A big week for iPhone games
As Christmas lurches inexorably towards us, the iPhone and iPod Touch's potential as a real gaming device continues to slowly grow? starting off with the sleeper hit, Katamari.
I Love Katamari ($7.99, App Store) was released this weekend to the great surprise of many, having lacked prior publicity in any shape or form - which is odd, because it could be considered a 'big thing'. Katamari Damacy was very well received by critics, and enjoys the status of a cult hit due to its quirky visuals and soundtrack, the game itself revolving around accumulating objects around the rolling Katamari. The iPhone version of the game reportedly has a few issues with controls and stability, so you may want to wait a little longer before picking up on this franchise.
Speaking of franchises, this week we will see the release of SimCity. Originally intended for a November release, it looks like the developers needed the extra time to create this outing of the popular city builder and simulator - as this iPhone version of the game will be the full SimCity experience, with no compromises in sight.
But we've seen all these IPs before, so what does this season bring to those looking for an original - yet premium - game for the app store? Rolando. Rolando is a title that was being worked on solely by developer Simon Oliver, until being picked up by the app store's gaming darlings, Ngmoco. In it, you navigate 2D levels with the cute rolling Rolandos, using physics, interactive parts of the levels, and the abilities of the Rolandos themselves. As per usual, all the stops are being pulled in terms of polish, with Rolando's warm and crisp signature visuals and irrefutably toe-tapping tunes from Mr. Scruff. Rolando is out this Thursday, and it's the one to watch for this week.
I Love Katamari ($7.99, App Store) was released this weekend to the great surprise of many, having lacked prior publicity in any shape or form - which is odd, because it could be considered a 'big thing'. Katamari Damacy was very well received by critics, and enjoys the status of a cult hit due to its quirky visuals and soundtrack, the game itself revolving around accumulating objects around the rolling Katamari. The iPhone version of the game reportedly has a few issues with controls and stability, so you may want to wait a little longer before picking up on this franchise.
Speaking of franchises, this week we will see the release of SimCity. Originally intended for a November release, it looks like the developers needed the extra time to create this outing of the popular city builder and simulator - as this iPhone version of the game will be the full SimCity experience, with no compromises in sight.
But we've seen all these IPs before, so what does this season bring to those looking for an original - yet premium - game for the app store? Rolando. Rolando is a title that was being worked on solely by developer Simon Oliver, until being picked up by the app store's gaming darlings, Ngmoco. In it, you navigate 2D levels with the cute rolling Rolandos, using physics, interactive parts of the levels, and the abilities of the Rolandos themselves. As per usual, all the stops are being pulled in terms of polish, with Rolando's warm and crisp signature visuals and irrefutably toe-tapping tunes from Mr. Scruff. Rolando is out this Thursday, and it's the one to watch for this week.
Comments
It could just be my pathological need to own every SimCity title, though.
A package with no size at all, in fact, if you already carry an iPod anyway.
Seadragon which links into Silverlight photosynth among other things.
A big week for iPhone games
Yet no mention of Monopoly? The week's biggest release.
Back to Fieldrunners for me...
Konami is officially bringing: Metal Gear Solid, Frogger, Silent Hill and Dance Dance Revolution to the iPhone/iPod Touch.
One concern I have is that some of the games seem to be ones that are designed for mobile phones rather than the iphone specifically or the PSP/DS.
http://kotaku.com/336026/sexy-undead...-mobile-phones
Silent Hill The Escape looks terrible and I don't mean just graphics-wise. It looks like a very boring and short game.
MGS will likely be better as it's designed for the touch interface but the file sizes typical with the app store limit how long they can make the game. Even MGS1 was 2 x 700MB discs. App store downloads don't seem to ever exceed 100MB. They can down-sample some textures but I reckon we will be getting a lot of games that have very little depth.
I can only assume this is because traditional console development is a pain in the ass compared to Apple's approach. iPhone development is pretty cheap and easy to get into compared with getting say a PS3 or XBox 360 SDK, then actually publishing and distributing a game.
This was also the week Microsoft joined the party, but not with a game.
Seadragon which links into Silverlight photosynth among other things.
Yeah, we need official ports of Microsoft Minesweeper and Solitaire
I'm disappointed that Katamari is such a steaming turd.
I've asked this elsewhere and not gotten an answer... is Katamari better one the touch, with its faster processor? Anyone tried it?
Yeah, we need official ports of Microsoft Minesweeper and Solitaire
I was thinking more along the lines of Halo.
One concern I have is that some of the games seem to be ones that are designed for mobile phones rather than the iphone specifically or the PSP/DS.
http://kotaku.com/336026/sexy-undead...-mobile-phones
Silent Hill The Escape looks terrible and I don't mean just graphics-wise. It looks like a very boring and short game.
MGS will likely be better as it's designed for the touch interface but the file sizes typical with the app store limit how long they can make the game. Even MGS1 was 2 x 700MB discs. App store downloads don't seem to ever exceed 100MB. They can down-sample some textures but I reckon we will be getting a lot of games that have very little depth.
More depth than an 800kb java game, such as the examples in your link, believe it or not the iPhone games are slightly better than the usual java fare dished out to other handsets.
More depth than an 800kb java game, such as the examples in your link, believe it or not the iPhone games are slightly better than the usual java fare dished out to other handsets.
That's right but still much less than the iphone is capable of. If people want it to be a gaming platform, developers need to stop treating it like it's just another phone when it's only half the speed of a PSP.
The Force Unleashed probably could have been close to the same as the PSP version but it turned out to be a pretty terrible game, mainly about drawing shapes with your finger.
PSP games max out at 1.5GB. PSOne game downloads were about 200-300MB. Game developers could aim for 500MB and make pretty decent games, even port over some PSone classics.
Apple's OS updates are 250MB or more on occasions.
PSP games max out at 1.5GB. PSOne game downloads were about 200-300MB. Game developers could aim for 500MB and make pretty decent games, even port over some PSone classics.
Hypothetically speaking you could probably run console emulators on an iPhone including the PSone and play game ROMS, then you could play whatever tickles your fanCY, DIAmonds of games could be available if only there was another source apart from the App store.
oops my caps key jammed for a moment...
Hypothetically speaking you could probably run console emulators on an iPhone including the PSone and play game ROMS, then you could play whatever tickles your fanCY, DIAmonds of games could be available if only there was another source apart from the App store.
oops my caps key jammed for a moment...
If they had a license for PSone game ports like how the PSone games run on the PSP, that would be great but Sony won't play along given that it may start to compete with the PSP.
If they could somehow get those games to run well on the iphone, that would be an immediate boost to its gaming status.
Sony might not even care because the games are so old that any profit is worthwhile.