Alex Hardy

I consider myself a gamer. I’ve had a multitude of computers and consoles dating back to the Commodore 64 (aging myself I know!). From Boulderdash to Bioshock I’ve loved playing games and I would defend the validity of the medium to anyone. There is however a peculiar trait of many so-called “hardcore” gamers that I’ve noticed before and recently I’m seeing again.

I’m not talking about the kind of platform fanboy-ism that’s been going on in the playground since the C64 and Spectrum (probably before that). I don’t mean the contempt some people have for the “casual” gamer (as if enjoying a bit of Wii Sports was a badge of shame). Nope - I’m talking about the resistance (borderline hostility) towards industry newcomers, or platforms that aren’t exactly the same as everything else, but with x% better graphics.

History repeating

Sony announces the Playstation. They make TVs, not consoles! Ridiculous!

Microsoft announces the Xbox. They make Office, not consoles! How dare they!

Nintendo announces the DS and Wii. Control Zelda or an FPS with a stylus? It’ll never work! Wave a wand around to control Mario? Who’d buy that?

And yet, Microsoft and Sony are now major players. You might even say the hardcore gamer’s choice. The DS has confounded its skeptics by being a smash hit.

Now I see it with the Apple iPhone. Apple have created a games console. I’d argue that they didn’t fully recognise that at first - it took the development community to persuade them. The clear message of the hardware upgrade in the iPhone 3GS is that they understand it now. With 40 million units shipped (the DS recently broke the 100m barrier), it has a significant installed base who clearly want to be entertained.

A wide spectrum of games, from Peggle to Real Racing are proving that non-traditional interfaces (which admittedly don’t apply easily to certain genres) aren’t preventing some excellent games being released for it. Watch the video below if you’re unconvinced. Then watch it again.

I’m not going to rant like one of the fanboys I referred to, listing games and the virtues of the device until I fall asleep at the keyboard, but I will say this:

I’ve been playing games for a long time. Frankly, I’m bored with many of them. Playing “Generic Space Soldier in Grey Future War 3″ doesn’t appeal to me like it used to. I’ll commit my time to a game if it enthralls me, and precious few games do that these days. Can someone explain to me how an intriguing new platform that demands innovation is a bad thing?

I touched upon this issue in a post about “Save For Web” colour discrepancies so it seemed fitting to remark on a bit of Apple news that caught my eye.

According to AppleInsider, the next version of Mac OS X (dubbed “Snow Leopard”) will default to 2.2 gamma. This small change will please many, myself included.

In a nutshell, this means that Mac OS X will display colour in a manner that is more consistent with other systems like Windows and TVs. This is generally beneficial to end users and designers of screen-based media like websites, DVDs etc.

As observed in my other post, print designers may argue that this is detrimental. That the darker, higher-contrast image represents Apple pandering to the mass market.

… Which of course they are. Apple are in business to sell product. Designers are an important part of the Mac market, but the best selling Mac by far is the MacBook.

Any self-respecting print pro should know how to calibrate their colour settings to suit their needs. The rest of us have one less headache.

I found Dizzy Bee on the app store last night and decided to take a chance on it. I’m very glad I did. It is a wonderful puzzle game that really demonstrates the iPhone’s potential as a gaming platform.

Rather than struggle to describe the the gameplay, I’ll share the YouTube trailer with you. While you watch it, bear in mind that this little gem costs £1.79.

No, I didn’t misplace the decimal point. One pound, seventy nine pence.

Unbelievable.

[UPDATE] A free version is now available. There is no excuse for not trying it!

I have a confession to make: I was one of them. On the 11th July I got up early and queued up outside Carphone Warehouse for an iPhone 3G. I needn’t have bothered, because they didn’t have enough and I was able to stroll into the O2 shop at lunchtime and pick up their last 16Gb (black) model.

I thought I’d wait for a week or so before blogging my first impressions, to give me time to get accustomed to it. Here they are…

Design

I’d played with an iPhone once or twice, other people’s or in shops. It seemed pretty good but you really have to spend time with one before you understand just how good it is. Compared to my Sony Ericsson it looks like it came from the future.

I’m looking forward to my “Naked Case” arriving so it stays looking new.

Apple’s skill is in execution of features. Other phones have media players, games, email etc but I’m not counting bullet points. They are usually so poorly implemented that they are irrelevant. The fact is that I’m *using* those features for the first time.

The only real complaint I have about the hardware is that the camera is still a lousy 2 megapixels with no zoom or flash. I don’t think I’ll be using it to take my holiday photos. I’ve also observed that using the GPS can make it a little bit warm.

I understand that the battery life is fine for a 3G device but having to charge my phone every other day is a new experience…

Developers! Developers! Developers!

Of course, the really big news is the app store (which is also available to first-gen iPhone and iPod Touch owners). Time will tell how well the home screen design will scale to many apps.

Since the original iPhone was released, many of the more switched-on websites and services have created dedicated interfaces. I have webclips for Facebook and BBC iPlayer on my home screen. I actually prefer them to the full-size counterparts. The lack of Flash prevents Google Analytics working, but my workaround is to upload my monthly PDF reports to Box.net to view them there.

I’ve downloaded some native apps: Twitterific, NetNewsWire, Things, Mobile Fotos, Monkey Ball, Enigmo and Aurora Feint. I’m looking forward to Rolando.

As Fraser Speirs points out, iPhone has the potential to be a major platform – perhaps even more so than the mac. It’s good to see talented mac developers getting in early on what is bound to be a gold rush.

Be careful what you wish for

No, all is not rosy. It may be called version 2.0 but from where I’m sitting it feels a bit 1.0. Lag (especially in my contacts book) and stuttery transitions between apps are fairly common. I’ve also observed crash bugs in some apps. No doubt these niggles will be fixed in time.

All in all, I’m very happy with my purchase and beginning to realise that once you’ve bought an iPhone you may never be able to go back to anything else. I’ve got plans to write a blog post on the accessibility concerns it brings to website design, but that will keep for another day.

The release of the iPhone / iPod Touch SDK and the excitement among developers and gamers begs the question: Just what kind of games will be on the iPhone?

Comparisons can be drawn with the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP consoles. Both have revised hardware, an established library of games and a head start in sales. Both also demonstrate that the best portable games have these characteristics:

• Simple
• Make use of the hardware’s unique features
• Suitable for short periods of gameplay (e.g. the bus to work)

On PSP, Loco Roco displays large areas of brilliantly vivid colour. WipEout Pure shows that the wide screen aspect lends itself particularly well to racing games. On DS, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Nintendogs and Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training leverage the Nintendo heritage, as well as the dual screen, stylus and microphone.

Both platforms fall prey to what is often called “shovelware”. Clones. Lazy ports. Tedious licenses. The iPhone will be no different. It will be the game designers’ challenge to figure out the iPhone’s key features. At a glance, they include:

• Touch screen (game interfaces can be unique)
• Accelerometer (also referred to as a “tilt sensor”)
• 3D graphics which appear to be inferior to the PSP, but on a par with the DS
• Multiplayer gaming over wifi
• Internet access and a unique content delivery mechanism

The lack of traditional control buttons and tactile feedback will present a new design challenge. Some will use the accelerometer for controls, while some may choose to draw virtual buttons and joypads for more traditional games. Some ideas I’d look forward to seeing:

• “Touch Tetris” is so obvious I’d be surprised if EA haven’t already written it
• Line Rider
• Flick Sports (think Wii Sports for touch screen)
• Tap-tap rhythm action games
• Episodic games

If the iPhone / iPod Touch has one unique advantage, it’s that it will provide an opportunity to sell games to people who don’t buy games machines.

The Apple Store went down this morning. Nothing unusual about that; they have routinely taken the store down every Tuesday this year so far to introduce updated iPods, MacBooks, Time Capsule etc. Today was apparently just maintenance.

It isn’t common practice however to take down an online store to add new products. Imagine if Amazon did the same. It has been claimed by people on the inside that it is actually an architectural limitation of the store itself. It has to be re-published in its entirety – a requirement you could justifiably call poor design.

Apple’s relationship with the web conflicts with its image. They provide tools to write a blog but notoriously forbid their own employees from doing so. They are secretive and openly hostile to rumour sites (Think Secret the latest casualty). Bizarrely, their management of the store seems to be an exception.

A company with Apple’s resources could easily build a new store, but they choose to persevere with the old one. Why? It can only be the excitement and speculation that spreads through the mac websites like wildfire the moment that little “We’ll be back soon” post-it note appears on the page.

Call it PR, call it the Reality Distortion Field at work. Only Apple could spin a flaw in their service into a social marketing campaign. If I was a conspiracy theorist I might imagine Phil Schiller sat at his desk, leaking “rumours” to the web…

A video of yesterday’s SDK event is online at Apple’s website.

Much will be said in the coming months. In the words of Jason Fried of 37Signals:

What we saw today was the beginning of two decades of mobile domination…

Enterprise features (e.g. Exchange support). AOL Instant Messenger. Console quality games (the Super Monkey Ball demo was allegedly built in just two weeks). A comprehensive software development kit, to be released in June.

The 30% sales tax by Apple seems steep at first, but developers can set their own prices and won’t have hosting/bandwidth or credit card processing costs. They also gain a platform and delivery channel with millions of users and an installation mechanism that’s as easy as buying a song. I think most will find these terms livable.

The iPhone / iPod Touch platform just became a deadly rival to every mobile phone, PDA, media player and handheld videogame console out there.

Check out Trism, an upcoming puzzle game by Steve of Demiforce. GameSetWatch have posted an interview with him. It looks like the accelerometer may do for the iPhone what the stylus did for the Nintendo DS.

If people like him can create gems like this with no tools, documentation or support from Apple then I can’t wait to see what appears once the SDK is released.

I’m pleased to see that O2 have amended their iPhone tariffs. The miserly allocation of 200 minutes and 200 text messages that was previously in place can only have been putting people off. I was certainly not going to buy one at that rate. The new £35 tariff of 600 minutes and 500 texts is better than what I have now though!

Suddenly the O2 Simplicity deal + new phone (which I would have to buy because my current phone is half-dead) + iPod Touch starts to look like a false economy…

Apple, increase the capacity to 16Gb this summer and you have a customer!

Steve Jobs on the Amazon Kindle:

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read … Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.

Let’s put aside the debate that people may read a lot despite buying fewer books. This would be the same Steve Jobs who said that video on a mobile device is “the wrong direction to go” and that less than full-featured laptops are “undesirable.”

With any luck, it will be an iPod Touch / iPhone application.