Tuesday, September 30, 2008

iPhone Gaming Request: More Depth and Parity with Other Platforms

I've got over 25 games on my iPhone.  Some are free.  Some are $0.99.  Others like EA's Spore and Super Monkey Ball tops out at $9.99 a piece.  But I find myself spending a little more time with the free or $0.99 games and I'm perplexed by it.

I love Spores.  And find Monkey Ball addicting.  And I paid more for them so why am I not playing them more often?  I don't know.  I chalk it up to personal preference.  In fact, I've rediscovered web apps lately as well.  Specifically, I've been trying to find games and apps that I can use with Safari that work just as well as apps that sit on my iPhone.  But that's chat for another time.

But as I got to thinking, I also looking at some of the recent games produced by big named developers.  Star Wars The Force Unleashed looks fun but at $9.99, I don't know if I would like it that much.  I might pick it up when it goes on sale.  I'm more of a Star Trek fan.  Then there's also Kroll blogged about by Touch Arcade .  From the forums, it's got only 9 stages.  Some of the commenters stated they when through a third of the game in 20 minutes.  It's the same complaint some folks about Force Unleashed.

Even as I play Spore, I realized too that the iPhone's version of the game is a shadow of the DS version.  I really shouldn't be surprised given that the iPhone version is $20 cheaper than the Nintendo handheld's version.
And that's the problem.  We are getting games with lower price points but they are less than their counterparts on other platforms.  And to me, that affects the game play in its entirety.

I don't mind play more to get the same entertainment value as one might enjoy on the DS or PSP.  After all, the iPhone has superior hardware on paper than Nintendo and Sony's offerings.

So, I wonder, even as I tell myself that the SDK is merely less than a year old, if we'll ever truly see parity with other gaming systems.  Only when that happen will we know if iPhone can compete as a gaming platform.
Only time will tell.  Most studios have a lot of time to familiarize themselves with development and the SDK and the iPhone SDK here likely less than a year old so perhaps with more time, we'll see the games that can really take advantage of the iPhone and iPod Touch's hardware.

And to developers, give us more game depth and value to the games and I am sure iPhone and iPod Touch users will not mind paying for it.

I'm interested to find out if the iPhone version of Puzzle Quest:  Challenge of the Warlords, which will also be released on the DS, PSP, Xbox, OS X, Wii, PS2, and other mobile platforms will have similar game play as the other mobile versions.

Note:  A reader on Touch Arcade mentioned the replay value of Gameloft's Real Soccer 2009.  Specifically, he mentioned the replay value.  What I want is a great hockey game.  The accelerometer would be a great fit.

Another Note:  We have the following sports game on the iPhone:  air hockey (yeah, it's a sport!), tennis, golf, racing, soccer, volleyball.  Where are baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and synchronized swimming?!

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