“With every iPod model set to adopt a color screen this year, Apple appears ready to expand the music player’s extra capabilities, especially its bundled games,” Ryan Katz reports for Think Secret. “A recent job posting from Apple on Gamasutra, a recruiting site for the game industry, seeks a programmer with ‘experience working with embedded systems’ who would in part be ‘responsible for rapidly developing memory and performance optimized software solutions to complex problems.'”
“More intriguing than the general job description and qualifications are the optional qualifications, which include ‘ARM7 RISC processor experience.’ Apple’s iPods are powered by a chip from PortalPlayer that is based on the 32-bit ARM7 processor,” Katz reports.
Full article here.
I only hope these new games are more enticing than those existing on my iPod mini.
I looked at them once and I’ve never opened them again.
It’s the music, silly!
Use iPod’s Solitaire, but wish it had a way to keep stats on wins, etc.
Maybe the gaming will be better than the PowerMac.
J/K
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Mind you, I may not be the best to say anything about this, because I love games, and also need the most powerful mac for my business, but I have no trouble gaming on my Mac, no matter what game, I have all but abandoned my PC in the gaming department.
Oh man. This is GREAT. There are sooo many young people (well, younger than me, anyway!) who play portable games on little devices. This’ll give them all just ONE MORE REASON to shell out for an iPod. Has Apple been anticipating every possible contingency lately or what!?!!!!!
Kath Day-Knight,
Music Quiz is GREAT, it interacts with your music library. You have to guess the name of the song playing, select it with the scroll wheel and the faster, the more points you get.
Very nice thinking from Apple, for making a game around music.
I hope to see more of these.
Tempest I tell you! They need to release Tempest for the iPod!
or how about 720 Skate or Die! The scroll wheel would be awesome for that…
You know what might be cool? A music quiz. Let’s see how well you know your own collection. The iPod could play you a one-second clip from one of its thousands of tracks and give you 10 seconds to find it in the menu.
(The magic word is “york”. Odd. A proper noun? But it’s not capitalized. Around my house, “york” means “vomit”…)
Lord Robin,
Uh, I don’t know if your trying to be funny or not, but my 3G iPod has a game on it called, surprise, surprise, “Music Quiz” that plays an audio clip of a song and there’s a list with 5 song names and you have to pick the correct song before the timer runs out. So, plug your buds in and go nuts with that.
Gee, all iPods could soon have Color Breakout.
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Too bad Apple wants to do it all themselves. Everybody knows that the All In One is coming (combo music player, cell phone, camera, presenter, PDA, wallet, game deck), and as long as the doors are locked in Cupertino it’s unlikely to be from Apple. Such a shame, the iPod could be so much more than a music player and photo-flipper.
.
Music Quiz seems popular, guess I’ll check it out…
Thanks!
I want Galaga on my ipod. maybe poker.
Yeah, but when are they gonna put a game in the shuffle? I want a Laser-pointer on mine projecting a dancing silhouette because … because … “because” is the MAW.
I want a built-in disco light. B-)
Why have games on the iPod?
So that people will SEE YOU using your iPod rather than just have it in your pocket. The games themselves aren’t that great…but that doesn’t mean you won’t ‘show off’ your iPod inadvertently.
Ingenious huh? It’s advertising for the iPod. Just like the white headphones, etc.
Kath Day-Knight,
How’s the grand-daughter, Epponnee Rae going? You see, I’m stuck in USA, and whilst they have KKK, they don’t have K&K. And being Aussies, we’re scummy and won’t pay for the cable channel which shows it.
It is a good idea to have some more games developed for the iPod but what Apple really needs to do is to take matters into their own hands and develop ONE KILLER GAME that only plays on the Mac (they could port it to windows after a year or so, about the time that Version 2 is available – again first on the Mac).
Apple has the bucks and the wherewithal to do this. And we all know that if Apple came out with a game they would do it right and it would mop the floor of anything available on the Wintel platform.
Thats a great idea Jack A
Okay, I’ve heard that twice, my friend. Anyone care to suggest what type of game could that be? Apple can certainly afford to fund a game, but if your suggestion is to work, the compelling nature of the game probably requires Apple fund two losers and seven also-rans (at least) to get such a hit.
(Certainly, don’t anyone count on Stevie depriving Pixar of revenue from a Pixar-related game by developing it for the Mac first. Dreaming about it is fine, though.)
On the other hand, taking a cue from antiwar films, one might sell him an idea like Shoot the Longhorn. Make it particularly gory: kill the whole herd and you get the satisfyingly bloody scene of eating one whole cow. Raw. And show the cows writhing in pain and oozing from every orifice. Could be the sleeper hit of the decade and do much for reducing human consumption of animal meat.
Geeze, did I type that?
Just wish they’d put Java on the iPod. Then loads of people would be able to write games/utilities to run on it.
Hey notatotalsucker
Thanks for asking, we’re all well and effluent as always!
Now where’s that Kimmie with my iPod??
Less is More: ‘Shoot the Longhorn’ sounds more of a game for the dying Windows platform. After all the current chart topper on that platform, ‘Mad Cow Disease,’ seems in danger of a toptal collapse of sales! Follow the herd!
Hmmm, Less is more. The KILLER GAME, what should it be. Not an easy question since everyone is looking for the answer to this but I will give it a stab. The game of Life. Have it be like the Simms in that it is more or less based on reality but have it be first person shooter style. You enter a world where you can get a job, earn online money, go to an online bar, get drunk (the controls get all mushy), pick up another real person (or a computer AI), have raunchy online sex (you would need to be eighteen to buy the sex expansion pack of course), get in a fight with the persons significant other, buy a gun, shoot the significant other, be caught (or not), go on trial, and put in prison, you could have a war happening someplace and join the military to fight in it, etc, etc.
This game would become so totally addicting for some people that they might have to pass a law against it.
Do I think Apple will make a game like the above? Ummmmm, No.
So I would be happy if they just took some of the Genres available today and put that old think-out-of-the-box, change-the-rules-of-the-game Apple twist on it. Maybe 3D virtual reality done right with wrap around goggles and controls you wear? I dunno but even something totally done along the lines of what is available today but done really really well would be acceptable.