Apple to take on PSP and Nintendo DS

esmufc07

Brad
Scout
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
50,067
Location
Lake Jonathan Creek
Apple has today moved closer to taking on Sony and Nintendo in the handheld market by placing a strong focus on games at its unveiling of it software developers kit of the iPhone.

At the town hall event at the company's headquarters, Apple announced support for OpenGL, OpenAL, and 3dimensional sound, all standards that gamers currently develop in.

In a move to overcome the limitations of no joystick Apple has given developers access to the mobile phone's accelerometer, a technology that allows the phone to sense were it is on three axes and response accordingly.

The move will allow gamers to move the iPhone to move a character or vehicle on screen.

Apple demoed a game called "Touch Fighter" where gamers can control a spacecraft around the screen by tilting the phone.

Hoping to prove its credentials, Apple has approached a number of games companies including EA giving them two weeks to develop a game for the device to show that it was possible.

EA demoed "Spore" working on a similar basis offering controls via the motion sensing accelerometer while Sega demoed "Supermonkey Ball" again with the accelerometer.

Earlier this month Pocket-lint reported on a patent has been published which describes a method that would automatically determine which games on the iTunes Store are compatible with iPods or iPhones tied to a customer's iTunes software.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/tech/0,,91221-13305,00.html

Don't think they would be able to break the Sony/Nintendo domination of the handheld market myself.
 
esmufc07 said:
Don't think they would be able to break the Sony/Nintendo domination of the handheld market myself.
Click to expand...

They could create a small niche for themselves, but maybe they should concentrate on trying to get a larger share of the mobile phone market first? They will sell more iPhones than DSPs if they are successful in the phone market, that's obvious, but they are in danger here of creating a device that doesn't know what it is. As for the games, I can only see them being very simple, as a gaming box, the PSP shits all over the iPhone. If they want complex games, then how are they going to distribute them? No UMD capable type of a device on the iPhone.
 
James Parkin said:
it doesnt accept cd's either, but they have cornered the market for portable music devices

people would just purchase the games through iTunes
Click to expand...

As on many occasion, you miss the point and in this case quote me out of context. How large is your standard MP3 music track? Not 1.8GB, that's for sure. iPod was a one off, a freak, neither the iPhone or iTV are selling in anywhere near the same numbers in their respective markets, in fact they are not getting any significant market share at all. iTV has bombed. If they can't sell the thing competitively as a phone, they have no chance as a games platform. The iPhone is not even as powerful in terms of gaming functions as some normal handsets offered by NTT DoCoMo.

Downloading 1GB+ games over iTunes is not really going to work. Also, with this thing being a phone, people are going to want to download content using the phone itself rather than a PC. Good luck, iPhone isn't even 3G is it?
 
The games aren't going to be huge PSP type games. Taht's the fecking point of carrying one device that makes your calls and plays games. It's not going to play Final Fantasy. The games will be small entertaining ones that you can get off the iTunes Store at good speeds on your PC and I'd imagine alright speeds when your iPhone's at a hot spot. The speeds would probably be shite when not using wifi though. The articles the one saying they'll compete with Nintendo and Sony, not apple themselves and the point of this move isn't to take over the gaming market but to get part of it which I reckon they will. Not everyone wants to play GTA or MGS on the move and some people just want to waste a bit of time on a game without carrying two different devices
 
Ronaldo07 said:
The games aren't going to be huge PSP type games.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it's not viable for many reasons. How is it going to be different to the games that run on the high-end handsets then? What's the point, just the same games as other mobiles run but a different control mechanism? Are they trying to have their platform distinct rather than run Java or Brew stuff that the vast majority of handsets run? Dangerous road to go down IMO, even the mighty Nokia tried that with NGage, and fell flat on their face.
 
WeasteDevil said:
Agreed, it's not viable for many reasons. How is it going to be different to the games that run on the high-end handsets then? What's the point, just the same games as other mobiles run but a different control mechanism? Are they trying to have their platform distinct rather than run Java or Brew stuff that the vast majority of handsets run? Dangerous road to go down IMO, even the mighty Nokia tried that with NGage, and fell flat on their face.
Click to expand...
Good point about Nokia but I'd imagine the games would be more complex than other handset games graphically and as we've seen with the wii, a fun control system can cover the cracks of games that otherwise haven't changed that much and add to the entertainment factor
 
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ar...iphone-apps-some-real-some-possible-some-not/

Weaste look at Spore, Super monkey Ball and Touch fighter screenshots on this link and tell me that's the same level as playing on a regular handset. The screen's bigger, the graphics are better and particularly in the case of Super monkey ball which was great on the Gamecube the tilting will be a great way to control the game. Again though the fact that they've made a store with so many different apps and many possibilities for other developments shows they're looking for lots of added revenue from the store and to make the iPhone more attractive in terms of extra features rather than to compete with Sony and Nintendo. They're also giving a few apps for free to gain more customer loyalty from a few people who bought an iPhone and find it a bit poor on features. It's not massively innovative but it is going to increase Apple's sales and make the iPhone more attractive and also has huge potential for future developments.
 
The thing is that other new handsets such as the N95 (has the accelerometer in it) and the XPeria X1 (has touch screen) are devices just as (if not more) capable as the iPhone. I really cannot see developers starting to produce different versions of their software for a myriad of different high-end handsets from all of the different manufacturers, it doesn't make sense. You could argue that they will do so because it's an iApple, but if that were the case, why does the Mac have such a poor quality library of games (and it should not be hard at all to port a PC game to a Mac - they use the same processor and graphics card technologies - only the API is different)?

IMO Apple has had its day with the iPod as in having a dominant product in a particular market sector, other manufacturers have learnt their lesson over what happened over iPod I feel. Of course, iPhone will continue to sell, probably to those that like the Mac and iPod so much, but once again, it will all be about buying an iPhone for fashion and marketed image reasons rather than technological ones, as the iPhone, just like the iPod, is not the best device in its class, but does carry the i and the Apple in its lunchbox.
 
WeasteDevil said:
The thing is that other new handsets such as the N95 (has the accelerometer in it) and the XPeria X1 (has touch screen) are devices just as (if not more) capable as the iPhone. I really cannot see developers starting to produce different versions of their software for a myriad of different high-end handsets from all of the different manufacturers, it doesn't make sense. You could argue that they will do so because it's an iApple, but if that were the case, why does the Mac have such a poor quality library of games (and it should not be hard at all to port a PC game to a Mac - they use the same processor and graphics card technologies - only the API is different)?

IMO Apple has had its day with the iPod as in having a dominant product in a particular market sector, other manufacturers have learnt their lesson over what happened over iPod I feel. Of course, iPhone will continue to sell, probably to those that like the Mac and iPod so much, but once again, it will all be about buying an iPhone for fashion and marketed image reasons rather than technological ones, as the iPhone, just like the iPod, is not the best device in its class, but does carry the i and the Apple in its lunchbox.
Click to expand...
Of course no one's going to buy the iPhone purely because of games but to say people are buying it just because of fashion and marketing while ignoring the fact that it's a phone that has alright features but also very good menu design and integration of the features like tilt and the touch screen is frankly quite silly. With the iPod of course there are people who buy it for fashion and marketing reasons, but the fact that the UI is simple and brilliant unlike the competitors in a way that means anyone of any age can quickly use an iPod has been a huge attraction for many years that people seem to ignore when criticizing apple and the iPod
 
You must log in or register to reply here.