Could the iPhone be considered a true portable Console Gaming platform?

[aphex]

Previously, I didn't think so. But well, after seeing the following video, I'm starting to have second thoughts.

http://www.mahalo.com/Star_War...Force_Unleashed_iPhone

Skip to about 2:45 to see the gameplay, its all live rendered cut scenes up until that point, but the good stuff starts at the gameplay IMO.

 

[oznerol]

Mobile phones have been a gaming platform for a while - moreso in Asia than the US - but it's still nothing new with the iPhone.

I think 3rd-party developers are getting on board as Apple is making it easy to develop for, and the hardware is powerful enough to handle decent games.

 

[Queasy]

Yes = The iPhone has lots of games coming to it. They're not as fully-fleshed out as DS or PSP games but they are a huge leap forward over the crop of crappy mobile phone games.

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Yes = The iPhone has lots of games coming to it. They're not as fully-fleshed out as DS or PSP games but they are a huge leap forward over the crop of crappy mobile phone games.

Yep, I agree with that. It won't replace my PSP, but it sure as hell is 3000x better than the standard cell phones games.

 

[Aikouka]

I wish we had some of the games that Asia has. Square-Enix is making a true sequel to Final Fantasy IV that's only going on cell phones, which means no can play .

EDIT:

Oh and my cell phone works pretty well for games, but I think if any phone can really leverage a community it's the iPhone (as much as I detest Apple). I wanted to write some apps for Windows Mobile 6 so I could use them on my phone... oh too bad, to even use the SDK I need Visual Studio 2005 Standard or higher... which I'm most certainly not paying $250 to write software that I am too lazy to try to market. Now I know why it's hard to find good freeware for WM6.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
I wish we had some of the games that Asia has. Square-Enix is making a true sequel to Final Fantasy IV that's only going on cell phones, which means no can play .

:Q
:|

Hopefully someone figures out a way to get it to us.


Oh, and just wait for Android phones

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
:Q
:|

Hopefully someone figures out a way to get it to us.


Oh, and just wait for Android phones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F..._After:_Tsuki_no_Kikan

There's the page for it... maybe there's some sort of way to play them on a PC .

Those dirty Aussies get the game and we don't... so unfair .

 

[AstroManLuca]

OMG the iPhone must be way more powerful than a PC! It has Force Unleashed!

 

[blurredvision]

The graphics do like nice, but the iPhone doesn't have any input other than a gyrator (sp?) and your finger. You can't even use a stylus with the thing because of how the touch screen works. I can't imagine playing a game where my finger was covering the screen the entire time. I'll reserve judgment until we see more games, though, because developers will obviously have to overcome this limitation with new gameplay ideas.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
OMG the iPhone must be way more powerful than a PC! It has Force Unleashed!

Pretty much....

Lucas Arts: "someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn't be the same game"


But the iPhone is plenty powerful to avoid having that watered down experience versus other platforms!

reference

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
The graphics do like nice, but the iPhone doesn't have any input other than a gyrator (sp?) and your finger. You can't even use a stylus with the thing because of how the touch screen works. I can't imagine playing a game where my finger was covering the screen the entire time. I'll reserve judgment until we see more games, though, because developers will obviously have to overcome this limitation with new gameplay ideas.

Did you watch the video? Seems to be a fairly innovative way to interact.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: blurredvision
The graphics do like nice, but the iPhone doesn't have any input other than a gyrator (sp?) and your finger. You can't even use a stylus with the thing because of how the touch screen works. I can't imagine playing a game where my finger was covering the screen the entire time. I'll reserve judgment until we see more games, though, because developers will obviously have to overcome this limitation with new gameplay ideas.

Did you watch the video? Seems to be a fairly innovative way to interact.

From what I watched (I didn't watch the entire thing), it seemed like you just moved screen to screen, and did different force powers. If that's the rest of the video, then color me unimpressed.

 

[randay]

too bad its not a very good phone.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: randay
too bad its not a very good phone.

it's the price to pay for an all in one device. given i rarely call anyone, i could deal w/ it. it's too bad I can't deal w/ the data plan that makes it what it is.

 

[erwos]

If Squeenix released their cell phones games (FF4: The After, Before Crisis) on the iPhone, I'd be dropping Sprint and buying one, no questions asked.

 

[Piuc2020]

The iPhone doesn't have the necessary hardware to support proper gaming, the touchscreen is nice and all but as far as I know it has no haptics support (yeah the whole phone vibrating when pressing anywhere on the screen doesn't count either).

It needs buttons, plain and simple, not even Nintendo, the kings of alternate controls schemes, have managed to get rid of buttons in their Wii and DS consoles.

It's not going to be a true portable console gaming platform in my opinion, it's just going to have some good games but that's it, cell phones have some games but I wouldn't consider them a serious gaming platform.

That being said I don't think Force Unleashed will be a good game, heck, when you have big budget you just release the game on every thing with a processor, Warrior Within was available for my old Nokia 6103 (a crappy phone) and I don't see anyone calling that phone a true portable console gaming platform, it has some good games like Enigmo and Monkey Ball but those are merely ports and coincidentally are games that are perfectly suited for the accelerometer controls.

Heck the iPod itself had some pretty spiffy and high-profile games and no one called it a true portable console gaming platform, all those games look ok and not as cheap as some cellphone games but they don't even being to compare to games like Castlevania and Phoenix Wright, and those are games that were available on the Gameboy Advance, a handheld from almost 7 years ago!

I love the iPhone as much as the next guy but it's just that, a phone with one or two fun games, not a handheld gaming platform.

 

[Injury]

I feel that the iPhone is only getting this game because the majority user base of the iPhone is fairly well-defined making it easier to pick a target audience. Other phones don't see games like this because it's harder to say who is going to end up with the phone. Most phones could wind up in the hands of my grandma or a 10 year old kid... and everyone in between.

That said, the iPhone will never be a competitor for gaming because it will never gather support outside of the minority group of die-hard fans. Having a game like TF:U is not a selling point for a game and will only stand to sway a decision between two phones. Even a die-hard SW fan probably wouldn't buy an iPhone JUST for this game.

It may be possible to have a major title on the iPhone, but I don't know how profitable it will be.

 

[warcrow]

Incoming hijack!

I'm curious, for those that listen to Played--would you find it interesting if we expanded coverage (news and hardware)to the iPhone/iPod touch and it's games?

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: randay
too bad its not a very good phone.

Right...

 

[KeithTalent]

It certainly looks cool, but I think playing on a touch screen like that would drive me mental after about 15 minutes.

KT

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
It certainly looks cool, but I think playing on a touch screen like that would drive me mental after about 15 minutes.

KT

I concur.