I was reading over the Apple Keynote speech today (9/9/09) and among the expected content of the speech came something that kind of caught me off guard.
For the last year, people have been commenting on the iphone and specifically the ipod touch as being a viable gaming platform. I always looked at these comments with not much thought. Apple didn't seem to be pushing the device as a serious mobile gaming platform so much as it was pushing it to be a Media Device that had a ton of apps on it with a higher caliber of graphical performance then the average Media Device. I always viewed gaming on the iphone/ipod touch the same way I viewed gaming on my HTC KAISER or on a flash website: short, quick games that served nothing more then to pass all of 5 minutes. This is why hearing about people talking about the devices as a real viable gaming platform seemed silly to me. These are basically the same games as on my device except with prettier graphics.
Upon reading the keynote speech, I came across the picture posted above; and following that picture were the statements of (paraphrasing here) It's stressful and cumbersome to go to the game store and buy physical copies of games. Also, after the speech, Jobs was asked why the Touch didn't have a camera like the updated Nano. Jobs replied, "because it's a great game machine." From what I've gathered, Apple seems to be pushing the Gaming Platform image of the Touch at full force.
If I were a software developer I could definitely see the appeal to programming a game for the iphone/touch. These are both really accessible devices that use an immensely popular app store. Setting yourself up to program and release games for the devices is much much cheaper compared to the PSP and DS. For the development of casual games, these devices are perfect. But now that Apple is going to start pushing the devices, specifically the Touch as a gaming machine, people are now going to compare the devices to the DS and PSP.
As a hardcore gamer the Touch is still a laughable gaming platform for the needs of said hardcore gaming. Besides the obvious citing of no physical controller, the ecosystem of the device just won't allow games of such caliber of the DS or PSP (or most any gaming system to be made for that matter) because it is so easy to write and publish an application for it. Of the over 20,000 games the Touch has available, the games don't even come close to the quality or level of enjoyment as most of the games on both the DS and PSP. To myself, these games are nothing more then glorified flash games. In it's current form, the Touch cannot match up to the DS and PSP on precision based gaming due to the touch screen only controls. By that I mean you can't even have a simple platformer without some massive gimmick, RTS games need real precision when being played on a competitive scale, FPS games need screen real estate, etc. The Touch just cannot be taken on the same level of gaming as most any other gaming system made in the past 24 years.
And I might as well ask this while it's on my mind, but whats wrong with buying physical copies of game? When did it become a problem to own a cartridge or CD. The way I look at it, buying a physical copy of a game makes the game feel more like I actually own it and thus it makes me want to play the game more. Digital downloads of games give me the same feeling I would have if I were to pirate the game. Because I don't have a physical copy of the game, it's harder for me to give it value. Kinda like paying for the mp3 of a really rare CD or LP.
I for one like owning my games, displaying my games, picking up the limited edition of a game with all the extras, the box art, the manual, it all goes together so nicely and I really hope it doesn't die off.
AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD happy 10th Birthday Dreamcast. You were just a little too ahead of your time for people to understand you.
