Apple Moving Forward - Gaming

Recently at the 9/9/09 event Apple stated that they intend to promote the iPod Touch as a competitor in the handheld gaming market dominated by Nintendo (DS/DSi) and Sony (PSP/PSP Go).  This is an incredible claim considering the pedigree that both Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sony currently enjoy in that space.  While many people are upset that the iPod Touch didn’t receive more of an update, namely a camera to make it more in line with the iPhone, I think that it’s telling of their future strategy.

For whatever reason the camera wasn’t added (rumors abound concerning manufacturing problems) is irrelevant at this point—Apple wants this device to take on the biggest names in handheld gaming as well as compete as a pocket computer.  To do this they must differentiate from the iPhone, yes they use the same apps but if the iPod Touch is always playing second fiddle to the iPhone in terms of hardware (being fearful to encroach on iPhone sales) without offering something unique then they are defeating themselves in the long run and the iPod Touch will always be an inferior product.

Personally, I don’t want my dedicated handheld gaming device to be using the same battery that I might need to make an important phone call on, convergence is good to a degree.  I am fine carrying around two devices (phone and media player) keeping what works best together though is important.  Mobile phones are good for communication but for entertainment I feel more comfortable having that separate from something that is mission critical.

With that said I do think that they do have a shot at doing very well in this space.  My background being in game development and graphics I think the Touch’s hardware is solid for a relatively young device and their distribution model is an obvious success.  What is missing is a better control scheme.  Multi-touch is a great thing for certain applications however in gaming beyond the casual genre, buttons are needed.  That tactile feedback is a key part of the experience and simply needed to play certain games comfortably (fighting/action/sports, etc.). 

I have learned that one feature that hasn’t been discussed in great length from the 3.0 update is the ability to connect interface hardware to the dock connector.  Like a game controller?  Perhaps one that snaps on to the device and provides traditional controls?Ideally Apple can mix multi-touch and traditional input and at that point they would unshackle a lot of developers to make deeper/better games, unlimited by pure touch controls.

What Apple does is anyone’s guess as usual, however now that Steve Jobs is back at the company I have to believe that he is working intently on preparing Apple to make good on their claims.  They have just bit off a big piece by entering this gaming arena and I really hope they do well as competition drives innovation, which is great for consumers.