“With PopCap offering Bejeweled free to iPhone users, the question now is whether Apple will monetize video games for the iPhone. The iPhone is sophisticated enough that, in theory, it could become a mobile gaming platform, but currently there is no way for iPhone users to purchase and download video game titles and play them when offline,” Jennifer LeClaire reports for NewsFactor.
LeClaire reports, “Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg called the introduction of the PopCap classic on the iPhone a significant milestone. ‘We’ve seen a couple of different homegrown games that people have developed for the iPhone,’ he explained, ‘but now we are seeing a very powerful implementation of Bejeweled made available for free.'”
LeClaire reports, “Currently, there is no way for iPhone users to purchase and download video game titles and play them when offline. Gartenberg said he wonders whether Apple plans to address the monetization issue in the future in a way that follows the iPod model in which users can purchase and download titles directly from iTunes. Apple has not yet revealed its plans in the gaming arena for the iPhone.”
Full article here.
I hope they do, the web based games people have made suck.
i want real stuff
The iPhone multitouch interface offers some interesting game control possibilities. But the lack of dedicated pointing and button controls (e.g., DS Lite, PSP) is a limitation.
Question is will they sell porn for the iPhone?
Well of course not, but perhaps allow it through the web browser then save as a movie?
I know I got LOTS of attention with my video iPorned collection.
The stuff people do….will keep you tweaked for weeks at a time.
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Pete. There is already iPlayboy that offers more iPorn to your iPhone.
Yes, we need more porn.
More interesting to me: Will Apple sell e-books via iTunes for the iPhone? Using the iPhone, it strikes me that this is the first truly practical e-book reader ever created.
Idk if using an iPhone as an e-book reader is the best idea. I’m sure some people will buy into the idea, but it seems to me that it would be fairly annoying to continually scroll up and down the page at an acceptable font size. I’m sure Apple will try the idea, but it won’t sell nearly as well as an audiobook. Who really wants to read a book on a ~3inch screen?
http://iGiki.com is offering a great iPhone game called Canyon Crawler. Be sure to check it out.
http://iGiki.com
it’s very un-Apple, but could they sell a dock-connected controller for games? It could connect like an iTrip and have a basic directional controller and a couple of buttons. Maybe they could partner with Nintendo and bring some classic NES/SNES games to the iPhone
http://iGiki.com/
How about Doom?
MW “bed,” as in “Now lie in it!”
From the MDN excerpts:
” . . . but currently there is no way for iPhone users to purchase and download video game titles and play them when offline,” Jennifer LeClaire reports for NewsFactor.”
“LeClaire reports, “Currently, there is no way for iPhone users to purchase and download video game titles and play them when offline.”
But what about purchasing and downloading video game titles and playing them when offline? That’s still not clear.
Apple will sell games, and the process is already there – iTunes. Apple probably hasn’t finished the game interface yet, and none of the current iPod games are designed to work with the iPhone’s touch screen. I would expect games to start coming out with the iPhone’s first major software update.
I’d like to see emulation come to the iPhone. A touchscreen control pad would not be ideal, but it would still rock, even if I had to look over every now and then to make sure that my thumbs are in the right position.
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This BeJewelled release is a direct response to Diamenty, which is a pretty decent ‘rip-off’, and was released for the iPhone pretty quickly – a few weeks ago as I recall:
http://diamenty.myphone.com.pl/
Oh, now I see that PopCap hired the Diamenty guy to write the official Bejewelled for iPhone. So there you have it… rather than crack down on this copycat, they did the honorable thing and made it official and better – while keeping it free.
Let me tell you about a game one of my enlightened friends plays with his iPhone. He swallows it and discovers how long it takes to travel the length of his digestive tract. It’s very raw. He calls it ‘peristaltic phone’. Yeah, it’s messed up. He also likes fogging his iPhone with his breath and then delights in multi-touching his fog ..yeah, I know, it’s also messed up but you know what ..my friend is on a path of self-discovery and finds this game monetization thing offensive.
We need Leisure Suit Larry for iPhone.
http://appleiphonegames.blogspot.com
check this blog. they update it when a new game appears.
Articles like this are silly. Of course eventually people will be able to purchase and download software for the iPhone, including games. The question is if the availability of web-based software will impact installed software sales. I don’t think anyone really thinks this will happen though.
So all this speculation is wasted given the long-term plans.