iPod Touch: Next Generation Gaming Device
- Scribbled on September 9th, 2008 by Derrick Schommer
- Filed in Apple, Editorial Content, Industry News, Mobile Gaming
Apple seems to believe the iPod touch will be the best gaming hand-held device on the market. Their upcoming marketing ad for the iPod is basically summed up by the phrase, “It’s the best portable device for playing games.”
Apple is 100% correct about this statement. The Apple iPod is the best portable device for playing video games, but the best device doesn’t mean it’s the device you want to use, or, the device that will win any battle in the hand-held game industry.
The DS is by far, not the best hand-held gaming device, or portable device on the market. Some would say the DS is much like the Nintendo 64 in power with two 3-inch screens, does that sound like a power-house processing machine in 2008? Not really. NPD figures don’t lie, the DS sells more product than any console or hand held product on the market today, hands down.
The iPod Touch is sexy, sleek, powerful and is packed full of great touch and feel technology. You can write games which require physical tilting of the device, you can touch the screen like the DS and the device is fairly rugged from most people’s perspective (don’t blend it). These great iPod Touch features are not enough to win the hearts of gamers, games win the hearts of gamers.
Case in point, OS X Leopard is also a great platform for gamers, it doesn’t require as much resources as Vista, is based on a streamline BSD-style operating system and has a sexy user interface. Gamers don’t play on Mac OS X. Same rules apply, Apple hasn’t successfully captured the gaming market, their half-ass attempts have been futile.
Is the Apple iPod as a gaming platform going to be yet another futile half-ass attempt? Or are they going to commit on it this time?
(Thanks, Joystiq)
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