Interview

Ignore the 'pissers and moaners': iPhone 5 is all it should be, says Mobile Pie's Will Luton

Gaming high on the agenda

Ignore the 'pissers and moaners': iPhone 5 is all it should be, says Mobile Pie's Will Luton
For the first time, Apple's iPhone 5 launch was met with a real dose of cynicism in some quarters.

Even more so than after iPhone 5's failed appearance in 2011 – iPhone 4S's unveiling initially leading to a sense of deflation purely because its name had the wrong number at the end of it – there were certain prominent Twitter posters who appeared to have little time for Apple last night.

According to Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton, however, such negative talk should be expected. When you're at the top, people expect far more of you than they would otherwise.

We tackled Luton to find out why the lack of an iPhone 'revolution' is no bad thing.

Pocket Gamer: Broadly speaking, what did you make of Apple's iPhone 5 unveiling?

It was what I expected - more, faster and better, rather than a revolution.

I don't envy Apple's position in that there's so much expectation on the company, so no matter what it does there's going to be a lot of pissing and moaning.

What was good again is to see them promoting games, especially with Torsten [Reil] and Barclay [Deeming] of NaturalMotion - a company I very much admire - up on stage demoing Clumsy Ninja.

It shows the Apple's understanding of gaming's importance to its business. That's really positive.

Specifically from a developer's point of view, what features excite you the most about the new iPhone?

I would say from a games perspective 16:9 is better for AirPlay streaming and the new iPod touch getting a boost in terms of processing power is also excellent.

I think we're getting to the point with a lot of powerful retina-era devices out there and this era moving things on further, quality 3D gaming for the masses is really possible now.

I think this is the year that high-end 3D will really kill it out there.

Is there anything missing from the device?

As I said in the Mavens, I would have loved to have seen some new input innovation - eye tracking, rear touch or something - but they only make sense if they work. It shouldn't be tacked on.

Plus, wireless charging is neat.

What kind of impact do you think it will have on the market. Is this a guaranteed best seller?

It's going to sell for sure. We'll see queues and sell outs all over. I'm sure Clumsy Ninja will do a few downloads too.
Thanks to Will for his time.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.