The iPhone. Some would say its the greatest phone ever made. Could it be the greatest handheld gaming device ever made too? Let’s take a look at both the native games that were developed with only iPhone in mind, as well my ideas for getting your favourite GameBoy Advance, NES, PlayStation or even old PC games into that shiny little gadget.
iPhone possibilities and pure speculation, WITH pictures! After the break.
First, I’d like to focus on what game developers have published for the iPhone (and, incidentally, for the iPod Touch as well). Unfortunately, I’m not talking about game developers like EA or Take-Two, even though Bioshock and Spore have been announced for the Apple’s device, they will take some time to eventually get released. Instead, I’m talking about amateur programmers who took their time to develop games for the iPhone, and, in most cases, release them for free. I won’t even mention the typical solitaire, Pac-Man, pool or Bejewelled games. There are hundreds of them availab
le for the iPhone, but in the article I’d like to concentrate on the uniqueness of some games and the capabilities the device has.
Let’s start with Labyrinth, perhaps the most well-known native game for the iPhone. The aim of it is to roll the ball to some strange object at the end of the level, avoiding all the holes the ball can fall into. Where’s the joy, where’s the innovation? The answer is in the iPhone’s accelerometer. You basically hold the device parallel to the floor and slightly tilt it in the direction you want the ball to go, as if you were creating a real slope. Believe me, that beats every other roll-the-ball-in-the-hole game you’ve ever played before. Excluding WiiFit, of course… What could compete with a bathroom scale anyway…
Another game worth mentioning is iPhysics. Despite being extremely short and having just a few levels to complete, it’s a great example of what the iPhone’s touchscreen interface allows you to do. In the game, you have to, once again, roll the ball. This time, however, you can’t move the ball by itself, but instead you have to draw object that will move it. For example, a square drawn above the ball will, thanks to gravity, fall to the ground causing the ball to move. Clever, 
eh? Unfortunately, the game ends just when you start having fun with it, and as far as I can see there are no downloadable level packs for it. Well, let’s hope iPhysics 2 will be released anytime soon.
One of my favourites is Tap Tap Revolution. The game, based on Guitar Hero and other similar games, plays a song in the background and displays notes – in the form of stars – which you have to tap. It’s really enjoyable and entertaining, especially that you can play almost any song from your iTunes library. It definitely lacks a guitar, but if you’re addicted to Rock Band it’s really great to have a smaller version of it always in your pocket.
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A game which every iPhone user tends to recommend is iCopter. It seems to be a
very simple and easy game. There’s a helicopter flying from left to right of the screen, and all you have to do is tap to increase the altitude or lift your finger to let the chopper go down. For God’s sake, it’s impossible to win (if it actually has an ending), I’ve always crashed myself not even reaching the one-minute mark. You know what? I hate this game. Don’t download it. Ever.
Yeti3D is a game engine for creating three-dimensional games for portable devices. And yes, it is available for the iPhone. According to my very short amount of Google searching, there has only been three games made in it. The first one, ingeniously named Yeti3D, is a first-person shooter with on-screen controls. And if only I wouldn’t run out of ammo after killing two enemies, I could at least like it… Now it’s “meh” at most. The second one is… a three-dimensional Pac-Man. When I’ve read the description, I was like “oh man, this is gonna be SO awesome!”, but the end result isn’t really satisfactory. First, everything looks exactly like in Yeti3D. The author could have at least changed the textures. Second, the enemies are not ghosts, but… sort of terrorist-mercenary looking guys. I’ve immediately turned the game off when I’ve seen them. If you’re gonna substitute ghosts with real people, at least call the game iCrap instead of iPac3D.
Of course, these aren’t all of the wonderful games for the iPhone. If you know of anything else to recommend, feel free to comment on this article and let everybody else know.
What about emulators? Can you play Super Mario Brothers? Does a bear do his business in the woods? Of course… Check out the goodness on page 2!
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I really want an iPhone. I’m glad casual portable gaming is moving further into the more involved genres, like FPSs. the physics thing sounds especially cool. maybe the new 3G iPhone will enable some good multiplayer FPSs, but I’m not holding my breath.
wow, great article. What happens with the battery life when playing games?
Could it be the next DS? I don’t think so
One reason which isn’t an issue with the latest iteration of the iPhone, but may become a problem later, is that people’s buying habits with consoles and phones are different. Many people buy a new phone every year or two, compare that to consoles which have a 4ish year lifespan.
When Apple begin to update the hardware further we may in effect see a new console every year, how many developers are really going to want to work in an enviroment like that. Your average developer may only get a couple of games out before its a new set of dev kits and specs.
The other difference in habits between consoles and phones are that unlike consoles, most people only have or want one phone. All the gamers like myself who don’t want an iPhone because we either don’t like what Apple are offering or find it inadequate for our needs. If I already own a phone and want a gaming handheld, am I going to buy a DS or PSP, or am I going to buy a second phone.
Also, I’ve never touched an iPhone, but I’m a little dubious about how well the games will actually control with virtual gamepads, I’ve heard a few bad things about the keyboard on the iPhone which doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Will the iPhone revolutionise mobile gaming? Without a doubt. It’s a powerful device, Apple seem to be devoted to building a big online presence with their App store and the motion control and touchscreen has a lot of potential.
Will it achieve DS dominance though? No
I think SG should have an Iphone contest…
$2 entrance fee, and SG keeps extra profits after Iphone is purchased…
I think thats a great idea
But there would be now way to make sure enough people enter, so Doc could end up buying half of the Iphone… But you guys should look into it
@Legendary Hooligan: I haven’t actually seen any multiplayer games for the iPhone yet… which is quite weird, as it supports WiFi and could allow really lagless and great online play. Let’s hope the official AppStore brings this functionality.
@Kiltman67: notice that even though Apple released a new iPhone model, almost all applications and literally every single game works on both of them, and even the developer Software Development Kit has remained the same, so the developers were actually given some time to work on the applications.
Also, not even once have I said iPhone will be a “full-time” handheld console. It’s a great device with amazing hardware, and gaming is just another use for its abilities. iPhone users have thousands of different applications to install on thir devices, and the number will significantly increase when the official AppStore is opened. That will only mean more and more games.
And I’ve mentioned the controls in the article; they are almost impossible to use in the form they are present in the GBA and PSX emulators. The professional developers, whose applications will be reviewed by Apple before they get released to the public, will have to take care of it – and I’m sure they will do it well.
@slik1000: I’ve read somewhere that the battery life when using applications is similar to when watching videos – around 5 hours on the old iPhone, 7 on the iPhone 3G.
Regua, you are aware that there are HUNDREDS of downloadable level packs for iphysics, right?
@eskimopirate: yeah, I’ve found them after writing the article. Forgot to change it. Well, but they didn’t come with the game, so… ah… have to think of some better excuse and will reply to your comment soon.
I’m aware that there’s been little change between the old and new iPhone, but I think that’s more to do with the fact they already had big things that were missing from the old one, namely 3G and GPS.
I’m sure that in a years time (both out of the rate of development in the phone industry and Apple’s own passion to have a new SKU every year) they’ll be releasing a new iPhone which is improved on more fundamental levels and will have a new SDK to match.
I agree that developers will make a good job of developing innovative new ways to control games, but I believe there’s always going to be a place for conventional controls and I’m not sure how that can be improved without adding dedicated buttons to the phone.
Also, I know you didn’t explicitly say it would be a “full-time” handheld, but your article was asking if it could be the next DS, which of course is a full-time handheld.
@Kiltman67: the biggest power of the iPhone is innovation and uniqueness. If they added conventional controls, it would be just an awesome phone – now it’s an awesome revolutionary phone.
And actually, I’m quite sure there won’t be a new iPhone in at least two years. First, the iPhone 3G was actually announced by Steve Jobs when the first model of the phone was released – he said that when UMTS got a bigger coverage in the US and didn’t consume that much battery power, they would introduce a new iPhone. Second, the current models of the phone have a 620 MHz processor underclocked to 4120 MHz – which means Apple will be just increasing the CPU clocking in future software updates to make the iPhone “faster”. No new SKU is needed.
@regua: yeah, i was messing with a friend’s iPhone a couple months ago and he was telling me about how much home brew and third-party stuff there is, so I’m sure we might see some pretty good multiplayer something or other soon. plus, not just wifi, but gaming over the actual phone service, via the 3G connection. thank god for the price drop, i might actually be able to get one this year.
@ regua.
Multiplayer games are actually being made for the iPhone as we speak.
I can’t remember who it is, but I was looking at it on Engadget. Someone has ported one of the original quake games onto the iphone, and its going to support VS multiplayer.
His is a link to it (Not the exact one, but its the same thing really)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,144390-page,1/article.html
Update of my last post :
Found a video of it in action, seems pretty good to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvci1vTXyUo
that quake thing is sweet. i like the comment under the youtube video about Sh****** on mount rushmore. l0l.
@Viatrophy: yeah, but there’s not even a release date for it set. The app seems finished, and yet we haven’t heard anything about it since April… Possibly (and hopefully) it will be released on the AppStore. Possibly (and not hopefully) they will charge a fee for it.
Do you have your iPhone/ iPod Touch unlocked? It sounds like it obviously is.
Yeah the iPhone has nearly limitless possibilities because of access to the internet. That is what the DS did not have. The only thing that the DS has behind it right now that the iPhone does not is third party and first party support for building games and that is coming soon enough with the ‘App Store’.
There is a smaller market for iPhones though. You don’t see parents buying all their kids iPhones for Chtistmas presents. However, the iPod Touch is completely open for that. The iPod Touch has the famed ‘Installer App’ where you can download any app you want. I am without a doubt that the ‘App Store’ will be coming to the Touch and that there will be a software update for $20 when the new 3G firmware is released.
the iPhone will never be accepted as a console due to the fact that isn’t its sole purpose, as we saw with teh n-gage.
This has been discussed a lot (see the link from my name) but an important factor for Apple will be luring independent developers.
@Nark Joe: I couldn’t install any of these apps without unlocking my iPhone.
@maul: N-gage was crap, that’s why it wasn’t accepted as a console or even as a phone. iPhone, with its revolutionary user interface on one hand and powerful hardware on the other, may seriously change the handheld market. If only Apple decides that’s what they want.
@Ian Lamont: ha, actually, I disagree. Much more important factor would be luring the “dependent” developers, meaning the huge companies. EA and Ubisoft are already developing games for the iPhone/iPod Touch, so that’s a huge step… now I’m just waiting for Apple to follow and start marketing iPhone as a gaming device (besides its other functionalities, of course). Only by doing this will they attract gamers to the iPhone, and possibly make more developers and publishers consider releasing their titles for the iDevices.
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