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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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I'll admit to vacillating between purchasing Real Racing at $10 or waiting until the inevitable price break.

I'm happy I gave in. Once you find a comfortable control scheme the game is fantastic. No waiting for GT PSP, cheaper, fantastic playing, responsive dev, etc. One of my favorite purchases. Runs ace on my 3G; I can't imagine what it would do on a 3GS (other than that tech demo they showed a couple weeks ago with a greater number of competitors).

Certainly there are things I'd change and/or update, but I admire them for having lasted as long as they have at $10. It's not that I want publishers to charge me an exorbitant price, it's that I recognize that good software may require a higher price <shrug>. I'm ok with that; I think I got an extremely good value piece of software at $10. Now if I could just stop pressing purchase on everything else that comes along...
 
Why would the PSP overpower the iPhone's market? For one thing, aren't there more iPhones in the install base than PSPs? Secondly, it's a totally different demographic with the phone - I don't think it's going to dry up at all.

I played a ton of Civ this weekend. Easily my favorite iPhone game yet.
 
Khanage said:
iPhone gaming is a fad anyway... No d-pad = FAIL!!!
Click to expand...

Agreed. Any system that attempts to replace a traditional control scheme with something friendly to the masses is doomed for failure.
 
Did Sony announce pricing for the iPhone-esque download games. I would think they will be in the same position as Nintendo, they will have to artificially Jack up prices and constrict supply of new games so as not to canibalize their 'premium' offerings. It wouldn't surprise me to see them double or even triple the price of the 'bite size' games. Plus, the demographic that will buy PSPs is less likely to have the kind of disposable income that the iPhone market caters to. Still, though, exciting to have another avenue for devs of this type of game get into this market.
 
I don't think the PSP is going to do anything to the iPhone's market. The simple fact of the matter is that you probably have an iPhone because you use it as a phone, which means you carry it around with you everywhere. If the option is to carry an iPhone AND a PSP Go for the same types of games... forget it.

The DS makes sense because it's cheaper, and the games are geared toward a slightly different audience. But the PSP Go going head to head with the iPhone is a really bad decision, IMO. It may have the horsepower to give the 3GS a run for its money, maybe, but I'd much rather keep playing on the iPhone than bother lugging another device around, unless the leap in quality is *staggering*.

And that completely ignores the pervasively connected nature of the iPhone. Multiplayer anywhere, geo-aware, blah blah blah - these are features the PSP simply doesn't have.

seppo
 
helava said:
I don't think the PSP is going to do anything to the iPhone's market. The simple fact of the matter is that you probably have an iPhone because you use it as a phone, which means you carry it around with you everywhere. If the option is to carry an iPhone AND a PSP Go for the same types of games... forget it.

The DS makes sense because it's cheaper, and the games are geared toward a slightly different audience. But the PSP Go going head to head with the iPhone is a really bad decision, IMO. It may have the horsepower to give the 3GS a run for its money, maybe, but I'd much rather keep playing on the iPhone than bother lugging another device around, unless the leap in quality is *staggering*.

And that completely ignores the pervasively connected nature of the iPhone. Multiplayer anywhere, geo-aware, blah blah blah - these are features the PSP simply doesn't have.

seppo
Click to expand...


you might be forgetting that the ipod touch has sold nearly as well as the iphone. the PSP Go is aiming at the iPod touch market. but with a focus more on franchise games and less on media and internet apps.

I can't predict the success of the Go, but i know it's possible for it to do well and not compete with a phone.
 
LCfiner said:
you might be forgetting that the ipod touch has sold nearly as well as the iphone. the PSP Go is aiming at the iPod touch market. but with a focus more on franchise games and less on media and internet apps.

I can't predict the success of the Go, but i know it's possible for it to do well and not compete with a phone.
Click to expand...

True, but I see the iPod touch as just an advanced version of the iPod, which is a brand that I really doubt Sony can break. It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I'd be pretty shocked if they end up actually being competitors. On top of that, I think it can be argued that Apple really hasn't thrown themselves into the gaming market as much as they could. If pushed, I think they could do some interesting things.
 
If anything I would think PSP Minis help the iPhone gaming community because now a developer has two platforms to make money from one game. Developers that make a game with Minis in mind might could port over to iPhone, I don't see why it has to be only iPhone->DSiWare/iPhone->PSP and not the other way around.
 
lawblob said:
Did Sony announce pricing for the iPhone-esque download games. I would think they will be in the same position as Nintendo, they will have to artificially Jack up prices and constrict supply of new games so as not to canibalize their 'premium' offerings. It wouldn't surprise me to see them double or even triple the price of the 'bite size' games. Plus, the demographic that will buy PSPs is less likely to have the kind of disposable income that the iPhone market caters to. Still, though, exciting to have another avenue for devs of this type of game get into this market.
Click to expand...
information from pocket gamer:
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/PSPgo/news.asp?c=14946
Pocket Gamer has learned that these will be priced at 1, 2 and 5 Euros, making them the equivalent of the games available via Apple's App Store.
Click to expand...
this is pretty good, however there is some negative stuff:
Games will continue to go through formal console-centric Technical Requirement Check (TRC) requirements, as well as a two week quality assurance testing period.
Click to expand...
if my memory is correct, the excessive testing is pretty costly for indie developers.
Sony will also actively control the release schedule for games, although considering the current disquiet over Apple's laissez faire attitude to app approval and release, this might not be a bad thing.
Click to expand...
i think it's a bad thing.
 
So I just got an iphone, anyone want to make a quick rundown of games to check out? I jailbroke it and installed the NES emulator, but I'd like to try some real games. I bought MGStouch and peggle so far.
 
Chinner said:
information from pocket gamer:
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/PSP/PSPgo/news.asp?c=14946

Quote:
Sony will also actively control the release schedule for games, although considering the current disquiet over Apple's laissez faire attitude to app approval and release, this might not be a bad thing.
Click to expand...



i think it's a bad thing.
Click to expand...

IMO, this is the key thing. Look at the DSi Ware store, Nintendo so tightly restricts the supply of new games, they create a forced market where you are only allowed access to one or two new games a week.

A major reason iPhone games are so cheap is because there is so much competition. If Sony restricts the quantity of new releases to X per week, this could very quickly turn into DSi Ware, which IMO is basically a disaster.

But aside from how it affects PSP owners, I only see this as a good thing for iPhone owners. More competition is good.


TheSonicRetard said:
So I just got an iphone, anyone want to make a quick rundown of games to check out? I jailbroke it and installed the NES emulator, but I'd like to try some real games. I bought MGStouch and peggle so far.
Click to expand...

My faves:

geoDefense
Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manner
Baseball Slugger Homerun Race 3D
Peggle
Space Invaders Infinity Gene
Bookworm
Dungeon Scroll
Drop 7
 
Is Sims3 worth the sale price or pass? I've never been a huge Sims fan but the scaled down gameplay seems like something I might like.


also, I doubt the iPhone install base will die. the iPhone/Touch which is mostly always connected to online somehow has more times that people actually can access the store. PSN you have to find a connection and connect manually.

I'm just glad that Sony is even doing this seeing that there is a good market to be had in smaller game titles.
 
TheSonicRetard said:
So I just got an iphone, anyone want to make a quick rundown of games to check out? I jailbroke it and installed the NES emulator, but I'd like to try some real games. I bought MGStouch and peggle so far.
Click to expand...


muthah flippin' DROP7

most addictive puzzler of all time.

I'm counting groups of blocks and sums in my head as I go to sleep at night.

sogood.gif


also, @johnnybryce. good point about PSP Go expanding the market for iPhone titles and other, high quality bite size games. some titles will port over well with traditional d-pad controls.
 
I oddly wish there were less puzzle games on this thing... I want more games that fully use the touch interface ala Eliss.... >_<

also, in gaming overall... too many damn zombie games.
 
Excellent low price for gang$tar though it raises a few worries like it's real short or the city it's located in is real small, etc.

Not owned a "gta" like game for a long time so this should be fun to play, over the months I've adapted to the touchscreen really well and if this game uses anything along the lines of the resident evil games, I got no problem.
 
For general recommendations for games, I'm not sure I'm the person to follow. Sometimes my tastes seem to fall a bit differently from others. But to help build a general impression:

Games that I think are pretty damned good (just good games, show off the iphone or whatever):
Edge
Space Invaders Infinity Gene
Flight Control
The Creeps!
DDR S
Real Racing
Geo Defense
Tetris

Games that are quite well done, but perhaps need to really like the genre or this particular design to appreciate them fully:
Eliss
Scrabble
Yahtzee Adventures
Deep Green Chess (minimal chess, but well designed)
Solebon Solitaire
Act Sudoku
Galcon
Snood
Dungeon Scroll
Twisty Text
Electric Box


Competent and worth a look:
Flashback
Frenzic
Motionx Poker
Lion Pride
Peggle
Tanzen
Zentomino
Trace
Geared

Meh (nor real comment -they're done well, but not outstanding in my opinion):
Stone of Destiny
TimeLoop

Games I bought, but haven't gotten around to sampling fully:
Monkey Island
Civilization Revolution

Games that others liked, but I didn't really like:
7 Cities
Wolfenstein RPG
Aurora Feint
Dizzy Bee
Dropship
Jelly Car
Knights Onrush
Mevo & the grooveriders
Slotz Racer
Space Monkey
MetaSquares
TapTap (and Taptap2)
Topple
World of Tunes
 
Posted? Earthworm Jim confirmed for iPhone, also it's a remake!

http://www.slidetoplay.com/story/earthworm-jim-remake-confirmed-for-iphone

slidetoplay said:
After a Gameloft press release that notably excluded "iPhone" from the list of upcoming release platforms, Gameloft has confirmed to Slide to Play that Earthworm Jim will in fact be coming to the iPhone.

Gameloft tells us that the iPhone version "will be a remake of the Sega Genesis/Super Nintendo Classic from 1994” and will appear on iPhone in addition to home consoles via WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, and Playstation Network, as well as other cellphone platforms.
Click to expand...
 
mrkgoo said:
Games that others liked, but I didn't really like:
7 Cities
Wolfenstein RPG
Aurora Feint
Dizzy Bee
Dropship
Jelly Car
Knights Onrush
Mevo & the grooveriders
Slotz Racer
Space Monkey
MetaSquares
TapTap (and Taptap2)
Topple
World of Tunes
Click to expand...

I hate Jelly Car and Knights Onrush, too. I want to like World of Tunes but it just doesn't catch my interest. Never played Topple but I played Topple 2 and it's ok, but I'd rather play something like Crazy Penguin Catapult 2. Topple gets old, and the balance mechanic became irritating.
 
Here's the thing re: the PSP Go, though - where an iPod Touch is used as an iPod (and thus, also has a non-gaming reason to be carried around all the time), the PSP Go plays games, and that's it.

Maybe they'll pull a rabbit out of their hat, but unless Sony totally revamps how the XMB handles media files, the PSP is a piece of junk as a media player. I'd sooner use my old Creative Nomad than try to wrangle music and movies on the PSP.

So, if they want to succeed as something selling little $1 games, they need to piggyback on some other functionality - and something more than $40 games. The iPhone/iPod Touch manage to become invaluable pieces of hardware because they're competent game devices masquerading as the best media players/phones available today.

To *most people* gaming is incidental, not essential.
seppo
 
Kryten said:
FFS, still no Civilization Revolution for New Zealand. WTF is going on with this title and the regions it's released into?
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the spelling of civilisation vs. civilization.

I dunno. That's why I also have a US account, comes in handy!

I wouldn't wait up. These things can take ages to happen it was several months for DDR to appear in the NZ store, and other games like Scrabble came out entirely differently.
 
helava said:
Here's the thing re: the PSP Go, though - where an iPod Touch is used as an iPod (and thus, also has a non-gaming reason to be carried around all the time), the PSP Go plays games, and that's it.

Maybe they'll pull a rabbit out of their hat, but unless Sony totally revamps how the XMB handles media files, the PSP is a piece of junk as a media player. I'd sooner use my old Creative Nomad than try to wrangle music and movies on the PSP.

So, if they want to succeed as something selling little $1 games, they need to piggyback on some other functionality - and something more than $40 games. The iPhone/iPod Touch manage to become invaluable pieces of hardware because they're competent game devices masquerading as the best media players/phones available today.

To *most people* gaming is incidental, not essential.
seppo
Click to expand...
What would gie you the impresion that the PSP GO plays games and nothing more?

It's got a web browser.

It's got Internet Radio.

It's got an RSS Feed Reader.

It certainly plays audio, podcsts or whatever.

It also does movies, and can out put movies to a television (at least with the 2000 and 3000 models you can so I imagine that will be true for the Go as well).

And you mentioned right after that it is nothing more that it does play media files but confuses you. Sorry...but it's really not that hard to use. Pick music, scroll through artists...play songs. Queue up songs to play. Really just as simple as with any MP3 player, iPod included.
 
Psy-Phi said:
What would gie you the impresion that the PSP GO plays games and nothing more?

It's got a web browser.

It's got Internet Radio.

It's got an RSS Feed Reader.

It certainly plays audio, podcsts or whatever.

It also does movies, and can out put movies to a television (at least with the 2000 and 3000 models you can so I imagine that will be true for the Go as well).

And you mentioned right after that it is nothing more that it does play media files but confuses you. Sorry...but it's really not that hard to use. Pick music, scroll through artists...play songs. Queue up songs to play. Really just as simple as with any MP3 player, iPod included.
Click to expand...

And Skype.
 
the ipod touch has apps too though.

you get things like music sequencers, art programs, scientific calculator, etc etc

it's possible on PSP but not sure if i'd want to control it with a dpad.
 
I need some new recommendations. I just loaded up on $30 in iTunes credit and need awesome games.

I haven't paid any attention to the scene in the last 2 months. What's new?
 
Juice said:
I need some new recommendations. I just loaded up on $30 in iTunes credit and need awesome games.

I haven't paid any attention to the scene in the last 2 months. What's new?
Click to expand...

The biggest two must-owns are Peggle and Bookworm IMO. Peggle is a give-in. If you like word games, Bookworm will own your soul. It has loads of built-in "achievements" that will take forever to discover.

Apart from that:

Motion X Poker
Ancient Frog
Moxie
Harbor Master
Dungeon Scroll
Word Jong
Drop 7

Try these demos before buying.

I hate action games on the system, so I can't recommend any. Isotope is somewhat tolerable, though. It's a Geometry Wars clone(ish) that runs a bit deeper than that. Again, try the demo.
 
I'm surprised how well tilt controls work on the iphone. I still think MGSTouch has the best controls I've used so far, but Doom Resurrection controls well too.
 
Juice said:
I need some new recommendations. I just loaded up on $30 in iTunes credit and need awesome games.

I haven't paid any attention to the scene in the last 2 months. What's new?
Click to expand...


Civ Rev and Space Invaders Infinit Gene
 
Psy-Phi said:
What would gie you the impresion that the PSP GO plays games and nothing more?

It's got a web browser.

It's got Internet Radio.

It's got an RSS Feed Reader.

It certainly plays audio, podcsts or whatever.

It also does movies, and can out put movies to a television (at least with the 2000 and 3000 models you can so I imagine that will be true for the Go as well).

And you mentioned right after that it is nothing more that it does play media files but confuses you. Sorry...but it's really not that hard to use. Pick music, scroll through artists...play songs. Queue up songs to play. Really just as simple as with any MP3 player, iPod included.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and in my experience, it does all of those things badly. The web browser's a huge pain to use. Text entry sucks. Wi-Fi only means it's not nearly as useful as an always-on connection. Managing media files is a pain. Blah blah blah.

Whether a device *does* something or not is really not the point anymore - it's whether it does it *well*. I had a Nokia phone that did almost everything the iPhone does and more, but I never used any of those things because they were too much of a pain to bother with. The iPhone's the first truly functional convergence device not because of its features, but because it lets you use them easily.

The PSP Go, on the other hand, is a game machine - the only thing it does *well* is play games. And even then, compared to the iPhone, its only real advantage at this point are physical buttons. A big advantage, to be sure - but without being pervasively connected, it misses the iPhone's single most important advantage.

seppo
 
nyong said:
The biggest two must-owns are Peggle and Bookworm IMO. Peggle is a give-in. If you like word games, Bookworm will own your soul. It has loads of built-in "achievements" that will take forever to discover.

Apart from that:

Motion X Poker
Ancient Frog
Moxie
Harbor Master
Dungeon Scroll
Word Jong
Drop 7

Try these demos before buying.

I hate action games on the system, so I can't recommend any. Isotope is somewhat tolerable, though. It's a Geometry Wars clone(ish) that runs a bit deeper than that. Again, try the demo.
Click to expand...

Mindblown. Is it supposed to be "give-in", as you just have to "give in", or "given", as in something is a given, meaning no questions, it's just given? For all intensive purposes, I must know!
 
mrkgoo said:
Mindblown. Is it supposed to be "give-in", as you just have to "give in", or "given", as in something is a given, meaning no questions, it's just given? For all intensive purposes, I must know!
Click to expand...

The correct term is "given".
 
mrkgoo said:
Mindblown. Is it supposed to be "give-in", as you just have to "give in", or "given", as in something is a given, meaning no questions, it's just given? For all intensive purposes, I must know!
Click to expand...

Heh, I read that as "you must give in" too.

I figure every mistake on GAF is actually a reference to a stupid meme I don't know about.
 
i just played rolando for the first time today, and, uh..........

i appreciate that's it well put together and compelling where so many iphone games are not, but to blatantly rip off the whole loco roco aesthetic (not just here and there, but everything i came across was just completely ripped off) really put me off totally.

i know the app store is like uncharted territory, where even i could throw something up there if i really tried, but i can't wait till the biggest game on the platform doesn't remind you that there's a kind of, um, lack of professionalism in many respects. but i'm aware that the game's probably really good, so i don't discount that. but whatever.

well, anyway. have you guys heard of stay? it looks like an interesting physics game, with a really great visual sense and interface.

stay01-320x213.jpg
stay04-320x213.jpg


stay03-320x213.jpg



http://www.creativeapplications.net/iphone/stay-iphone/
 
As a developer, I am kind of outraged to see that Sony's gonna step into the arena and maintain the "bite-sized prices" for gaming experiences on their device. I understand their desire to compete with iPhone, and I suppose this means their hand is kind of forced - but the device is clearly being targeted towards gamers, whereas iPhone is targeted to a much broader audiences (many of whom aren't usually interested in much more than casual gaming anyway). With XBLA and PSN it is rough enough for anyone to make money as you've got lower prices there, but suddenly the gulf between those game prices and the "bite-sized" ones is huge.

Really interested to see how Microsoft counters when they announce whatever's going to be playing on their Zune. Seeing as how this precedent has been set, I doubt it will be a different story unfortunately.

The thing I am interested to watch, is how the little indie games perform on these new devices (for the same reasons mentioned above - the platform is targeting gamers). If they moved a lot of Go units then it would take some of the sting out of the low app prices, but then again seeing as how the Go is prohibitively priced, and not a phone (.....), I maintain that they're not going to appeal to more than a niche market to begin with.

I am not anti-Sony, I wish they could get their act together and become more of a formidable/pertinent force in the gaming industry, but I feel like this whole generation is just one bad decision followed by another on their part, I don't see it letting up anytime soon :(
 
wondermega said:
As a developer, I am kind of outraged to see that Sony's gonna step into the arena and maintain the "bite-sized prices" for gaming experiences on their device. I understand their desire to compete with iPhone, and I suppose this means their hand is kind of forced - but the device is clearly being targeted towards gamers, whereas iPhone is targeted to a much broader audiences (many of whom aren't usually interested in much more than casual gaming anyway). With XBLA and PSN it is rough enough for anyone to make money as you've got lower prices there, but suddenly the gulf between those game prices and the "bite-sized" ones is huge.

Really interested to see how Microsoft counters when they announce whatever's going to be playing on their Zune. Seeing as how this precedent has been set, I doubt it will be a different story unfortunately.

The thing I am interested to watch, is how the little indie games perform on these new devices (for the same reasons mentioned above - the platform is targeting gamers). If they moved a lot of Go units then it would take some of the sting out of the low app prices, but then again seeing as how the Go is prohibitively priced, and not a phone (.....), I maintain that they're not going to appeal to more than a niche market to begin with.

I am not anti-Sony, I wish they could get their act together and become more of a formidable/pertinent force in the gaming industry, but I feel like this whole generation is just one bad decision followed by another on their part, I don't see it letting up anytime soon :(
Click to expand...


I understand where you're coming from, but I don't buy that the iPhone is JUST a broader market. I think the nerds and gamers are rampant on the iPhone.

Just look how well hardcore games like Monkey Island, CivRev, Worms, and so on do - they are generally bought by hardcore fanatics, not the casual iFart crowd.

That said, I agree that Sony should do a few things rather than try to follow wherever the market goes. And THAT said, I think downloadable games are a great idea - but they didn't have to limit them to 100MB.
 
Y2Kev said:
sims is 7, down from 10. anyone likey?
Click to expand...

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger, even though I know I never get my money's worth out of Sims games.

I'm also thinking about buying Ranch Rush, seems like it might fill that Harvest Moon-shaped hole in my phone.
 
mrkgoo said:
Mindblown. Is it supposed to be "give-in", as you just have to "give in", or "given", as in something is a given, meaning no questions, it's just given? For all intensive purposes, I must know!
Click to expand...

Yeah, "given" makes much more sense when I think about it. I'm generally a good speller. Honest.
 
Juice said:
I need some new recommendations. I just loaded up on $30 in iTunes credit and need awesome games.

I haven't paid any attention to the scene in the last 2 months. What's new?
Click to expand...

If you are from Canada, you can't use your credit for Apps. Not funny. :lol

There are lots of great games out there. I have been having lots of fun with the tower defense type games.
 
mrkgoo said:
I prefer the gameplay of Snood, myself, but I doubt anyone really knows the difference.
Click to expand...
One is good and the other is bad.

To be fair I haven't played it since way back on my Mac back in the 90's or whenever it came out, but from what I remember:
ugly
control felt loose (may be remembering this wrong though, I may have been queasy from the artwork)
ugly
extremely loose piece tolerance, like you could slide the pieces in when there should be no way in hell to do so
ugly

If I could remember what it sounded like it was probably the auditory equivalent of the graphics, I'm probably lucky to still have my sight and hearing.

So yeah I don't like Snood that much. I didn't know about that thing you pointed out a while back though, where you could take your time on shots and stuff, so I guess it has something creatively different going for it. But really for the most part it feels like it comes down to a big polished arcade game vs some guy's shareware PC version where he kinda knew how the arcade game worked, but never really got into it, and copied it based off of what he vaguely knows about it. Like most crappy shareware clones of arcade games.
wondermega said:
Really interested to see how Microsoft counters when they announce whatever's going to be playing on their Zune. Seeing as how this precedent has been set, I doubt it will be a different story unfortunately.
Click to expand...
There might be a hint based on what they announced earlier this year about their Windows Mobile store. Just skimmed a few articles now to refresh my memory, for the WM store it's going to be $99/year and 70% to the dev (like Apple), but also $99/app on top of that (although through the end of 2009 you get five for that $99). Doesn't look like they announced a minimum price yet, but they'll have free apps too.
 
Juice said:
I need some new recommendations. I just loaded up on $30 in iTunes credit and need awesome games.

I haven't paid any attention to the scene in the last 2 months. What's new?
Click to expand...

probably the biggest new games are Space Invaders, Spider and Wolfenstein RPG

oh and Civilization
 
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