Could the Apple iPhone 2 soon outshine the Nintendo DS and Wii?
By Dave Parrack
The 3G iPhone, otherwise known as the iPhone 2 is currently being unveiled by Steve Jobs today at the WWDC. Why am I mentioning this on a gaming website? Because apparently, the iPhone is about to become a competitor to Nintendo, and Sony in the handheld games console market.
While everyone is harping on about the 3G iPhone after Jobs did his “I am the messiah” thing and made out it’s the best thing since sliced bread, the announcement of concern to us more was the iPhone App Store, which opens the iPhone up to external developers, and potentially means the device could start seeing some big, mainstream games being made available on it.
Over the weekend, Forbes published an editorial which talked up the App Store to such a degree that it could mean Apple start competing with market leader Nintendo, with their DS, in the handheld console space.
The reasoning given behind the leap from the simple opening of an iPhone App Store to Apple suddenly beating Nintendo at its own game is that the iPhone combines two elements essential to Nintendo’s recent success: the Wii’s motion sensitive control method (something that Sony and Microsoft are also eyeing up enviously), and the touch screen of the Nintendo DS.
While it’s true that there is a version of Sega’s Super Monkey Ball currently being demoed on the iPhone, and rumours of Spore being released on the iPhone at the same time it sees the light of day on the PC and Nintendo DS, that doesn’t mean the iPhone is suddenly a DS killer.
For starters, Apple is notorious for wanting to control every single element of its business, and that just won’t wash in the games industry. Plus there is the fact that the Nintendo DS is known for being a games machines - that is why people buy one. Phones that also function as games machines never work: just look at the Nokia N-Gage!
Nintendo has a huge and long-standing gaming pedigree which isn’t going to be washed away overnight by Steve Jobs and his cronies over at Apple. In my view, the DS and PSP have nothing to worry about on this score, however nice the new iPhone 2 may be. Then again, I have been wrong… on occasion.
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June 9th, 2008
I’d pay you £100 DAVE PARRACK if apple managed it.
June 9th, 2008
I forsee huge tanking in the EU and East.
June 9th, 2008
Yeah, the iPhone is going to just mop the floor with Nintendo. Apple is expecting 10 million units to be sold. Why, that only puts them a scant… 60 MILLION UNITS BEHIND THE NINTENDO DS!
Will you Apple fanboys just accept the fact that Jobs can’t touch Nintendo when it comes to games? Why on earth would any serious game designer ever want to put a major title on a system that does not include it’s primary demographic, that barely has a fraction of the installed userbase?
Apple can’t even manage to get the Mac to be a force in gaming, and thats been their flagship product for decades. What hope does an overly expensive cell phone have of wresting control out of the hands of the biggest gaming giant in the land?
June 10th, 2008
I tell you why it may just be possible that this thing may take off. I live in Toronto and I take the subway to work and I work in the downtown area. When I’m on the bus or the subway, oh hell it’s practicaly everywhere I go, even walking on the streets of downtown, I see nothing but White headphones, and if it’s not Apple headphones it’s some devices headphones, Blackberrys, PSP’s, DS’s, Smartphones, and there everywhere and majority of the people you can physically see as you look around is fiddeling with some type of device. I see people playing game on these devices as well. The Iphone is about to be launched here (why so late I have no idea). It will be a huge sucess because people are stating to want everything in one device. If games come to the Iphone people will buy it just like when Microsoft starts launching there XNA games on Windows Mobile phones it will be a sucess to. I have a smartphone and it has my Media player, my pics, my phone, email, messenger, internet, and games all in one. There is no need to carry all those devices when you can can have it all in one package and that is where the casual market is really going to go.
June 10th, 2008
Not everyone is going to want a PSP or a DS but I bet everyone will need a phone and with all the phones sporting these functions it only a matter of time before DS and the PSP will be in the shadows.
June 10th, 2008
I’d rather just go home and use my PC for all that crap, and if i’m out and about, ill fire up the laptop.
Playing games on a smart phone, I just see it as being as much fun as playing snake on ye olde phones of the past.
June 10th, 2008
A lot of reasons why the DS is a worldwide phenomena, not to mention an erie occurance in trend seeing that it sports technology that is somewhat backwards.
Why is it? Is it because of brand name? The in-house library of long-time beloved characters? If you see the specs and skeletons spread out before you, you can plainly see that the DS has everything stacked against it(technology wise) while only being able to yelp about its games. That was all that was needed.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I think Steve Jobs is lazy and non-creative nowadays.
Take in point the Iphone. What really is new about the Iphone in that it has every feature you want minus the kitchen sink. For all the features added, it only rides on the success of other products that have sported those features.
Point is, with that thinking, there is no way the Iphone would be able to compete with a company that’s not technologically omnipetent, but a company that is much more creative.
Plus, with no directional controlls other than acellerometer, it’s being limited of those options.
June 10th, 2008
Because we all want to pay $900 for handheld gaming…
-Arvis
June 10th, 2008
*insert n-gage joke here*
meh… I like the blackberry better…
June 10th, 2008
interesting take, dave. prob is you forgot the limitless pockets of jobs vs. nokia. while some may believe people don’t want to game on phones, these same people have not seen how much money is being made by carriers such as Verizon who offer d/l games and make silly money doing so.
I don’t think nintendo is so entrenched they can’t be outdone. time will tell, but if anyone has a chance, it’s apple.
June 10th, 2008
Pocket Express sells all sorts of games for Blackberry and Smartphones. I wonder how much they make? But Kevin you have to realize that who ever does it first (I’m talking about any business) history shows that they usually do bad the first time around and the companys usually fold. Example is the Deregulation of the Phone companies and the electric companies. Those people who offered cheaper long distance back then when there was only 1 company all fizzled. Because they did it first they broke people into realizing they have a choice. Same thing for Nokia. At the time Nokia had the best handsets and they tried to incorporate good quality games and it flopped. Today EA makes games for phones and many others are doing the same.
June 11th, 2008
actually Edymnion if you count both Nintendo DS sales, both DS and DS Lite, the sales figures go to roughly 145million, not 70
June 11th, 2008
THE NINTENDO DS SUCKS SO FUCKING BAD…..JESUS CHRIST…..IT IS A BABY PIECE IF SHIT…..THE PSP WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST…..YOU CAN DO THINGS ON THE PSP THAT SONY DIDNT KNOW ABOUT