Gaming

You no doubt remember at least one of the Sim games. Old school folks remember Sim City. Heck, you could play that thing on a Mac Classic. No one has more fond memories of the original Sim City than MG Siegler. To wit:

No game captured my imagination when I was growing up like SimCity. Certainly, a part of it was my God complex, but more it was the open-ended nature of a game with few rules that let you build a city. I spent countless hours on my computer playing it, I even spent countless hours on the Super Nintendo playing it when it was ported to that console. Now it’s coming to the iPhone — countless hours will be lost again.

We’re not talking first person shooter or MMO game, we’re talking about a game that put you in the position of a city planner. I mean it was exciting and all for awhile but then, just like city planning, a lot of the fun went of it and it started to feel just like work. Well, for me anyway. Mr. Siegler is planning on wasting hour upon hour on the game yet again which. he… more...

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs states that the iPhone and iPod touch “may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market this holiday season.”

This is interesting and I have heard mixed opinions about whether or not the iPhone/Touch is a gaming device that should be compared to another gaming device like the PSP.

We would like to know what you think. Do you think the iPhone is a gaming device that you would prefer over another? Do you even consider the iPhone/Touch a gaming device at all?

It is no secret that games are quite successful in the App Store. With over 1200 games, it is clear that developers like the numbers when they put out a game for the iPhone/Touch.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Sega has sold over 500,000 copies of Super Monkey Ball and that about 25% of more than 200 million applications distributed by the App Store have been games.

That is phenomenal. What do you think?

Via: The Wall Street Journal

I thought I’d never see the day, however, those of you who play a lot of iPhone games might be interested in the new product Marware announced last week built for playing games on the iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G.

It’s called the Game Grip for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G, and it sports two silicone-covered handles to provide a more ergonomic gaming experience.

The Game Grip holder fits both iPod touch and iPhone devices, and comes with a silicone skin for either device. It also has a unique cord management system that lets you both use your headphones and charge the device while still in the holder.

Can’t wait to get your hands on it? The Game Grip for the Apple iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2G will be in black with blue silicone handle grips. It’s available for pre-order for $49.99 at their website, Mareware.com.

Jailbreaking your iPhone was the first thing a lot of users did before the 2.0 revision and App store rolled out. It was a little bit of hassle, but the payoff was huge: Your iPhone could run a variety of cool apps. Once the App store was revealed the impetuous to jailbreak the iPhone dwindled. Why even bother with the warranty voiding hassle of jailbreaking your iPhone when there are a bajillion (give or take) applications you can buy (or download for free) in the App store?

Personal reasons vary. There’s the “just because they made it hard for me” reason. Which is great, it is the same reason people climb mountains. There’s the “it’s my hardware I should be able to do whatever I want one it is mine” reason. Also great, once you buy something it is yours (or it should be). There’s the ”I’m writing a book so I have to” reason which is really just a lame excuse, no one believes you. Finally there is the “I want my phone to do more” reason. Also great, who can freakin blame you… more...

Not only am I getting the game for my desktop, but my little sidekick will also be getting Spore. The highly anticipated Spore Origins already found its way to the iPod a while back, and creator Will Wright says that it will be making it’s way to the App Store some time this week.

The game starts you off as a microbe, and as you grow and eat you evolve into a bigger creature that can eat even bigger creatures, and the cycle continues.

I am thinking it will not be as fully featured as the computer version, but we’ll see the limitations when the App is released.

TUAW got a hands-on look at the game on the iPod touch a while back, and their first impression of the game was less than outstanding. They noted that gameplay wasn’t very exciting and it has no relation to the full game, making it little more than a $5 arcade game.

However, I’m not condemning it until I get my hands on the software. I can imagine there is a different gameplay compared to the… more...

Fullpower has amazed me again with another addicting game called MotionX Dice.

This Dice game is by far the coolest game I’ve seen, and it’s got amazing tech inside which takes advantage of the iPhone’s sensors like no other app.

”MotionX-Poker is a breakout success with both customers and critics,” said Arthur Kinsolving, director of technology for Fullpower. “Users love MotionX-Poker. There have been numerous requests to use MotionX dice to play games including Yahtzee, Craps, Liar’s Dice, Backgammon as well as many multi-user dice games. To thank the iPhone community for the success of MotionX, Fullpower is making MotionX-Dice absolutely free for the first 90 days.”

If you haven’t tried it out already, I recommend that you do. You won’t stop playing! MotionX-Dice is immediately available as a free download from the Apple App Store at http://www.itunes.com/appstore/

I haven’t downloaded to many games for iPhone simply because I don’t usually play games on phones. However, over the weekend, I had the chance to play with a game I thought I would never like.

I’m not a poker player, so when I downloaded the app, I was a little confused, but within 5 minutes I became a poker pro. MotionX Poker is a five-card poker game played by rolling five dice. You play against the “dealer” and have three rolls to make the best hand. So how exactly do you roll?

The brains behind MotionX were thoughtful enough to incorporate the accelerometer into the game so all you have to do is give your iPhone (or iPod Touch) a shake. The beautifully rendered dice shake across the screen, even adding vibration to the whole gaming experience.

When the dice come to rest, you drag the ones you wish to keep in your hand to the squares at the bottom of the screen. When you win a hand, your point score is increased by the amount of your bet, with bonuses… more...

I am not much of a gamer, but it is still cool to think that my iPhone will play games beautifully if I ever decide I do want to play a game or two.

Unity Technologies has announced that its multiplatform 3D game development tool, called Unity, will soon be able to create titles that run on the iPhone.

Unity says: “The Unity engine is the core technology that facilitates visually rich, engaging 3D game play, whether it’s on a traditional desktop, or on the Web at major gaming sites like shockwave.com, or now on the world’s leading mobile device - the iPhone. […] With support of the iPhone platform, the Unity engine becomes platform agnostic and significantly expands the reach and capabilities of the tool. As a fully supported deployment platform, developers can now use Unity to drive development of the best games to iPhone’s massive mobile market and beyond.”

I look forward to what is to come and being able to play some amazing looking games on my iPhone may change my mind. To read more, taike a look here. more...

Robota Softwarehouse has released a pretty nifty Chess game for the iPhone. Although the developers admit, it has some limitations, it is well worth the download if you are a chess player. I consider myself a pretty decent chess player and I have only beat the computer once out of 20 or so games. You can download it for free here.

First it was the Nintendo (NES) emulator that got everyone excited about some old skool gaming on the iPhone. Then we got the Game Boy Advance emulator a few months ago. Now we have a PlayStation emulator so you can rock out some Tekken, Gran Turismo, and Crash Bandicoot on your iPhone.

You, of course will need to track down some PlayStation ROMs to get your game on. According to Mac-a-Doodle, this first release is a bit clunky, much like the first releases of the other emulators. Still, it would be cool to kick some Hiehachi butt on my iPhone.

You can download it here or through installer.app.