Now that we have some concrete details about the Nintendo DSi -- which bears more than a few similarities between its multimedia competitors -- let's size it up against the PSP-3000 and Apple's "gaming handheld" the iPhone/iPod Touch. Remember this is based on tech specifications and not on games library. We'll keep updating as we get more news from Nintendo about its just-announced portable.
Notes: 1: Approximate size, based on Nintendo's assertion that DSi is 12 percent thinner than DS Lite 2: Architecture of the DS Lite and, as noted, subject to change pending official release notes
Update: Massively has a comparison piece on the MMO potential of the three portables.
Intent on making Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords impossible to avoid regardless of your platform preferences (seriously: DS, PSP, Xbox Live Arcade, Windows, Mac OS X, Wii, PlayStation 2, mobile phones), D3Publisher has announced the puzzle phenomenon will be its very first foray into the wide, wide world of iPhone apps.
Having proven their chops getting things to run on Apple platforms with Cider, the alchemists at TransGaming will be responsible for the iPhone port, bringing all the match-three slash RPG gameplay you know and love to the App Store "this fall."
We've heard a bit of speculation about the seemingly inevitable upgrades that are coming to Nintendo's best-selling handheld -- all of which were promptly denied by the big N. However, Japanese business newspaper Nikkei recently published an article outlining a few neat features supposedly coming to the new DS model -- chief among these are a camera (which the paper mentions could be integrated into gameplay), a music playback function, and the ability to communicate with "information terminals" to acquire location-sensitive information.
Nikkei Net, the online branch of the newspaper, reports that the new model will launch in Japan sometime this year. Their take on the new functions are that Nintendo may be trying to compete with other mainstream technology -- what popular portable device with a touch screen, camera, and music playback could they possibly be trying to rival?
Keep in mind, we don't have a physical copy of the newspaper this report is printed in, nor has Nintendo confirmed the new features -- so season this story with an appropriate number of salt grains.
All right, kiddies, we know all of you out there have dutifully replaced your DS with a gaming-powered iPhone 2.0, but with all that gaming power comes the responsibility to be careful. Thus, you should all be on the lookout for a new Windows virus masquerading as apparently popular iPhone game Penguin Panic.
According to Sophos, the computer-controlling Trojan shows up as a zipped attachment to an e-mail with a subject like "Virtual iPhone games!" or "Apple: The most popular game!" Ironically, it seems the virus won't actually infect your iPhone or any Mac-based computers. It also seems incapable of infecting other portable gaming systems, which should be a relief to those of you still living in the past with those long-defunct platforms.
During his AGDC keynote,Deus Ex lead designer (and outspoken critic of Midway's BlackSite: Area 51), Harvey Smith, revealed that he's at work on a new FPS-RPG for his current employer, Arkane Studios (Dark Messiah of Might & Magic). The studio is currently working in conjunction with Valve on The Crossing, a first-person "crossplayer" FPS, but Smith's reference to role-playing (and lack of reference to The Crossing) indicates an all-new project.
Smith said that his design focus "is very much around games like Deus Ex," although his other keynote revelation – a "casual strategy game" for iPhone – shows that he's open to dabbling. Unless, of course, it's a casual Deus Ex universe strategy title ... super-deformed art style and everything.
At today's Apple event (aptly titled "Let's Rock"), Steve Jobs unveiled a new ad for the revised iPod Touch, essentially showcasing the iPod Touch's (and similarly the iPhone's) gaming capabilities, claiming, "It's the best portable device for playing games." We're wagering at least a few Sony and Nintendo executives are texting each other "lolwut." As noted by Engadget, "gauntlet: THROWN."
Also shown at the Apple event: a new soccer title – Real Soccer 2009 – and Need for Speed Undercover. Check out Engadget for more information from Steve Jobs' presentation. We'll update when the ad is uploaded to the interwebs.
[Update: Apple has launched an updated iPod Touch page on its website, touting the device as "the funnest iPod ever." The page is heavily focused on gaming and has a "watch the ad" link from the gallery section ... which, as of this writing, is officially slammed.]
iPhone users think they have it all – a phone; an iPod; an internet communications device – but up until 3pm yesterday afternoon there was one thing they were all missing: Spore. Okay, there's two things they're all missing: copy & paste and Spore.
After what we can only imagine was a grueling certification process, Apple's army of app-sniffing robots finally approved the handheld version of the everything simulator, dubbed Spore Origins. The 80MB download will run you a cool Hamilton (that's $10 for the currency-ignorant amongst you). Add some copy & paste and you'll have it all, iPhone user!
Proving that there's still more head-shaking to be caused by the iTunes App Store in the wake of the "I Am Rich" app silliness, the developers of the 1337pwn.com Xbox Live friends list app for iPhone have accused the developers of the iLive Xbox Live friend list app of stealing their data and bandwidth. Oh no they d'int!
According to the 1337pwn gang, oh yes, they did. On its blog, the app author writes, "We discovered that the other XBOX Live Friends application available in the AppStore is/was using our data feeds without permission. They were stealing a nice chunk of bandwidth and CPU through their improper use of our server interfaces. These folks were using our data without permission, authorization, or credit given. Not cool."
What's both cool and funny is how 1337pwn went about getting its revenge. "With a couple of tweaks to our data feed, we are now credited for the data within their application. Given that we have a sense of humor, we have also incorporated new features such as a random online status," it revealed. The image above shows iLive pulling data from 1337pwn's server before its devs realized the jig was up. We've tested iLive since 1337pwn took action and found that most of its status fields now report "Suspended until next release." Well, at least we didn't pay for it.
Oh Myst, whatever happened to you? We loved you when you were original, and we loved you even more when Riven came out. Then we were rudely slapped in the face when the game left Cyan and Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile and later Myst IV: Ages of Revelation. We tried to be chipper when you went back to Cyan and Myst V: End of Ages came out, but honestly too much water had passed under the bridge. Maybe because of the Uru: Ages Beyond Myst / Myst Online: Uru Live debacle.
We know you might be too busy and Hollywood now, with your movie deal and iPhone announcement. But, we're still smarting from our past experiences. We'll give you another chance, but you'll need to hurry along while we're still smitten with the iPhone. And please, don't call it iMyst. Myst will do just fine. You wouldn't want us to get Pyst all over again.
[Update: We just heard from one of the gents working on the game (Yeah, that's the kind of pull we have) and they tell us "I'm pretty darn sure we're only calling it iMyst internally as a goofy moniker. I really doubt you've got anything to worry about with regards to rebranding of the game. Who knows, maybe if it does well, other Cyan games will follow." Good news all around!]
We've long offered a mobile version of Joystiq at m.joystiq.com, for those of you with a Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or what have you. But looking at the data, the iPhone slash iPod Touch platform represents a commanding 79.5% of all mobile pages served (some stats after the break).
So with that in mind, we're unveiling i.joystiq.com, a specially formatted page that delivers the entire Joystiq experience (including comments this time!) with none of the cruft of a full-sized web page. We know there are still some kinks to be ironed out, so consider this service in beta until, well ... there are no more kinks. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments (maybe try leaving a comment from your fancy iPhone, Mr. Millionaire).
While Microsoft hasn't yet announced an Xbox Live iPhone app of its very own, it has taken a well-intentioned step towards validating the handful of apps currently available on the service: it's required that the developers make their apps free. Now, before you go off about mean ol' Microsoft keeping the independent developer down, consider the reasoning here: these developers are given access to the Live functionality through the Xbox Community Developer Program and, as such, are beholden to Microsoft's rules.
In this case, Microsoft evidently has no problem with the applications themselves, just with developers charging cash money for them, so it's really looking out for you here. If you've held off on trying one out, we've included links to the three we could find (one isn't free yet, but we expect it will be shortly). Take 'em for a spin around the 'net and report your findings back here.
Source – 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List AppStore Application is now FREE iTunes – 1337pwn (now free) iTunes – iLive (still $1.99) iTunes – Xbox LIVE Friends (formerly iXboxLive; now free)
Ever since the iPhone App Store launch last month, we've been on the hunt for apps we can load on our fancy phones and not forget about immediately. Occasionally something pops up but, sure enough, we manage to forget about it in a matter of days. But here ... this is different. Frotz we'll keep around for a long time.
Some of you may be familiar with Frotz; it's a Z-machine, used to read and, therefore, play interactive fiction. Yes, that's "text adventures" for you old timers. Now that the app has made it to the iPhone, we can explore Zork's Great Underground Empire from anywhere. The app is free, comes with a bunch of public-domain IF titles, and you can "specify other download repositories" if you're more interested in nabbing some of those Infocom classics. Might we recommend Steve Meretzky's classic Leather Goddesses of Phobos?
Talk about some serious monkey business. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sega's debut effort on the iPhone App Store, Super Monkey Ball, has racked up 300,000 downloads since it debuted on the service June 11.
At $9.99 a pop, that means the game has brought in just about $3 million for Sega, with Apple taking its 30% "upkeep" share off the top to the tune of $899k. Both parties must be quite pleased. Sega certainly is. Based on what SOA prez Simon Jeffery told the WSJ, the future looks to be full of iPhone games from the publisher. Speaking on the sizable sales of SMB, Jeffrey said, "That's a substantial business," adding, "It gives iPhone a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform."
It's worth noting that these purchases, unlike those via XBLA or PSN, were made sight-unseen, as the App Store does not offer a SMB trial version. Now, if Sega would just release a patch to allow calibration of the iPhone's accelerometer so we can play SMB without staring straight down at it ... that'd be bananas.
Don't let Microsoft's tardiness in bringing its Live Anywhere initiative to market stop you from enjoying Xbox Live anywhere: if you've got an iPhone and $0.99 you can try out Nicholas Pike's iXboxLive app which "uses the Microsoft Xbox Community Developer SDK" to bring much of the functionality of your friend's list to your iPhone.
Sure, you could always load up your iPhone's browser (just like you do for Halo stats) and hop on Xbox.com but then you'd miss out on the slick iPhone formatting. However, use the app and you'll miss out on functionality like messaging, thanks to limitations in the aforementioned SDK. Now we're not expecting the cats at Microsoft to suddenly develop an official iPhone app, but we'd settle for something on Windows Mobile ... heck, we'd settle for a Zune app!
The gaming community doesn't typically put a lot of stock in what media outlets such as Time have to say about our collective hobby. But these publications do tend to have their fingers on the pulse of the mainstream, providing perspective on and to that other, oh, baziliion or so consumers who aren't "enthusiasts." So, when they tell their audience that Apple's iPhone could be big for gaming, it's definitely worth taking notice.
In its article, "Can the iPhone Rule Gaming?," Time makes some compelling points. One quarter of all currently available iPhone app store titles are games, and, further to that, seven out of the top 10 paid app downloads are games. Also, as the article points out, a third of the iPhone userbase is in the game industry's hottest demographic, aged 26 and under. The article spotlights the ease of downloading games to the device directly as a key advantage over DS and PSP. These factors, combined with titles such as Spore: Origins, could, in Time's words, "Bring the iPhone into the same league as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP."
Still, there are questions raised, particularly regarding software quality. The piece's author, Anita Hamilton, states, "Key to the iPhone's success as a gaming platform is a deep portfolio of titles that take advantage of the device's coolest attributes, such as its tilt sensor," adding that, "It remains to be seen ... whether iPhone games actually evolve beyond the amusing, lightweight titles available now."
