Warning that its profits may decline, Wii and DS manufacturer Nintendo played the “current economic conditions” card but also laid a new one on the gaming table — increased competition thanks to Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch.
The newly launched Nintendo DSi is seen as a partial response to Apple’s new gaming model, according to Electronista, which includes an on-device digital App Store, rather than the cartridge based physical media traditional gaming companies have thus far preferred.
Still, if the next edition of Mario has an Apple or Steve Jobs looking boss level, we’ll know Nintendo is taking it seriously…
Is this a triumph? Portal running on an iPhone? Not really, according to Gizmodo:
The video says the demo was made using the Unity Engine, which means they took some Portal assets and made a small demo with them. They didn’t take the full game and squish it onto the iPhone; what you see is probably the entire thing. There’s no way the Source Engine is running on the 3G. Maybe the 3GS, but not the 3G.
Not yet! But we figure they’ll keep on trying until they run out of cake… or Valve pulls an ID an actually releases a game for the new 40+ million unit iPhone/iPod touch platform. Right Valve?
According to Business Insider, just 1 year later, Apple’s iTunes App Store has made the iPhone the hottest gaming platform on earth:
Apple became not only the hottest mobile platform in the world — which around 15,000 developers have made software for, and all of its major rivals have tried to replicate — but arguably the hottest gaming platform in the world. No other platform has had such a rush of developer and consumer interest in the last year.
BI highlight big name developers like EA, Sega, and Gameloft jumping into the iPhone, but also great new studios forming around it like ngmoco. And with iPhone 3.0 and its 1000 new APIs like P2P gaming and in-app purchases, they suggest we might not have seen anything yet…
During the WWDC 2009 Keynote, Apple announced that over 40,000,000 iPhones and iPods touches had been sold to date. We know what that looks like in the smartphone market space, but now Gizmodo has done some research and shown us what that might just look like in the gaming platform space as well. (See graph above).
Might explain why we see so many games already, and as Gizmodo points out:
Combine this with the fact that the faster graphics support in the iPhone 3GS is going to make it a pretty damn good gaming device, you’ve got a juicy target for game developers to hit.
With all the talk recently about Peggle, I was surprised that it hasn’t been reviewed (although it did get a “quick app” and a pick of the week) so I thought I would download and give it a try. And, well, Peggle has managed to crack my “regular game rotation” that currently consists of only a few other games.
We’ll avoid the obvious question (why live in a SIM world when you can live in the real one), and the metaphysical (maybe you’re just a SIM in someone else’s iPhone already…?) because, frankly, no one cares! The Sims 3 is — finally! — out for the iPhone and iPod touch:
Play with your Sim using touch and accelerometer controls while exploring stunning 3D open-world environments. Customize your Sim with personality traits and physical characteristics, as you decide whether to fulfill their destiny…or not. Do good or mischief. Fall in love or watch them get dumped. Pick a fight or make a friend. Good or bad, enjoy the ride with The Sims as they experience everything “real” life has to offer. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!
If you try it out, and manage to remember the rest of us still exist, let us know how you like the Sims 3 for the iPhone, okay?
ngmoco has gone and set up a little media tournament, taking place on Twitter, with their hawt new game, StarDefense. Suiting up on TiPb’s behalf is yours truly, and you can follow my progress, and everyone’s progress, through the elimination rounds via @ngmoco or individually:
MVC (via MacRumors) is claiming that Microsoft’s head of Xbox Business Insights and Strategy, Richard Teversham, is leaving to join Apple.
With the unbelievable success of iPhone and iPod touch gaming, could Apple finally be taking the space seriously? Or could this be part of some bigger move, one involving those chipset buyouts, licenses, and hires we recapped earlier? Could Apple be working on…
Yeah, more likely iPhone, maybe iTablet, maybe even Mac gaming, but that next gen hardware power might just give the consoles a run for their money anyway…
ngmoco just sent over their latest trailer for StarDefense, coming in May for the iPhone and iPod touch, and we’ve uploaded it to YouTube and embedded it above for all to enjoy.
In Star Defense, players take control of the captain’s chair and travel to a series of planets invaded by alien S’rath forces. Twisting and spinning complete 3-D planets, players must examine the terrain to plan tower defenses, selecting from a broad range of turrets that unleash everything from burning hot plasma to high voltage decimation. With seven planets, five upgradable tower types and three difficulty levels available at launch, Star Defense will challenge players of all skill sets, from sci-fi fans to tower defense champions.
If this really combines the skills of ngmoco with the addictive qualities of tower defense, we’re already predicting a massive slowdown in postings here as we play review this baby for hours on end.
The Japanese term ‘nintai’ means “patience,” “perseverance,” or “endurance” – all three of these attributes will be needed to play the puzzle game Nintaii. The objective of Nintaii is simple: roll a rectangular block through the board activating switches and going around obstacles in order to deposit the block through the square hole at the end.
