iPod gaming: Last week’s gadget show had the iPod touch win a three way mobile gaming shoot out - between the PSP, DSi and iPod touch. I scoffed, guffawed and generally mocked the decision, pah iPod’s all about iFart and crap apps. A week later, I’ve lost HOURS of my life to two games, both on the iPod touch. Flight Control and Lets Golf! Both of these are up with the quality of PSP and DS games, and they are cheap, 59p and £3.19. Instant delivery via wifi, instant gratification. No UMDs No cartridges.
The DS has saved many development houses as it allows a quick to market option for quirky smaller niche games. But it’s still £19.99 and a physical delivery (though DSi will have downloadable titles). The genius of the iPod touch and iPhone is that people already have the hardware, so they can dip into gaming that suits them.
Nokia have tried this strategy with n-gage, and it has been a mixed bag, let down by two main things, poor controls (the phones nav/key pads don’t work well as gaming inputs, and the 5800 resistant screen responds poorly) and lowest common denominator hardware, so no 3d chips to help out. Lets golf! is as good as any ps2 golf game, but with better more intuitive controls and its always with you.
Also apple have to do ‘diddly squat’, it’s all third party developers and they get 30%, sweet. The PSP still trumps it on ‘quality’ games, and the physical controls give it more options, fighting games for instance. But in terms of what I will actually use the iPod/iPhone is more likely to receive my attention, though sheer ease of access.
