"...The rest is a bunch of free games that someone made! A person! Not a company! IT IS A MOBILE PHONE!"
Sorry but this is one of the Iphones biggest selling points to me... what makes a game less of a game?  because a "person" made it? because its 99 cents?

Pibo47
on Dec. 15, 2008
This is why apple is fucking retarded. They say that the iphone is a fucking console. Its a goddamned phone/. IPHONE!!! IPHONE!!! ITS IN THE FUCKING NAME!!! Damn tards.


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