A couple more data points on the “iPhone as very interesting gaming platform” curve…
- Passage is now available. It’s pretty much the opposite of Rolando (which I’m still working my way through, and still loving), but I’ve come back again and again to Passage since I first played it back in January, and each time the experience is just as devastating.
- Crayon Physics is coming in January. Could there be a better platform for Crayon Physics?
Completely obvious thought of the day: email is to Blackberry as gaming is to the iPhone. Friends showing friends the email experience on the Blackberry is what helped spread adoption for RIM. The same will happen with the iPhone and over the shoulder game demos. And with enough interesting features available in the API (motion, multitouch, etc.) there will be enough different types of games to appeal to different types of users. Me, I'm into things like Rolando and Passage and Crayon Physics, and I'll demo those for all three people I know who would also like those games but don't already have an iPhone to play 'em on. My sister, on the other hand, may be into puzzle games, and there certainly isn't a shortage of those for her to demo to her friends...
The difference, of course, between RIM and Apple is in the distribution accelerant -- RIM had to rely on corporate IT departments to deploy BES for users to get the full benefit of the platform, while Apple has iTunes and new retail channels like Wal-mart.
Update: Randy rightly points out in this little act of sharing...
...that I completely neglected to credit his tweet as the source of news re. Passage and Crayon Physics. I'd tip my hat, but I'd likely blind him with my skull and he'd crash his fixie into the nearest Blue Bottle.
In November the WSJ declared that games on the iPhone would allow it to eventually develop into a serious competitor with the Nintendo DS and PSP. Naturally the gaming community was the first to raise its fists at the very idea that an Apple phone could even come close to replacing the likes of our beloved DS, but as time goes on I've seen more of my gamer friends get excited about the new iPhone games than releases on other portable platforms.
Looks like I have yet *another* reason to join the 21rst century by buying myself an iPhone. Gotta catch 'em all!
Posted by: .tiff | Dec 29, 2008 at 02:29 PM
Yeah, see, you're one of the above-mentioned three friends who are in the intersection of the sets "would enjoy Crayon Physics" and "doesn't already have an iPhone."
Posted by: Michael Sippey | Dec 29, 2008 at 02:34 PM