Archive for the ‘Hardware’ tag
Upcoming ‘Deadly Dungeon’ 3D Hack ‘N’ Slash Submitted to Apple
Deadly Dungeon is a new 3D dungeon-crawling hack 'n' slash game for the iPhone and iPod touch. It seems to be somewhat Diablo-esque in the way the dungeon is presented, the real-time enemy combat, and loot collecting. It doesn't appear that there's much in the way of weapons or gear to equip on your warrior, but there are two playable main characters with a female warrior able to be purchased with in-game gold. The graphics and animation shown in the video are really impressive, with huge enemies and nice lighting and magical attacks.
Details from the developer:
- 8 levels
- 3 enemy types: Skeletons, Ogres and Goblins
- Collect gold to unlock extra playable Female Warrior and extra swords
- 4 magic spells per playable character
- Great 3d art/animations, music and sound effects
- OpenFeint achievements and leaderboards integration
While we're certainly impressed with the visuals portrayed in the video, we do have some reservations about the game. First, it doesn't appear that there's much variety in the dark dungeon setting. Playing through 8 levels of the same environment may get monotonous. On that same note, only having 3 different enemies seems a bit lacking, although those huge ogres are pretty cool. It may just be a bit too basic for gamers who are normally into this type of game, although that remains to be seen until we've actually played it. Still, it has a great look to it and a lot of potential. The magic attacks seem interesting and the ability to play as a female character is a nice addition.
Deadly Dungeon was submitted on Sunday for review from Apple. Barring any unforeseen complications, we should be seeing the game arrive in the next week or so. The price is said to be at 99¢ or $1.99, with the possiblility of being free at first release for early adopters. Due to the graphical intensity, it's recommended for newer hardware (2nd generation iPod touch and above). We'll be taking a closer look at the final version when it's available.
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‘Spectre 3D’: An Oldschool Mac Gamer’s Wet Dream
Back in the early '90s when I was in college, with some sorrow, I replaced with in order to crank out higher quality print documents for my classwork. And, in that capacity, it excelled. Sadly, as the weakest color Macintosh one could buy, it was not much of a game machine — not that there were that many Mac games out there to play, anyhow. One game, however, was huge fun and played rather well even on the meager LC. It eased my pain at having to part with the that was the Amiga. The game I speak of is Spectre, and it actually made that little LC feel like a proper game machine.
Spectre is a 3D, filled-vector tank battle game something akin to Battlezone. The simple objective was to drive your tank around various obstacle-filled battlefields collecting flags and dodging the fire of AI enemy vehicles. The game also supported local multiplayer over the Mac's integrated AppleTalk networking hardware. It was followed by Spectre VR, an overall enhanced, network-centric title. Both versions were highly rated at the time and were awesome to play on the Mac's relatively high resolution, color display.
As a lover of that 1991 title — pretty much the only game I played on that Mac — you can imagine my thrill when Spectre 3D [link] made its debut in the App Store. And the iPhone release is not just a port of Spectre; the game includes iPhone versions of both Spectre and Spectre VR, including four different multiplayer games. It's pretty much an old Spectre jockey's dream come true.
Let's start with the single player scenarios. Both Spectre and Spectre VR are pretty much straight conversions of the Mac originals, although on the iPhone they play glass-smooth thanks to the device's processor and graphics hardware, both of which are far more powerful than that found on even the very highest end Mac systems of the day. (There's even anaglyph 3D — red / blue glasses –support.) You move from battlefield to battlefield, collecting flags and power-ups and blasting enemies using one of three different view modes: first person, over-the-shoulder, and 2D top-down. Direction and weapons are controlled via touch; steering is accomplished via either an analog virtual stick (default) or a digital control square in the lower-left corner of the screen while weapons and jump are controller by virtual buttons at the lower-right. The controls, analog in particular, are responsive and work quite well. It's simple but a lot of fun, especially for those who remember the days of 68020 and 68030 Macs.
Things really get interesting in the multiplayer modes, however. As I mentioned, there are four multiplayer games: Arena, Capture the Flag, Flag Rally, and Base Raid. Up to four players can compete locally via Bluetooth and up to 16 players can get in on the fun over the Internet or local WiFi. The game has just hit the App Store and, as such, there are not that many players online — no surprise. But I was happy to see that most of the game servers available feature AI bots that offer up a rather solid online game experience. The action gets downright frantic. It's Spectre as I never saw it back in '91 — pretty "white knuckle," really.
As I said earlier, Spectre 3D is an absolute instant buy for anyone who enjoyed the title back in the day. And, while it doesn't steal the crown from Vector Tanks Extreme for the ultimate iPhone Battlezone experience, Spectre 3D has multiplayer support going for it, and is a good deal of fun. I hope to see kill you online sometime soon.
App Store Link: Spectre 3D, $4.99
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Amiga Platformer ‘Qwak’ Will Soon Waddle to the App Store
Back in 1989 now-veteran UK game developer Jamie Woodhouse released a lively little puzzle / platformer called Qwak for the 8-bit home computer. Not long after, he joined forces with Team17 to develop an enhanhced, two-player of the game, which was released in 1993 and featured faster action and more frantic gameplay. The rather well-reviewed title (Amiga Computing magazine gave it a "Gamer Gold" 92% rating) later made its way to the Gameboy Advance as well as the Mac and PC.
We're pleased to report that Jamie recently got in touch to let us know that he has developed an iPhone version of Qwak and will shortly be launching it through the App Store.
In Qwak, you control a duck (get it?). Your objective is to guide this green duck through level after level of platforms, fruits and gems (worth points), bouncing enemies, power-ups to help demolish said enemies, and keys to unlock goodies as well as the level's exit gate. Your duck can run, jump, and fire volleys of egg projectiles to knock out the baddies. Grab a bonus item and watch a hale of colorful fruit rain down upon you. Take too long on a level and meet a hale of spikeballs. In a nutshell, I call it frenetic, fun, and rather fruity (to be alliteratively wanton).
I've spent some time with the exclusive prerelease build of the game Jamie provided us and it's been lovely to play. It's a touch-controlled affair with a left / right control in one corner and jump and egg-fire controls in the other. The vibrant visuals move about the screen as smooth as glass on the iPhone 3GS test device and a very Amiga-sounding score accompanies the action. It feels both retro and highly polished. It's a game platformer fans won't want to miss.
Additional details, I'll leave to the developer to provide (after the jump), as he was kind enough to grant us an interview along with the exclusive ad hoc build.
What were your inspirations for writing the original? Are there any particular games you had in mind?
Well, there was a bunch of platform games on the Beeb I used to play; Blagger, Monters, Space Panic, Frak etc. I also went in the arcades a lot back then (so much so that I got kicked out of college), and I undoubtedly played Bubble Bobble, which Qwak gets compared to a lot.
What language did you use to write the BBC Micro version?
100% 6502 Assembler. You could quite easily mix BBC basic and assembler, or have 100% assembler; which a lot of game developers did back then, and you needed to, to get the best performance out of the very limited and slow hardware. Fun times!
Is the BBC Micro version, in fact, the original?
Yep, it’s the original. It was released in 1989 by Superior on a 4 game compilation. I still have a review of the game from a 1989 A&B Computing magazine; “The best game of the bunch has to be Qwak! Designed and coded by Jamie Woodhouse it is very addictive and great fun..”.
I think that was the first time I’d ever seen one of my games reviewed and in print; felt pretty good as I stood there reading the mag in the newsagents!
The '93 Amiga rework is a bit more fast paced / arcadey than the original. GBA and PC / Mac versions followed. It seems the iPhone ver is really an adaptation of the later versions, is that true?
Yeah, I guess it’s confusing with all the different versions all sharing the same name; but with different graphics and various gameplay mechanics…
The Beeb version came first, and the Amiga version was a good deal different to the Beeb version.
The GBA version came next, which was a port of the Amiga version, I used all the same graphics and levels etc; and just added in some scrolling to accommodate the GBA’s smaller screen resolution.
Actually, I couldn’t find a publisher for the GBA version so I had a load of carts shipped over from China and self-published a small limited run of carts. All sold out now!
Next came the PC version, which had completely new levels, more tricks and traps, different power-ups and secret bonuses; and a lot more going on visually to! The Mac version was a port of the PC version.
For the iPhone version of Qwak, I’ve managed to retain pretty much everything that’s going on with the PC version. It’s based on the PC version; but there’s a little scrolling, to squeeze the levels in to the smaller iPhone screen resolution. I don’t think it hurts the game-play too much.
How are you liking iPhone game development as opposed to what you've done on the Amiga, GBA and other platforms?
I’m absolutely loving it so far!
There’s a bit of a learning curve, with this being my first iPhone game; but I feel as if I’m making good progress and getting a good technical understanding of the platform.
The Amiga and GBA were also fun platforms to make games for; and as with the iPhone, you have a pretty solid idea of the minimum spec machine people will be playing your game on (which doesn’t happen with desktop game dev). Plus, it’s relatively a low powered device (compared to desktop PC’s), which is awesome! … because there’s more scope for programmer creativity in squeezing more performance from the device (game developers secretly love that kind of thing!).
The music track sounds very Amiga. Is the audio straight from that version?
Yep, it's got the same 10 tracks of music from the Amiga version (which used to be in .MOD format, was a little tricky converting them to .MP3s).
Can you comment at all on the controls of the iPhone ver, thoughts that went into them, etc?
Well, Qwak is quite a fast paced game, so I felt some kind of on-screen D-pad control mechanic would work a lot better than using the accelerometer.
There’s also an issue that your thumbs and fingers may obscure the in-game action; so what I’ve done is when the player is at the bottom of the screen; the screen kinda shifts up a little bit, so you can still see yourself.
I also have the fire (throw egg) button on the right hand side, so it’s easy to waddle your wrist and throw eggs really quickly, one after the other (which is handy as the bigger baddies need multiple hits to ‘dispatch’ them).
The controls work for me; but it’ll be interesting to see how people respond when they’ve tried the game for themselves. I’m wondering too, how left-handed players with cope with the controls. I just hope I get feedback and people let me know, it’s always great to hear what’s working and what needs changing or improvement (and it’s always possible to do an update).
Is there anything down the road you can speak of?
There’s quite a few ideas I have; and it’s funny you should say ‘road’ … as I’m half tempted to do a re-envisioned version of Nitro or ATR. There doesn’t seem to be many top-down perspective racers on the App Store.
I’m also thinking ‘Qwak spin-off’ … I often worry that Qwak may be TOO frantic and fast-paced for a lot of people (although I personally love that kind of thing), so the spin-off game would be slightly slower paced, with more exploration and puzzle solving (and tricks and traps, hehe).
What are your thoughts on the iPhone as a game platform, and the overall situation that is the App Store?
I really like it, it’s a lot of fun to make games for, and I feel genuinely excited at the prospect of making more games for it.
I’m still pretty new to the App Store; but my first impressions, I guess there seems to be a lot of variation in the quality of games on there; from really poor, to really awesome.
I really like the fact that it’s possible for small indie game developers, to make the kind of games they want to make, and share them with other people through the App Store. There’s not so much need for any middle-man or publisher or anything like that. So it’s a lot more accessible to developers that a lot of platforms.
Qwak should be landing in the App Store shortly. We'll give folks a heads-up when it lands. This is a good one, folks.
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‘X2 Soccer 2010′ Review – iPhone Soccer Gets Even Better
The sequel to arguably the best soccer game on the iPhone is now available, and it's even better. X2 Soccer 2010 [$6.99] brings improvements to graphics, controls, computer AI, new game modes and more teams.
X2 Soccer 2010 has over 150 club teams to choose from in 10 different leagues, plus international teams from all over the world. This includes U.S. Major League Soccer, Spanish, English, French, Italian, German leagues and more. There are a vast amount of more teams than last years version to play with.
The six game modes are Quick Match, Penalty Shootout, Training, Tournament, Dream Team, and Multiplayer. In Tournament mode, there are 30 tournaments to compete in to win and collect the cups to keep in your trophy room. In the all new Dream Team mode, players must use their skills to create the ultimate team of their own. You start out with poor quality players and work at improving them by competing in Multiplayer, Tournament and Quick Match modes for tokens. These tokens can then be used to scout and recruit quality players from across the globe, to help create the ultimate Dream Team. And Multiplayer mode is where you can play against a friend on local wifi, bluetooth connection, or in a new online option to play against people all over the world. The online option works surprisingly well, but obviously depends on your internet connect for best results. Playing online does not work over 3G or EDGE networks, so you must be connected to a wifi network to play.
The control layout is essentially the same as X2's previous game, with a little refinement. You'll find the virtual floating joystick on the left and the three 'X2 S.M.A.R.T.' buttons in the bottom right corner. The three buttons are slightly adjusted and re-positioned, but offer the same great control system. Of all the soccer games, this layout is my favorite, rather than the traditional "A" and "B" buttons offered in the others. Each button has its own ability depending on if your attacking or defending, with options of pass, lob, cross, one-two, through ball, and shoot on attack and pressure, slide tackle, switch player, and goal keeper charge on defense. The buttons can be tapped, double tapped, or held down for the more advanced controls. When a button is pressed, a power bar appears above the player signifying the level of strength to be used. I don't find the controls to be confusing at all. They are both easy to use for beginners yet fully functional for skilled players.
The game also has enhanced defensive and offensive AI players. The AI players are much smarter now, forcing you to play smarter. If you are finding the game a little easy as you get better, you can ramp up the difficulty in the settings to easy, good, hard, or expert. You have full customization on the settings from what is displayed on the screen while playing, weather, rules, stadium, commentary, replays, favorite team, team/player names and more. There is also a crawl on the bottom of the screen with real life information coming from an RSS feed that you can edit, the default one gives you lots of great soccer information that is going on in the world.
The full 3D graphics are much improved and even more impressive than X2 Soccer 2009, which were already top notch. X2 Soccer 2010 runs super smooth while playing on my iPhone 3GS and there are also 3GS-specific optimizations that were made to accommodate the faster hardware. Some 3GS users are reporting that they are experiencing some lag in their games, but I haven't experienced any. Meanwhile, seem to be fine.
Overall, X2 Soccer 2010 is one of the top soccer game experiences right now on the App Store. Konami will have a tough time out doing X2 with their upcoming Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 game. You will not be disappointed with X2 Soccer 2010, if you are holding out for an enjoyable soccer game, look no further.
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‘Fruit Ninja’ Creator Halfbrick Studios Talks iPad, Ports, and New iPhone title
Blast Off, Rocket Racing, and Echoes; these are a few of the games created thus far by . By even taking the smallest glimpse at the Aussie-based developer's portfolio, you'll notice that the studio isn't married to a specific digital platform. Yet its latest title, a simple and entertaining slasher called Fruit Ninja [99¢], gives us the impression that the iPhone is as good of a place as any for Halfbrick's oftentimes irreverent titles.
But here are with monstrous iPads. To say we hunger for high-quality, visually stunning titles for the device is an understatement. Luckily, it looks like Halfbrick might fill our tummies with our own desires — and it could be with a title we're already familiar with, like Fruit Ninja.
"We certainly have," Halfbrick's Phil Larson told Touch Arcade when asked about the possibility of ever releasing Fruit Ninja — or Blast Off — on the iPad, "and at this stage it looks likely that we will be able to create iPad games once we are set up with the right hardware."
"There's already a significant number of Fruit Ninja players who are playing on iPad, so we'd definitely like to give them a nice HD version in the near future."
Halfbrick might not have the all the right pieces for full-on iPad development, but the studio does seem to have a creative direction in mind whenever it does decide to go full throttle with the iPad.
"The iPad is very good for games, as it has all the features of an iPhone except in a larger size with the potential for same screen multiplayer," Larsen says. "I don’t expect the scope of our games to change all that much from iPhone to iPad, but it will allow for a few extra features that we can squeeze in and give iPad players something unique.
On the other end of the "unique" spectrum — but not unwanted — giving App Store hawks a familiar game, like a re-release of the PSP Minis puzzle game Echoes, could be on the table. Just don't hold your breath for a port.
"With Echoes there is definitely some unique gameplay there which we would like to explore. A few concepts could lend themselves very well to touch-screen mechanics, particularly with a puzzle or strategy focus."
"Rocket Racing may have reached the end of its run on this current generation of consoles/handhelds, but we have no aversion to racing games at all. When we develop the right concept we’ll absolutely bring racing back in the Halfbrick catalogue."
A lot of what we're asking Larsen has to do with ports or re-releases, but that doesn't mean the studio isn't working on something new. Larsen teases us, revealing that a brand new game is almost finished and will be announced soon.
"We have a brand new iPhone game which has never been seen before and is around 90% complete. It’s like Fruit Ninja — simple, fun and playable in short bursts. Of course, that means we focus on polish and making the game look as good as it possibly can. Look out for an announcement in the next few weeks!"
We will indeed.
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iPhone Game or Not, ‘Portal’ is Free and You Should Download It
"You're doing very well," a machine voice blurts through a state-of-the-art monitoring system. "Please be advised that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grille, which may, in semi-rare cases," it adds, "emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."
Rarely does a game hit with the impact of Valve Corporation's Portal. An instant success among critics and fans alike, the downloadable puzzle game carved itself into the enthusiast hive mind. Part of the reason is due to the quirky, yet sinister GLaDOS, a machine overseer of the game's unique sterile observatories. Its one-liners (see above), fictitious warnings, and promises extract chuckles within a serious tonal framework that challenges without bringing users to their knees.
Of course the bigger reason for its success is tied to the game's name. Portal is a first-person game built with the Half-Life — called "Source" — engine. But unlike its Source counterparts, Portal shirks conventional teeth-gnashing, bullet-spewing visceral action. Solving and casual exploration composes its core, with the characteristic portal gun being the chief object of accomplishing both these concepts. When fired twice, the portal gun opens up teleports that users can then use to navigate and interact within their white-walled, three-dimensional world.
Portals are key to discovering new routes within each of the game's many confined puzzles (the protagonist is trapped in a series of "tests") that need to be solved before another can be tackled. Reduced to the essentials, most puzzles break down into a traditional "keep the button pressed and a door will open" mold but there are other spots of puzzle design at work. Momentum, platforming, and even threat avoidance all have a place.
// There's nothing like Portal yet on an iDevice (even though some brave legal ice-skaters may still be porting the title with Unity – see video above). I've yet to discover a narrative with the same wrinkles or even design with the same complexity and care. But there's no reason to keep yourself from exploring what Portal has to offer; Until May 24th, 2010, developer Valve is offering a .
A is now available for free as well. Valve just , which is something like iTunes for videogames, to the Cupertino crowd. The celebration, I suppose, is in full swing — over 60 titles are to be available soon for Mac users, with more are set to come each Wednesday… but none are free like Portal.
I realize Portal isn't an iDevice title — although that idea tickles me — but it's silly to ignore how unique and compelling Portal is. If for whatever reason you don't have the hardware to run the game right now, go ahead and give it a download anyway. It'll stay tied to your Steam account forever, just like an iTunes App Store download. Oh, and do enjoy the cake on your way out.
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Manomio Demonstrates Amiga and Atari 2600 Emulators for iPhone
Back in February we reported that, in an interview with Retro Gamer magazine, Stuart Carnie of Manomio (who brought us C64 for iPhone [App Store]) indicated that he was currently in the process of readying an Amiga emulation system for the iPhone to be used to wrap licensed Amiga games for release as individual iPhone game titles in the App Store, the emulation layer being invisible to the user.
Manomio has just released a video demonstrating the system that shows the Amiga games International Karate + and Turrican running quite smoothly in an alpha version of their emulation environment on an iPhone 3GS.
This morning, I spoke at length with Stuart regarding his Amiga emulation system. He indicates that his hand-coded 68000 emulator (the Amiga's CPU) was well worth the effort in terms of performance and that the iPhone 3GS is a perfect platform for playing Amiga games in this fashion. Unfortunately, devices lower in spec — that is, anything that's not an iPhone 3GS, a 3G iPod touch, or an iPad — are not quite up to the task and, as such, Manomio's coming Amiga releases will not support that hardware. Happily for iPad users though, the coming Amiga games will be universal applications that feature high resolution artwork and interfaces appropriate to the iPad's large screen.
Manomio's emulation system is based on the UAE4All emulator tied to Manomio's own ARM-optimized emulated 68000 CPU core. The system emulates a fairly standard computer.
As for what Amiga games we can expect to see in the App Store, Stuart indicates that is a definite, and that he is currently in negotiations with the IP holder to bring that classic title to the iPhone. Talks are underway with a number of IP holders who licensed their C64 games to Manomio for use with C64 for iPhone, as well.
An Amiga game that Arnold and I have both long enjoyed is the scrolling space shooter . Upon informing Stuart that securing this favorite was an obvious necessity, I was shocked and quite pleased to hear that the IP holders of the title had recently contacted him, seeking to bring that very game to the App Store through their emulation system. The deal is in negotiations and both parties are excited about the prospect.
Aside from the games already mentioned, Manomio has tested various other titles, including Xenon II, Ghosts 'n Goblins and R-Type (not that these are necessarily among the IP they have secured for release in the App Store), all of which "are just perfectly smooth." The first Amiga game from Manomio to hit the App Store will be International Karate +, which should land sometime in the late June timeframe.
And, while getting their Amiga emulation system finished and in the App Store is Manomio's main push right now, it's not their only one. Alongside the Amiga demonstration video, the studio posted a video demonstrating an Atari 2600 console emulator they've been working on for the iPhone. The video shows an iPhone running the Atari 2600 versions of Space Invaders, Berzerk, and Frogger.
Unlike the case of their Amiga emulation system, the Atari 2600 emulator is not a sure thing for App Store release, as Manomio is still rather early in talks with Atari over the needed rights to make such a system happen.
We will bring further details about Manomio's upcoming efforts as we hear them.
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‘Vertigo Rogue’ – It’s Like GTA in the Sky
Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Vertigo Rogue [App Store] is a helicopter combat game with a huge 3D city and missions that are reminiscent of the Grand Theft Auto games. While not as highly detailed or in-depth as GTA, the lively city, impressive graphics, and brilliant controls makes for a highly entertaining game that stands out as being extremely impressive coming from an indie developer.
The story goes like this. As the protagonist, you are a mercenary helicopter pilot that has landed himself in jail. You've saved up enough money to give up this sordid life, and settle down quietly with your five year old daughter as soon as you're released. Unfortunately, your cellmate knows your background, and has a different plan for you. He has kidnapped your daughter and, in order to get her back safely, you'll have to be a pilot for his mafia family, your first mission being to help him break out of prison and get to safety.
The story is told via text cutscenes before missions, and pressing on the screen fast forwards them. It's a slightly cliché plot, but it can also largely be ignored if you choose. Vertigo Rogue has 37 different missions to complete, each one advancing the plot a bit more. The missions themselves are very GTA-like, although most boil down to finding and destroying certain people or vehicles (including tanks and fighter aircraft) from your eye-in-the-sky vantage. A handy waypoint system points you in the direction of helpful powerups like health, fuel and weapons, or towards the target(s) you must take out. While the missions get a little repetitious, it doesn't really matter as they merely serve as a means for flying around a city and blowing stuff up, which is a great time and truly satisfying.
As mentioned, the control scheme for maneuvering your helicopter is excellent. It's a dual analog setup and functions very similar to controlling a tank. Both sticks forward moves you forward, moving just one stick rotates you, and moving both either left or right at the same time allows you to strafe. Pulling the sticks apart from each other raises you into the air, while pushing them together lowers you towards the ground. A tap on the left stick switches weapons, a tap on the right fires. It's fairly simple and just makes sense. After a slight learning curve you will find you have incredible control over your copter.
All this would be pointless however if there wasn't somewhere interesting to fly to. Thankfully, this isn't a problem as Vertigo Rogue features a fairly lively and expansive 3D city to explore. Everything is rendered beautifully below as you fly high above, and at any time you can smoothly descend for a closer look. There's always a decent amount of cars and pedestrians going about their everyday business on the ground below, and trees sway from the downforce of your propeller as you get close to them. The detail isn't staggering, but the city definitely feels alive and looks gorgeous. What's most incredible is that everything is rendered so smoothly while the game runs at such a solid framerate. There's even a stereoscopic 3D mode, which causes the game to run much slower on older hardware, but works as advertised and is fun to check out if you have a pair of red/cyan glasses laying around.
I can't think of the last time I've had this much fun playing a game I've never heard of. What's even more impressive is that, according to the credits, the entire game was developed by just one person. If helicopter combat in a large open world sounds like something that interests you, give BrainPhant's Vertigo Rogue a look.
App Store Link: Vertigo Rogue, $4.99
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Apple Mobile Device Controller Patent Revealed
We all know that iPhone platform devices are capable mobile gaming devices. There are some real gems in the App Store that take particular advantage of the iPhone's unique capabilities, with more on the way. Apple knows it too — they've long been advertising the iPod touch specifically as a game machine. An Apple patent application that was made public on April 1 may indicate that Apple wants to take iPhone gaming to an even higher level.
First filed back in 2008, the patent in question, , is entitled ACCESSORY FOR PLAYING GAMES WITH A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE. The abstract follows.
Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide user interfaces for playing games on portable electronic devices. One example provides a game accessory having input controls for playing video, audio, and other types of games. The game accessory can have input controls, such as buttons, joysticks, and D-pads. Another example provides a game accessory having a thumb pad or keyboard. Other possible features include microphones, cameras and camera lenses, speakers, a second screen, rumble, and motion detection. The game accessory may have a recess sized to fit the portable electronic device. Inserts or removable adapters can be used to fit portable electronic devices having different sizes. The portable electronic device can be held in the accessory using sliding covers, clips, or other engaging members. In other examples, the accessory can communicate with another accessory for head-to-head game play. The accessory may include circuitry for power, identification, and authorization.
The patent basically details enclosures or sleds of various configuration into which a mobile device can be inserted, enabling use of the device with several different types of attached or wirelessly-connected peripherals. In the most basic form, simple enclosures (both landscape- and portrait-oriented) featuring integrated D-pad and button sets are detailed. From there, things get much more elaborate, including integrated keypads, cameras, accelerometers, rumble-packs — even a second display.
In other embodiments of the present invention, it may be desirable to include a second screen on the accessory. In such a situation, where the screen of the portable electronic device is a touchscreen, the touchscreen may be used to receive commands and instructions from a user and to provide first graphics, while the second screen provides second graphics.
The iPhone, with its accelerometers, multitouch display, and powerful processing hardware is certainly a platform where non-traditional games can thrive — and have. But there's no disputing the fact that certain types of games — old-school shooters, for instance — suffer from the lack of physical controls. iPhone OS 3.0 enabled the use of such external devices. Will it be Apple that brings these gaming accessories to market for dedicated iPhone gamers?
Visit for a easy-to-grasp layout of the patent with additional images.
Reading the description of the devices in the patent may, for some readers, bring to mind the iControlPad device, long in development, which we first covered back in May 2008. News of Apple's patent has come as surprise to the iControlPad team, . Team member Craig Rothwell has been tweeting about the situation () and is in the process of approaching Apple on the matter.
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Hands On Videos with Scrabble for iPad, Real Racing HD, Asphalt 5 HD and Labyrinth 2 HD
The Apple iPad is about to launch this morning, and up until now, Apple has been very tight with early access to the tablet device. So much so, it's been rare to see footage of games played on actual devices. In fact, many developers have been unable to test their games on final hardware.
This morning, Apple has posted some in-hand videos of several well known games being played on the iPad. Here they are:
Scrabble for iPad
Asphalt 5 HD
Real Racing HD
Note we've received full size (1027×768) screenshots from Real Racing HD: one, two, three, four, five
Labyrinth 2 HD
All of these games are already available in the App Store. We'll have our own hands on videos with various iPad games once we have our iPads in hand.
App Store Links:
- Scrabble for iPad, $9.99
- Scrabble Tile Rack, Free (iPhone/iPod Touch)
- Real Racing HD, $9.99
- Asphalt 5 HD, $6.99
- Labyrinth 2 HD, $7.99
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