One of the interesting areas in iPhone gaming next year could be the development of platforms and middleware around it.

We've already seen Trism developer Demiforce launch an Xbox Live-style community platform called Onyx Online, and now US firm Geocade has unveiled what it calls a "location aware gaming community".

What's that? Essentially, it's location-based leaderboards - high-score tables based on where someone's playing an iPhone game.

The company says it's harking back to the days when players competed to have the highest score in their local arcade, and claims that its platform will be used for a dozen upcoming iPhone games for starters.

Advertising can be incorporated, with Geocade sharing the revenues with partner developers, and the company claims incorporating the tech in games is a matter of placing "a couple of lines of code" in the title.

The first game to launch using the platform is a proof-of-concept title called Soft Landing. It'll be interesting to see how many developers adopt the technology in 2009 - it's certainly a nifty use of the iPhone's built-in location features.