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iPhone to rival DS and PSP? Really?

Searching for the substance behind Apple's ramped-up rhetoric

iPhone to rival DS and PSP? Really?

By now, you'll probably have heard about Apple's latest claims that the iPhone and iPod touch are set to take on DS and PSP for the hearts of handheld gamers.

(If you haven't, check our earlier story).

The money quote comes from Apple boss Steve Jobs, who told the Wall Street Journal that "I think the iPhone and iPod touch may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market this holiday season".

In itself, that's not the "F*** PSP and DS!" call to arms that it's being hailed as in some parts of the blogosphere. But Apple's VP of iPod and iPhone product marketing Greg Joswiak went further, in an interview with T3.

"To us it really seems this is the future of gameplay. Whereas a lot of these devices [Nintendo DS and Sony PSP] are more in the past."

Now, the first thing to say in response to this is that Apple has turned the mobile gaming industry on its head this year, and there are many great things about the App Store - and indeed, many great games for the iPhone and iPod touch.

But it has to be said, Apple's current media policy of talking mainly to gadget journalists about iPhone gaming, rather than games journalists, means it can get away with this kind of rhetoric without being posed some tough follow-up questions.

Such as (referring to more of Joswiak's quotes):

"The biggest category of all in the apps store has been games. There are over 1,500 games and there's a great affinity between the iPod touch customer and those games."

Does quantity really equal quantity? How many of those 1,500 games are actually any good? Isn't it hard to have affinity with games when it's quite hard to find them unless you know what you're looking for?

"It's the electronic distribution of the apps as well. That changes everything. Whereas apps on other devices have to be delivered primarily physically, they cost a lot more, £25 versus almost all the games cost £5..."

Fair enough, but games don't have to be delivered physically on a PSP any more, thanks to the PlayStation Store, and there are ongoing rumours that Nintendo plans to follow suit with digital distribution. It's true that Apple has taken a lead in this area, but it's a bit early to consign DS and PSP to "the past" on those grounds, given Sony and Nintendo's seeming keenness to catch up.

"It also gives the developer the ability to update. So if there's bugs found, things you want to fix or features you want to add, they can do that through the apps store, whereas it doesn't really exist in the physical world."

Again, true, but it's nice to have games released as bug-free as possible too. The downside of the App Store's updates is that too many developers are rush-releasing titles that simply aren't finished.

Extra features? Sure, developers can add extra features to their iPhone games, but they're not allowed to charge for them - it's extra investment for no return, other than the (admittedly feelgood) one of making your gamers happy.

We're not disagreeing with Joswiak here, but the logical follow-up question would be to ask what plans Apple has for enabling micro-payments and downloadable content in games, if any.

And again, in theory Sony and Nintendo could enable these kind of updates as they move towards digital distribution. Whether either is flexible enough to make the most of that is another question, of course...

"The computer power and the 3D graphic power here [iPod touch] is significantly greater than what you have here [picks up Nintendo DS]. So this allows people to do significantly higher quality games. And the touch is always in your pocket, whereas you can't always carry some other games consoles."

Again, true enough, but DS is about more than technical specifications. It'd be easier to boast when iPhone and iPod touch have games capable of going toe to toe with The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, The World Ends With You, Nintendogs, Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, Animal Crossing...

You get the idea. The great thing about DS was the way it undermined traditional games industry willy-waving about hardware power, in favour of innovative gameplay.

And the point is that iPhone and iPod touch are more than capable of that, as developers get to grips with its tilt'n'touch controls, and start to stretch themselves to make games that couldn't be done on PSP or DS. We have full confidence that they will.

But that's the point: better games, not just better-looking games. And if you're a developer looking to invest a decent amount of money in making a significantly-higher-quality-than-DS game for iPhone, you'd want a bit more confidence that once on the App Store, it won't get buried under hundreds of rubbish Snake / Sudoku / Tetris titles.

(Yes, DS developers could say the same thing about retail shelves and pony / baby / lifestyle games.)

None of the above is to pick on Joswiak specifically - it's great to see how key gaming has become for Apple - and it's not to pour cold water on the idea of iPhone gaming, which we're card-carrying fans of.

But it's frustrating to see Apple's chest-beating around iPhone gaming going unchallenged - or at least unpressed about HOW they plan to enable developers to make those high-quality games that'll give PSP and DS a run for their money.

The prospect of iPhone competing with those established handheld consoles is hugely exciting. But as part of that, Apple should face the same scrutiny, questioning and - yes - criticism that Sony and Nintendo are used to.


Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)