Latest iOS beta nixes Game Center support for iPhone 3G, 2nd-gen iPod Touch

by Christopher Grant on Aug 4th 2010 3:00PM

Apple's forthcoming Game Center service is alive and well in the latest iOS beta, 4.1 beta 3, and as those beta releases get more frequent, we get closer to the release of this "social gaming network" for iPhones and iPod Touches.

Unfortunately, with beta 3, we now have to further specify precisely which iPhones and iPod Touches will be supported by Game Center. Originally, Game Center was expected to run on the same iPhone / iPod Touch hardware that iOS 4 would run on, which only excluded the original iPhone and original iPod Touch. Now, perhaps in response to user complaints about the how poorly the iPhone 3G and 2nd-gen iPod Touch run on the new OS, those two (far more popular!) devices have also been stripped of Game Center compatibility in the latest beta.

Since this is getting confusing, we'll recap. You can use Game Center when it launches later this year only on one of these products: iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, 3rd-gen iPod Touch ... and that's it.

Source: Engadget

Tags: Game-Center, iPhone, iPhone-3G, mobile

Reader Comments (52)

Games are doing just fine without the Game Center. Not having Steam-like functionality on your iPod Touch 2G isn't the end of the world.

So they're only keeping support alive for devices they're actively producing?

Not surprised.

"iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, 3rd-gen iPod Touch ... and that's it."

...and iPad! Right?

@creid8 iPad doesn't have OS 4 yet. :-(

@chrisgrant And it still won't have it by time GC comes out?

@creid8 Wait, the does the iPhone 3G support or NOT support Game Center? That last sentence when read after the headline is completely contradictory.

@Nomgoos3 3G is not supported. Article is saying "3GS", not "3G's".

"You can use Game Center when it launches later this year only on one of these products: iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, 3rd-gen iPod Touch ... and that's it."

So, what, iPad's not getting it either?

You forgot iPad and the 4th gen iPod touch that'll definitely come out in September (when 4.1 is set to be released), and there's a lot of rumour floating around the Appleverse that it was only disabled temporarily while they work out performance issues with the earlier hardware.

Who doesn't have the second gen iPod Touch? Like really?

Probably Microsoft fanboys...

@Squirtle i have a zune hd which i love dearly.

@Squirtle People who prefer quality MP3 players?

@S0lid Sn4ke - Or people that don't want an iPod, or that want to get a 120GB iPod for the same price.

@Squirtle

120 Gig Zune for me thanks...

@Squirtle Me, I've owned 0 Apple products in my lifetime. It's not that I hate them, I just know too much about electronics and Apple products always fail the cost-benefit analysis compared to what I end up buying. I don't count 'easy to use' as compensation for the 40% higher price, because to me, most electronics are easy to use.

@AirIntake
+1
Here here!

@gonintendo
+1 for zune hd. best pmp i've ever owned.

@JamesHks
Totally agree with you on that end. Here's to pouring one out in honor of our Zune HD.

@AirIntake
fail dude, what other mp3 player has the added value of an app store. I don't have one, but you're a liar if you say anything out there is half as good a value as an iPod touch.

@AdamSpruijt

Ummmmmm.............. no. Sorry, but the Zune HD is 1000x better than that of an iPod.

@AirIntake You obviously don't know jack about electronics other than numbers. Up until about 8 years ago when Apple switched to Intel they had entirely different architecture, and still do have large architecture differences from top of the line competitors. Try to find a piece of machinery equivalent to the MacBook Pro (not just the specs, but a fan-less system design in as small of a package with equivalent features), I challenge you. You'd also know, if you knew anything about electronics, that software is required to do anything complicated with them (such as operate a processor).

But you know, here I am arguing with an Anti-Apple-Fanboy. The only thing worse then someone bragging about how awesome something is is someone bragging about how awesome it isn't.

I have the iPod Classic because I'd rather have 160GB instead of 16GB (for the same price).

That and I bought an MP3 player to play music, not play crappy games. I have a DS and PSP to play games (good ones).

That's fragmentation for ya...

@Wiizer At least now it's easy to see which features will be kept off of which phones.

Oh, screw you Apple.

Aww, you got some Endgagdet in my Joystiq.

That's going to stain....

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze And I can't spell.

Fail.

Typical Apple.

Typical free pass for apple, too :/

At least mentioning it draws attention, I 'spose... and at least this isn't engadget, Where there's some sort of holy shrine to Apple.

The 2nd-gen iPod Touch? The $200 8GB 3G iPod Touch as they're advertising it now? If so, I think I'm done with Apple for good after my first Apple device.

@CrashTunoku

Three things excited me about iOS4. Wallpaper, Multi-tasking, and Game Center.

@CrashTunoku

Things that are already in competitors products?

@Ordeith I couldn't care less what other devices can do since I have an iPod Touch and was excited to see Apple announcing some big obvious things only to have them taken away from me.

Most of my experience over the past eight months has been finding out how half-assed this thing is in almost every single aspect. Even the cheap and free games really aren't anything to get excited about with only a few gems that will eventually get ported to other more capable systems.

Just make a console already.

@ohheysean

Apple making a games console would be the worst thing ever. Take this story for example. Apple has excluded all first and second generation iPhone and iPod Touch users from this new feature. Kinect, Move and MotionPlus work with every model sold.

An Apple console would have yearly reiterations like all their other products, the games would all be downloaded from some iTunes-esque store which will have some crazy DRM and we would be bombarded with constant firmware updates.

@oOWallaceOo

Slippery Slope argument!

@ohheysean

I don't think that qualifies as a slippery slope argument.... not that all slippery slope arguments are invalid either. They come to fruition all the time.

@ohheysean

Apple released a console called the Pippin during the mid '90s. It offered slightly more performance than an SNES, but was woefully underpowered in relation to the N64 and Playstation. It also had an MSRP of $600 compared to the N64's $200 and Playstation's $300 price tags. Given that the Pippin had its ass handed to it repeatedly in sales (400K in a year compared to its competitors many millions), Apple's brushed off gaming and will not compete in any where but the mobile market.

@oOWallaceOo That's cause the 3G and 2nd Gen iPod touch are having MAJOR issues running the iOS 4. They probably shouldn't of released iOS 4 for the 3G or 2nd gen iPod touch, but if they didn't, there would be people bitching about how they're excluding their older products from updates to force people to buy new products. The fact is, the hardware is just not powerful enough to run the software.

They already did, and it was a worse failure than the Atari Jaguar and 3DO...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bandai_Pippin

well come this time next yeah 3GS won't be getting support anymore either i suppose the way things are going.

Glad I have a 3rd Gen Touch.

@TotallyEpic My buddy and I are glad you own a 3rd Gen Touch. BTW, I purchased an Ethernet cable today. It's blue.

Great. iPhone 3G users continue to be shafted.

Why does apple constantly screw over their loyal consumer base?

@DG Bruin 08
Because they, like any multimillion, international corporation, do not care about "loyalty."
To Apple, "loyalty" means you'll put up with whatever they do, and buy whatever they release.

If Apple truly cared about "loyalty"... don't you think the first generation of iPod will still be updated?

@BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam
I don't have a problem with a company making new products to replace older models, such as a a first gen ipod. My big problem is that these products that aren't being supported now are, in essence, the same product. The lack of support for first gen touch and phone is terrible and only a minority of apple supporters do voice out their frustrations. This would be the equivalent of microsoft or sony releasing multiple versions of their current gaming consoles and not supporting their early builds.

A better question would be...

Why does a constantly-screwed customer base stay loyal?

IPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen got dropped most likely due to specs. If ios4 taxed the devices well enough to have people raging everywhere, I wouldn't want to see game center running in the background, consuming more memory, continuous wifi use due to push notifications and continuous data downloading. It would be one hell of a slow device!

Good riddance.

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Latest iOS beta nixes Game Center support for iPhone 3G, 2nd-gen iPod Touch

Reader Comments (52)

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:04PM mongooseblarg said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:05PM Nintendo Tim said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:06PM creid8 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 4:02PM chrisgrant said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 4:03PM creid8 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 7:15PM Nomgoos3 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 7:17PM creid8 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:06PM SystemPatch said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:06PM mbarriault said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:09PM Squirtle said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:13PM S0lid Sn4ke said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:15PM gonintendo said

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Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:19PM PiiSPii said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:31PM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:32PM AirIntake said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:51PM Draugdraugr said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:53PM JamesHks said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 5:16PM DG Bruin 08 said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 6:46PM AdamSpruijt said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 10:36PM S0lid Sn4ke said

Posted: Aug 5th 2010 12:18AM jsx92 said

Posted: Aug 5th 2010 9:05AM Elranzer said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:09PM Wiizer said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 4:59PM MowDownJoe said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:11PM J is for me said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:17PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:18PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:23PM Otimus said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:23PM CrashTunoku said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:25PM CrashTunoku said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:39PM Ordeith said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:46PM CrashTunoku said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:25PM ohheysean said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:50PM oOWallaceOo said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 4:17PM ohheysean said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 5:24PM Vidikron said

Posted: Aug 4th 2010 5:31PM jackal said

Posted: Aug 5th 2010 12:39AM zApple said

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Posted: Aug 4th 2010 3:56PM Drdre74 said

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