Apple to take on PSP and Nintendo DS

[SinisterDeath]

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/13305/14329/apple-iphone-gaming-sdk-announced.phtml

 

NEWS: 6 March 2008 19:06 GMT by Stuart Miles

Apple has today moved closer to taking on Sony and Nintendo in the handheld market by placing a strong focus on games at its unveiling of the software developers kit for the iPhone.

 

At the town hall event at the company's headquarters, Apple announced support for OpenGL, OpenAL, and 3dimensional sound, all standards that gamers currently develop in.

 

In a move to overcome the limitations of no joystick, Apple has given developers access to the mobile phone's accelerometer, a technology that allows the phone to sense were it is on three axes and respond accordingly.

 

The move will allow gamers to move the iPhone to move a character or vehicle on screen.

 

Apple demoed a game called Touch Fighter where gamers can control a spacecraft around the screen by tilting the phone.

 

Hoping to prove its credentials, Apple has approached a number of games companies including EA giving them two weeks to develop a game for the device to show that it was possible.

 

EA demoed Spore working on a similar basis offering controls via the motion sensing accelerometer while Sega demoed Supermonkey Ball again with the accelerometer.

 

Earlier this month Pocket-lint reported that a patent has been published which describes a method that would automatically determine which games on the iTunes Store are compatible with iPods or iPhones tied to a customer's iTunes software.

[Kaznen]

unless the iPhones have Patapon it won't make a difference.

[Segurant]

I rather go with a PSP

[Blig Blog]

The psp beats all other handhelds, but if microsoft comes out with a handheld that doesn't OVERHEAT then I think that it has the possibility of taking down the psp.

[SinisterDeath]

The psp beats all other handhelds, but if microsoft comes out with a handheld that doesn't OVERHEAT then I think that it has the possibility of taking down the psp.

 

Unlikely.

Look how long it took the PSP to even sell in Japan, the motherland for sony & nintendo products? And everyone knows, if you control the handheld market in japan, you control the handheld market in the world! ;)

 

But yea, even if microsoft comes out with a handheld, it'll never compete with nintendos, and the psp already has a pretty solid base atm. So if anything it'll take several years for microsoft to even compare to the psp sales. :P

[Blig Blog]

Your probably right. But look at the Nintendo Wii, I say it is crap except for a few games and it is selling like crazy.

I say if microsoft comes out with a handheld then, yeah it probably wouldn't do that good for a while, but that doesn't mean that it will suck.

 

I love the Psp because it is easy for someone like me to put music, videos, and pics on there. Plus I love God Of War on the Psp. But microsoft could make a handheld easier to put stuff on, and think about Halo on the Mini 360...

[SinisterDeath]

Your probably right. But look at the Nintendo Wii, I say it is crap except for a few games and it is selling like crazy.

I say if microsoft comes out with a handheld then, yeah it probably wouldn't do that good for a while, but that doesn't mean that it will suck.

 

I love the Psp because it is easy for someone like me to put music, videos, and pics on there. Plus I love God Of War on the Psp. But microsoft could make a handheld easier to put stuff on, and think about Halo on the Mini 360...

 

Well, its only 'difficult' on the psp, because sony is part of both the sony movie studios & music, meaning they are very conscious of pirated movies/music. Microsoft would be less worried about it, but its definately not impossible to convert your video and put em on your psp. (They have software out there for it, pspvideo9)

 

Though, I somewhat doubt that if microsoft comes out with a handheld, they won't have many 'media' options.

Given Microsofts competitive nature, they'll try to make a system as cheap and powerful as powerful, and if that means, making a system thats more powerful then the psp, and as expensive as a DS, while sacraficing media options. They'd do it. ;)

[Blig Blog]

Hmmm I suppose your right....

 

Compare to consoles though, here is how I see it

 

Consoles:          Handhelds:

1. Ps3            1. Psp

2. 360            2. Microsoft Handheld(If one was to be made, this is where I would see it)

3. Wii            3. DS

 

In order of the media options. The Wii and the DS don't have hardly any media options yet their sales are going through the roof. They are easier to understand but I would rather have something a little more complicated for a little more money. Is there more casual gamers that are going for the Wii and DS, and kids playing than there are Hardcore gamers?

 

None of that hardly makes any sense, with the ps3 and the psp at the bottom of their fields, consoles and handhelds. Yet they are more powerful than the competition in their fields. Could you explain THAT to me?

[SinisterDeath]

Hmmm I suppose your right....

 

Compare to consoles though, here is how I see it

 

Consoles:          Handhelds:

1. Ps3             1. Psp

2. 360             2. Microsoft Handheld(If one was to be made, this is where I would see it)

3. Wii             3. DS

 

In order of the media options. The Wii and the DS don't have hardly any media options yet their sales are going through the roof. They are easier to understand but I would rather have something a little more complicated for a little more money. Is there more casual gamers that are going for the Wii and DS, and kids playing than there are Hardcore gamers?

 

None of that hardly makes any sense, with the ps3 and the psp at the bottom of their fields, consoles and handhelds. Yet they are more powerful than the competition in their fields. Could you explain THAT to me?

 

Well, if you look at current sales, it 'may' be at the bottom of the sales, but it is also a 'premium product' so it isn't selling to badly.

Infact, they (sony) recently announced that they sold more ps3's in one year, then they did ps2's or psx's in the past.

PSX/PS2 won the last two console wars. Ps2 is still selling. So they 'sony' definately know what they are doing.

 

I mean, if you look at ps2 vs 360 vs gamecube.

The biggest arguement for 360 beating ps2, was in its shere power. (even though it was released a whole 2 years after the ps2, which was in development for nearly 6 or so years.)

But, Ps3 sales definately aren't hurting. In the United States, they are a lil low, but if you go internationally, there are several weeks they outsell the wii. (on a weekly basis).

Japan/Europe, its basically ps3 or wii. 360 is always the lowest seller. And in order of sales, for handhelds it would be the ds, psp, then the microsoft one...

 

Now, at least with an 'iphone' game system, you could download movies/songs through itunes...

[Blig Blog]

Still, with all of that I don't see any reason for putting down 600 or so bucks for an iphone.

 

The thing that matters most to me in all of this is that whatever I like sells good so there will be more. Like what if Gears of War didn't sell all that good, they probably would have abandoned it, no matter how much the developers like it, or anybody liked it for that matter.