All Articles Tagged Games

Remember that Quake III video running on jailbroken iPod Touches a couple of days ago? Engadget hunted down the developers and wrung us out some more:

According to developers Cameron and Marcia Tofer of Hermitworks managed to get the game up and running on the touches in, “Between eight and twelve hours,” using jail-broken units, no official SDK, and modified code that added basic accelerometer support. The game in the video is being hosted on one of the devices and played over a local network — and the Tofers claim that running a full 64-player match wouldn’t be out of the question.

A couple of developers? 8-12 hours? Without the SDK? Scaling up to 64 players?! Holy FPS! If that’s what a couple of devs can churn out in a day, what can Carmack and the id software team come up with given months and offical SDK goodness? The mind boggles. Boggles and explodes.

While we’ve speculated about the huge potential for iPhone/iPod Touch gaming, is it possible we’re still underestimating it?

Pre-SDK, Engadget brings us word — and video — of Quake 3 absolutely shredding Apple’s little hand-hand revolution. Tilt-to-move, touch-to-fire, wi-fi to multi-player, it looks beyond sweet to me, and this is almost certainly still an early-stage, pre-app launch demo. And I’m not even sure it’s coming officially from Carmack and id Software at this point!

But words don’t do it justice. Check out the video after the break!

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We’ve covered gaming here a few times already. Now Roughly Drafted Magazine’s Daniel Eran Dilger chimes in with another of his highly detailed (and highly partisan) articles, this one looking at Apple’s iPhone and how it compares to, and seems poised to disrupt, the established portable gaming platforms:

The most obvious competition the iPhone faces is the leading Nintendo DS and the distant runner up, Sony’s PlayStation Portable. Incidentally, both gaming units appeared on the market in late 2004; the iPhone benefits from being nearly three years younger, and therefore based on considerably more modern technology. However, gaming isn’t an easy market to break into.

Dilger covers whether or not a convergence device like the iPhone can even compete against dedicated gaming handhelds. He runs down the current console market and Apple’s thus far discreet approach to gaming on iPods.

From unit pricing to hardware specs, Dilger makes his case that while the iPhone is expensive, its also a generation ahead in terms of performance, and despite the price, offers features above and beyond gaming.

Potential smart phone rivals, including Micrsoft’s XNA and Nokia’s N-Gage 2.0 are also discussed.

What’s Dilger’s conclusion?

As Apple migrates its 150 million iPod installed base toward the iPod Touch and iPhone, the company will pair a large user base with enthusiastic development efforts. Users will get the gaming environment as a free addition to the phone, media player, and web browser they purchased. Conversely, that also means that lesser phones with plodding web browser capabilities and simplistic media playback–as well as dedicated games consoles that really only play games–will have a hard time competing against the new platform. That should make for an interesting 2008.

Personally, I’ve considered a PSP in the past but could never justify the (then very high) cost for something I wouldn’t use all that often. But I have my phone with me all the time, and if I could get games as innovative as the DS (or Wii!) and as high quality as the PSP on my iPhone, it would be a no brainer. And maybe Apple’s counting on that as a way to “trojan horse” its way into gaming.

On a very deep level, using the accelerometer to fly an X-Wing into the Death Star is something I think the iPhone was forged to do. (You listening, Lucas?)

Craig Hockenberry, the widely acclaimed Mac developer of Twitterific, has had extensive experience developing for jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches. So, when he weighs in on the iPhone SDK, it’s definitely worth a read.

From the 70/30 split to the $99 publishing fee, the lack of information about distributing 3rd party apps to beta testers, the possibility of try-before-you-buy demos, and the mechanism for paid upgrades, Hockenberry pulls no punches:

One thing that disappoints me about the iPhone SDK sign-up is that the entry fee of $99 is too low. I look at the entry fee as a way to filter out developers that aren’t fully committed to the platform. [...] A higher entry fee would lessen the chance of this becoming a bottleneck for getting my product into the system. Please charge me $499 and let move to the front of the line.

Wait… Charge developers MORE? And what, pass the costs on to the consumer?

Not according to former Apple programmer (and writer of Apple’s GeekGameBoard sample code), Jens Alfke. He thinks $0.99 - $1.99 might just set off the perfect high-volume price storm:

So assume you spent some evenings and weekends writing a cool little utility or game. You submit it to the App Store and set the price at $1.43. You get $1 of pure, unadulterated profit from every user of the app. [...] Steve promises us there will be ten million iPhones in the world. If a tenth of a percent of them impulse-purchase your $1.43 app, that’s $100,000.

Alfke also covers the interesting possibility of Xbox-style game expansion packs as revenue streams, and takes a not-to-subtle swipe at carrier gouging and consumer gluttony via the ringtone market.

Hmm, serious developers charging no-brainer prices for “next great platform” apps? I’m in! What about you?

[Photo credit: PhoneMag]

Wait…You mean it’s a phone, an internet portal, an iPod AND a gaming device? Apple is certainly following through with this one-gadget-to-rule-them-all motif. In fact, the game demos pretty much stole the show at the iPhone SDK Roadmap event.

Using the three-axis iPhone accelerometer, multi-touch, and pretty much everything else that the iPhone is capable of doing—portable gaming is officially on notice.

Touch Fighter, an in-house Apple creation, which is akin to Wing Commander, uses the iPhone’s intuitive movements for its controls. Tilt the screen to move the plane, tap the screen to fire the missiles. Who’s going to miss the stylus or speakerphone analog stick, after they get their hands on that?

However, the biggest revelation for iPhone gaming is the developers already on board. EA and Sega both demoed early productions of Spore and Super Monkey Ball. Spore for the iPhone is the full-fledged version complete with all 18 levels. Movement for both games is controlled again by tilting the iPhone.

We’re only beginning to scratch the surface for gaming on the iPhone—these games only show 2 weeks of development. If more developers jump on board, there is no telling how far and how fun gaming on the iPhone will be.

Thursday brings the SDK. You know, the one that needs no other identifier. The one that the entire tech-verse has been chomping at the bit for since roughly 0.001 seconds after Steve Jobs slipped the iPhone from his pocket at Macworld 2007.

But that’s all we know: SDK Event March 6th.

We don’t know whether the SDK will be ready to code that very same day, who’ll be given access to it, how they’ll test for it, what type of approval process Apple will require, how apps will be distributed, how they’ll be priced, and most importantly for the end user: whether or not “OMG teh iPhone can has WoW!!11”

However, that doesn’t stop us from guessing!

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What does the iPhone lack? Besides the obvious — 3G, Office Doc editing, the ability to actually make julienne fries — what the iPhone lacks is games. Real, on-board games. Some of this pain is mitigated by the fact that you can get web-based games (including some great iPhone games by our very own forum member cmaier). Still, though, do you know what the most popular video game on the planet is?

Solitaire. Because it’s built into Windows.

So getting native games on the iPhone is a Big Deal because people are much more likely to form an affinity with a device if they can play a game or two on it. I speak from experience — the most painful part of leaving the PalmOS for me is still the fact that I can’t find a crossword application as good as stand alone’s. Add the love for the iPhone to love for a device with games and you’ll start seeing people getting buried with these little guys.

…All of which is to say that seeing that Apple is extending their trademark to include handheld gaming strikes me as a good sign. Sure, as MacRumors points out, this doesn’t mean much — Apple’s been making games for the iPod Classic for awhile now. Still, though, we need games, Apple, please please release a couple when you announce the SDK. Or announce that partnership with EA that we’ve been hoping for.

Coda: Another reason we need native games (to say nothing of apps): stuff on the web disappears. For example, I just realized that Duck Hunt has shuffled off this series of tubes mortal coil.

Longtime forum member Cliff Maier (cmaier in the forums) just posted his sixth full game, making him long overdue for accolades on the front page. All of the games are simple, clean, and optimal candidates for boonies mode data URLs. All of the games are small and make excellent use of the fonts present on the iPhone; due to his careful programming, all of the games com in at around 80k (and even less for ThumbTrek). This is important, as it means that the games will still be eminently playable over EDGE networks.

• Tic-tac-toe with a twist
  Tic-Tac-Whoa, the first game, is a tic-tac-toe game that’s been amped up with bonuses, obstacles, treasures, and other fun stuff.
• Vegas Solitaire
  A simple and fun Vegas solitaire game. Each hand sets you back $52, and you earn money by applying cards to the foundation.
• Vegas Blackjack
  Just like it sounds, Blackjack with Las Vegas rules. This is the newest inclusion to his online arsenal of games.
• Jacks or Better Video Poker
  For those that prefer the slot machines, there’s the video variety of poker. Maier’s straightforward draw poker “Jacks or Better” type does not score single pairs that aren’t face cards. Best inclusion: the presence of the ‘Max bet’ option.
• Deuces Wild Video Poker
  Like Jacks or Better, but with deuces as wild cards. The game does not score hands less than 3 of a kind; if your hand is a single pair or two pair, you’ll lose the hand. I’ll admit that do I miss the ‘max bet’ option in deuces wild.
  
• ThumbTrek Port
  ThumbTrek is a port of a very old but popular Star Trek game from the 70s.

I’ve claimed over and over that the iPhone is built to buy things from iTunes. One of the things that we should be able to buy from iTunes is programs. Games, if that’s your thing; mental diversions. I’m glad to report that 9to5mac.com says that it’s coming. Of course, they call it 3rd party development, which is kind of a misnomer. If it requires that a developer sign a contract and get Apple’s blessing just to get the development tools, it’s a lot more like 2nd party development. It would bring the iPhone and iPod Touch to feature parity with the iPod Classic and Nano, so I’m glad to see it, assuming it’s true (which I do).

figure 1: Spore, an example of a 2nd party game that could come to the iPhone

There’s no release date listed, so there’s no way to tell when it will be available. Safe guesses include after Leopard (more on that later this morning) and in January for Macworld 2008. Here’s the expected process of it all:

1. a partner of Apple thinks of an idea for an app. EA, for example, wants to write Spore.
2. EA submits it to Apple in a fancy proposal
3. Apple says “Okay, good idea” and gives EA permission and tools necessary to write Spore.
4. EA writes Spore
5. Apple digitally signs Spore and sells it on iTunes so it can’t be pirated
6. I buy Spore from iTunes or the iTunes Wi-Fi store and never leave the house again

In a nutshell, it’s more or less the same process that was used for earlier versions of iPods, except most of those games were done by Apple in-house. I gotta tell you, I’m sometimes half surprised that Apple doesn’t sell their own programs through iTunes, let alone 2nd party games and apps for the new iPod Touch and iPhone. I suppose that building that infrastructure takes more than 3 months, though; I’ll just have to be patient for it.

Apple is hosting another media event today. iPod Nanos are expected, and they look drastically different than the current nano. Not everyone is happy with the new look, but from what I can see it looks pretty functional. I think I’m withholding judgment until I’ve seen what all of their iPod lineup looks like.

Meanwhile, ThinkSecret basically guarantees touchscreen iPods. They also say the iPod nano, featured in the above Gizmodo link, will pack some seriously updated iPod software, and it will be great; it will be revolutionary. Or evolutionary. One or the other, really.

Please note that the screenshots from ThinkSecret above include albums from the Beatles that aren’t yet available in the iTunes Store.

Microsoft always seems to pop up with a little snippet of news on event days like this. I think they do this so they can play the ’sour grapes’ role of the day, now hints that making a Zune phone is ‘not unreasonable.’ This is more or less the opposite of what CEO Steve Ballmer said at the D5 conference, so I’m glad to see that they’re still talking from both sides of their mouth. They’re champs of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Emphasis on the ‘uncertainty’ part here. And now you know why they play the sour grapes role — it gets them in the news. But everyone knows somebody that can’t tell the difference between negative attention and positive attention, and it’s not like there’s surging demand for a Zune phone, though I’m sure Windows Mobile users would be happy for the extra functionality.

But back in focus, there’s no shortage of hype — read a paragraph and you can see why Apple’s stock is so volatile after announcements. Taken from Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge:

I seriously believe tomorrow is going to be different. I think it’s going to be the day when iPod die-hards, technology geeks, and mainstreamers alike are all going to be genuinely excited by what Apple is going to show. In short, if the release of the iPod mini signaled the start of Apple’s dominance of the digital music player business, and the nano and 5G signaled the end for most of its small competitors and beginning of its video initiative, tomorrow is going to be the final nail in the coffin for Microsoft, Sony, and the bigger players as well. Yes, even with their recent announcements. The only people who will be upset are those who aren’t already on the bandwagon, or the few who (sorry, NBC) jumped off early and got hit by it.

You know though, the scary thing is that he could just as well be right. John Gruber thinks so, so it must be true.

And in other news, T3 reports that a 3G version of the iPhone will be announced today. I think that’s a pipe dream; there’s no way Apple would update a flagship product 2 months after it came out for the first time. That would flat-out anger the almost-1-million purchasers of an iPhone here in the U.S.A.

Of course, any time Apple updates iTunes, it’s always possible that they will also update the iPhone, so I’ll be keeping my ear close to the news to see what they have planned. There’s plenty of speculation for iPhone Games and ringtones. And it’s not just the iPhone Ranch that’s expecting it, it’s also the New York Post.