Iphone Gaming.

[Silenus]

Hey everybody.

I bought an Iphone 3G 8GB Black last month, I didn't buy it mainly for the purpose of playing games but is a nice added feature imo.

I am used to playing mobile games, had a lot of them on my Sony Ericsson W580 and I have a PSP too, reason is my work is boring but I don't get to bring my psp.

As many would say, who cares the iphone is not a gaming platform, I used to think that too but looking at so many games that are/will be developed for that might say the contrary. Even some online review sites like IGN are taking this into account.

Currently there are 10,000+ apps in the Appstore (Apple marketplace for games and apps on the iphone/ Ipod Touch), though I must say that 9,900 are rubbish.

For me is a new experience because I haven't played an accelerometer based game before (yeah no wii ), is not something revolutionary but is kinda nice to try out.

Apple or I better say third party developers are taking the nintendo route of making simple yet addictive games, some are ports of nintendo ds while others are made especifically for the iphone using it's features like the accelerometer and it's multitouch interface.

Prices ranges from Free, 0.99 to 10.99 +-. Most games have a lite version which is free to let you try the game and the premium with more content and bonuses which is the one they charge for. IIRC Apple takes 30% while the devs take the 70% rest.

From my personal experience, like I said is a novelty to use accelerometer to ex: steer a car but I have to remember that these games are not made for large gaming sessions like PSP games, tapping a flat screen can get really tiresome.

Also battery life is not so good, I have to charge my phone like 2 times a day when I play a lot.

Another thing is that some games consume a lot of memory, and the iphone sometimes does not close an app entirely so when you are going to run a game, you will have to restart the device so that it clears the cache.

This is a fast growing market and some big companies want a piece of the pie too, Sega already have some titles like Monkey Ball, EA have a lot too, like a version of the Sims, even Square Enix brough a towers defence like game called Crystal Defenders.

A few standouts games that I like are these.

Rolando:

Rolando is a platform puzzle game set in Rolandoland. Rolandos are small round creatures who seem to worship you (aka “Finger”) and ask for your help to defeat the shadow creatures that have invaded their land. Your job is to free the Rolandos from evil across 36 levels of play. The primary goal of each level is to free a minimum number of the Rolandos by getting them safely to the exit while avoid bad-guys and circumventing obstacles.

This is quite fun and is art is resembling other games, but it is really good to play it on a multitouch interface because you can make some gesture like pinching and swiping to control your chars.

Another game is this.

Hero of Sparta

In this $9.99 title, you play King Argos, a Spartan hero, who must battle his way through this epic action-adventure. Your character is controlled in 3rd person perspective with an on-screen analog stick and Block and Attack buttons. The graphics and 3D environment are quite impressive and perhaps amongst the best seen on the iPhone. While I’m normally not a fan of cut-scenes, Gameloft ties the gameplay especially well with their cinematic scenes to add to the grandeur of the experience.

The first you would think is this is a God OF War ripoff, it is but is very entertaining and the gameplay is good, the only thing is the story is kinda generic and forgettable. Made by the mobile game devs veterans Gameloft, who made the Prince Of Persia classic for PS3 and Xbox360.

And my racing game is:

Asphalt 4

Asphalt 4 is more of an arcade-style racer akin to the Ridge Racer series than a realistic, simulation-style game such as Gran Turismo. The goal of the game is to acquire cash by way of savvy play style, goal completion, and more or less breaking the law: “Perform illegal acts to get cash, boosts, and live TV time!” New venues and performance tweaks are unlocked along the way as cash is accumulated.

Again by the veterans at Gameloft, I've been playing this series since the first part on my cellphone, the quote says it all.

I won't drag this thread anymore but if you are interested you can head to Touch Arcade: iPod Touch and iPhone Games, Reviews and News for more reviews of iphone games.

So what do you think of the Iphone as a gaming platform?

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DELL XPS 13 ULTRABOOK

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[skoreanime]

Interesting. I only like playing very simple games on my Touch, like the classic 15 block shuffle or a Tetris knock off.

I heard Apple also removed the DRM on the vast majority of their music library...wonder how it'll effect the future of apps developed for the devices

[PsyMan]

Well... MBX lite is quite powerful... same goes for the non lite version. There are symbian based phones that make use of MBX (lite) for quite some time now (SE P1i, Nokia N82, Samsung i560, etc.) but there are just a few applications that even make use of it.

Playing games solely on a touch screen is not ideal IMO unless the game is designed around the touch screen scheme. A combination of both touch screen and actual buttons would be ideal but that's only possible on very recent UIQ and S60 versions.

In sort, only a few cellphones can be used effectively as gaming platforms at the moment and the lack of games which take advantage of the hardware is THAT low that does not worth it.

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[Silenus]

Originally Posted by PsyMan

Playing games solely on a touch screen is not ideal IMO unless the game is designed around the touch screen scheme. A combination of both touch screen and actual buttons would be ideal but that's only possible on very recent UIQ and S60 versions.

Games like the one I mentioned Rolando is made especifically for the Iphone and more games will come like that.

I see a lot of future for the iphone as a gaming platform because it has a relative cheap way of distribution for developers, I heard a single dev who made a game called Trism (very simple bejeweled type game) sold like 300,000 copies or something like that.

What we have to always think is that these games are very simple play on the go type, if you want something deep you will have to get a psp or something similar.

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DELL XPS 13 ULTRABOOK

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[runawayprisoner]

Originally Posted by Silenus

Games like the one I mentioned Rolando is made especifically for the Iphone and more games will come like that.

I see a lot of future for the iphone as a gaming platform because it has a relative cheap way of distribution for developers, I heard a single dev who made a game called Trism (very simple bejeweled type game) sold like 300,000 copies or something like that.

What we have to always think is that these games are very simple play on the go type, if you want something deep you will have to get a psp or something similar.

Gaming is mandatory on every platform because the need for recreation is never-ending, and it's not like you are the only one bored in your office.

But I reckon Flash Lite 3.1 on the iPhone would be nice... Flash is an easy-to-develop-for platform, has already quite a large library of games, and porting from normal Flash Player platform to Flash Lite isn't that hard a task (take it from a Flash developer like myself. )

That aside, it's looking interesting, though it ain't anything my Nokia 5310 doesn't have... so I think what the iPhone needs right now is something truly innovative, or just... something different that other phones don't have. Otherwise, it's just a pretty graphical user interface with some touches and the ability to tilt. It can be much better than that. Much, much better.

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

That aside, it's looking interesting, though it ain't anything my Nokia 5310 doesn't have... so I think what the iPhone needs right now is something truly innovative, or just... something different that other phones don't have. Otherwise, it's just a pretty graphical user interface with some touches and the ability to tilt. It can be much better than that. Much, much better.

Yeah I wish there was flash support for the Iphone, there are rumors of adobe working on it.

I have not used the Nokia 5310, but the multitouch and tilting is enough to differentiate the iphone from other phones, because there are/will be games made using those capabilities. I know we will see the Iphone/Ipod Touch for a long time.

For a quick dose of gaming this is good, I don't like to/can't carry my psp everywhere.

Ps: Yeah I like to use the /.

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DELL XPS 13 ULTRABOOK

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[runawayprisoner]

PSP is in a bad light with companies, eh? Anyway, I carry my Eee everywhere, and it's not like she can't last for about 3-4 hours when playing a game or anything. Not as portable as a cell phone or a PSP, but still... pretty useful, and I can connect to the internet whenever I feel like.

That aside, I feel current multi-touch/tilt games feel... gimmick in a weird way. I mean... not like it's that hard to think of a way to use multi-touch, right? Like... a game like DMC, where you use one finger to guide your character and the other to execute attacks like... you slash left, you slash right... etc... Or a racing game where you use one finger to turn your car, and the other to strafe it... Or a game like Mirror's Edge where you have two analog nubs on the bottom right and left corners of the screen to navigate and to execute any action, you just need to tap the screen in designated coordinates.

Those are just for multi-touch. Obviously with the tilt sensor, there can be much more fun. They just haven't paid that much attention.

Oh, and having Flash on the iPhone might or might not be able to remedy this problem... well... depending on whether Adobe would support multi-touch and tilt, either via natural classes or via fscommands... I'll take a look at it if it's ever out, and maybe I'll buy an iPhone just so I can experiment with that.

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by runawayprisoner

PSP is in a bad light with companies, eh? Anyway, I carry my Eee everywhere, and it's not like she can't last for about 3-4 hours when playing a game or anything. Not as portable as a cell phone or a PSP, but still... pretty useful, and I can connect to the internet whenever I feel like.

That aside, I feel current multi-touch/tilt games feel... gimmick in a weird way. I mean... not like it's that hard to think of a way to use multi-touch, right? Like... a game like DMC, where you use one finger to guide your character and the other to execute attacks like... you slash left, you slash right... etc... Or a racing game where you use one finger to turn your car, and the other to strafe it... Or a game like Mirror's Edge where you have two analog nubs on the bottom right and left corners of the screen to navigate and to execute any action, you just need to tap the screen in designated coordinates.

Those are just for multi-touch. Obviously with the tilt sensor, there can be much more fun. They just haven't paid that much attention.

Oh, and having Flash on the iPhone might or might not be able to remedy this problem... well... depending on whether Adobe would support multi-touch and tilt, either via natural classes or via fscommands... I'll take a look at it if it's ever out, and maybe I'll buy an iPhone just so I can experiment with that.

Yeah the PSP is lacking interest in developers, you see a lot of multiplatform titles for PS3, XBOX 360, Wii and DS but no PSP love.Though this might be a good year with Kingdome Hearts, Dissidia, Resistance and others on the way.

I need to buy a laptop but I could not buy a netbook because I plan to do a little gaming in it. Need to buy a 8600/9600 GT or equivalent on it, I have missed a lot of pc games this 2 years.

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DELL XPS 13 ULTRABOOK

...Mis sueños son mentiras que algun día dejarán de serlo...