The iPhone - NOT My Interactive Gaming Device of Choice

Sure, there might be more games available on the iPhone than the PSP and DS combined, essentially turning it into a very convenient gaming device. John Geleynse, a director at Apple even called it a console experience during an iPhone event.(http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/12/apple-the-iphone-is-a-gaming-console/)

However, how many people would consider it a real gaming console experience? At least, I as a gamer, am not impressed by some developers' decisions to place on-screen buttons in areas where they feel right--often in the bottom two sides of the screen to give easy access to thumbs-- but is a big mistake by itself.

From this picture, I am already sure you can tell how much of the screen gets covered just by placing a finger there. Essentially, at least 1/8 of the screen is lost to the finger, even though the actual amount of screen covered is less than that. This is due mainly to the shadow of the finger, and the increase of polygons in a shape, making them seem darker(I mean, look at any hi-definition PS3 game, and I'm sure you will find it looking much darker than the games of yester-year). On any screen, 1/8 is a lot. Big enough to cover any important elements that could hinder a gamer's decision making.

I could go on about the mistakes many of the developers for iPhone games make but I don't think you want to read so much.

Before the era of advanced multi-polygonal graphics and touch screens, there were many developers that utilised other methods to make their games more appealing. One such method is the use of the control peripherals. Even today, Nintendo is still making use of this concept. As seen from the sales of their Wii console (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_wars), many gamers are still intrigued by the use of new ways to play their games.

When Pong was first introduced, it utilised a knob. At that time, this was very intuitive as it only allowed players to do one thing--turn the knob. This immediately let players know how to play the game as they were able to see the feedback from the game when turning the knob. It was also effective as it was easy to control the extent to which one moves the on-screen paddle, as compared to a joystick. By restricting the amount of movement the player could have, they effectively made it a fun and easy game to pick up.

Nowadays, the types of games have become so varied that a standardised platform is required, just as the knob used to play Pong is unsuitable for playing Super Mario Bros. During the early days, a four-way joystick was used in conjuction with a number of buttons. Nowadays, many arcade cabinets use a standard of an eight-way joystick and 6 buttons. Home consoles use a standard joypad instead, much like the 2 shown below.

As you can see, the iPhone has followed this route by giving developers a standardised platform from which to develop applications with, but has allowed too much freedom by doing away with a platform of buttons. I'm sure people like the empowerment, but this should not be given mainly to the developers, but the users instead, since it's really the end users that make the product a hit or a miss.

Why do people still stick to the iPhone, if other periperals seem much better? I attribute it to convenience. In today's hectic life, it can be a chore to charge up your PSP just for a train ride when your phone, which has become a necessity, already has some entertainment. The iPhone has taken this a step further through the introduction of the App Store, letting users download new games on the fly when they get bored with previous ones.

As much as I would like to say that casual gamers are "putting up with their iPhones", it seems the recently introduced xPeria Play has not taken off either, although I think it might be mostly due to a bad marketing decision by Sony. To each his/her own. Gran Turismo 5 anyone?