All Articles Tagged Games

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.

There’s a Reuters article about iPhone games floating around. They interview the folks of PopCap, who have a few iPod games under their belt; GreyStripe, who does games with web ads; and EA, who doles out the money quotes like candy at a parade. From Travis Boatman, VP of Worldwide Mobile Games at EA:

“Apple wants to be focused on making sure the thing works as a core device.”

“The first few iPods didn’t support games but eventually they did.”

“We’re huge believers in the iPhone and believe that’s going to be a viable market going forward.”

“It has an amazing interface for games and there are lots of beautiful things you can do with that touch interface.”

I asked EA about iPhone games at ShowStoppers, part of CTIA, back in March. They were coy then, too; there had been a few reports of an agreement for games between EA and Apple even then. Needless to say, I was unable to drag any sort of official comment out of their spokesperson there. The tune he sung was to the gist of “if or when Apple puts games on it, we’ll be there.”

Fanboys aren’t the only ones wanting to install games on iPhone. Developers at Electronic Arts (EA) and PopCap, see iPhone as a viable gaming handheld and a potentially lucrative market. So much so in fact that the folks at PopCap aren’t waiting for Apple to open its walled garden to developers. The popular maker of mobile game titles says iPhone is already on its roadmap for future game development, and has a few projects in the works. Andrew Stein, PopCap’s director of mobile business development recently told Reuters…

“We don’t typically make announcements about what’s in the pipeline, but based on the success of ‘Bejeweled’, we’re looking pretty closely at the iPhone.”

EA echoed similar intentions. Travis Boatman, EA’s Vice President of worldwide studios for the mobile division (there’s a mouthful title, I’d hate to see this guys business card) said…

“We’re huge believers in the iPhone and believe that’s going to be a viable market going forward,” It has an amazing interface for games and there are lots of beautiful things you can do with that touch interface.”

The message here is clear – developers see iPhone as a platform, not a product. Unfortunately Apple still sees things being the other way round, at least publicly. An increasing number of anxious developers aren’t waiting for Apple’s answer, or SDK, and taking initiative. Applications are coming, with or without the blessing of Cupertino.

iPhone as a gaming device – it’s coming folks…slowly but surely.

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I noticed a new application is available for the iPhone today, Aquarium v.1.0.0. There’s a clown fish; if you tap the screen, a food pellet appears. The clownfish zooms towards the food, then just chills out. I know, it’s not too thrilling, but I think that’s the part of the poitn with aquarium type games. At any rate, it’s at least a start, like the Zune2 ‘whack-a-zune’ game. I think it will take a bit for the developers to get a handle on how to program well for the iPhone, since the barrier to entry is pretty high.

It looks like they’ve ported over a Z machine text adventure game interpreter, which means you can play Zork on your hacked iPhone.

It looks like the ‘Nintendo vs Apple’ stories are heating up. There are a few more stories today about the “war” that will be going on between the two.

It goes without saying that the results of this “war” will be interesting. Because to even have this war, Apple will need actual games on the iPhone. Besides LighgtsOut, now the 3rd game to claim the honor of ‘1st game on the iPhone’ (there’s also iPhoneDoom and the NES emulator) which showed up in the hacked iPhone’s Installer.app last night.

Oh Apple, how ever did you think you could keep developers from breaking down iPhone’s backdoor. Hmm? Not only have developers managed to find their way inside, knocking over lamps as they stumble in the dark, but one developer created a rather illuminating piece of software. meniacal laugh

Lights Off is the first, that we know of, “unofficial” game for iPhone. The first of many perhaps. The goal of this simple puzzle game is to switch off all the little blinking lights in order to advance levels. Installing this code isn’t for the faint of heart. It involves a bit of rubber chicken swinging and poking through iPhone’s hidden file system. Full instructions are on the site.

Don’t forget to turn out the Lights! Heh heh. Get it? Lights? Turn out…with the…oh never mind.

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