Wow, those are some big words coming out of the mouth of Apple Vice President of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing Greg Joswiak. And I don’t mean the kind with more than two syllables, we’re talking fightin’ words here.
“The gameplay I think has surprised a lot of people, because it’s not just the casual games. There are real 3D games, and it’s hard to imagine we’re only a little over 100 days into it. There are already so many games and as we look at it, to us it really seems this is the future of gameplay.
“Whereas a lot of these devices [picks up Nintendo DS and Sony PSP] are more in the past. And a big part of that is not just the device itself, which is easier to carry, and has the touch display and accelerometer which is great for gameplay, but it’s the electronic distribution of the apps as well.”
“That changes everything,” says Joswiak.
“Whereas apps on other devices have to be delivered primarily physically, they cost a lot more, £25 versus £5. We don’t have to worry about licensing and manufacturing hardware, we don’t have to worry about forecasting, returns, missing the forecast, what happens if there’s a problem with the product, you have the full back inventory here… it also gives the developer the ability to update.”
…
“Because again the computer power and the 3D graphic power here [picks up iPod touch] is significantly greater than what you have here [picks up Nintendo DS]. So this allows people to do significantly higher quality games. And the iPod touch is always in your pocket, whereas you can’t always carry some other games consoles.” — Greg Joswiak to T3.com, via TechRadar
I won’t say the iPod or iPhone can’t do good games; I don’t own either, so I’ve never tried it. But power isn’t everything; if it was, Sony would have beaten everyone hands-down by now. And it’s going to take more than another Crash Bandicoot and Monkey Ball game (as I’ve seen on commercials) to snag my interest.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get either device. Just don’t expect to see me playing a lot of games on them just yet.
