IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

iPhone 4 Taking Games to 'Next Level,' says Developer

Posted June 7, 2010 by James Brightman

The announcement of the iPhone 4 didn't come as a surprise to anyone, but that didn't make it any less exciting for Apple enthusiasts and iPhone developers. One of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming iPhone is that this upgraded model will feature full 6-axis motion technology.

IndustryGamers spoke to a few iPhone developers for some quick reaction to the iPhone 4, and the development community certainly seems eager to start building games for the device. "We're very excited about the iPhone 4 news. We're already talking about what this means for our games. We believe that this means Apple will be taking games to the next level, with everything from longer battery life and faster capabilities to the gyroscope," remarked Lydia Heitman of Freeverse (known for games like Flick Bowling and Flick Fishing).

Rick Baltman, President of 2XL Games (2XL Supercross, 2XL ATV Offroad and the upcoming TrophyRally Lite) commented, "We’ve had some ideas about using the orientation of the iPhone for a while now, but had to wait for the accuracy that the new rate gyros will provide. Now that we know the heading, pitch and roll of the phone, we can create several augmented reality apps that can provide guidance and information in very intuitive and user friendly ways. We also have several game concepts that take advantage of this as well. You can now use the phone as a, 'Window into a virtual world,' where you physically have to look up, down left and right to view the game world you are inside. Once we can get our hands on the new hardware, we’ll play around with gesture recognition to see what we can do with it…"

Mayra San Martin, Director, Digital Business Development at Sega, told us, "We are absolutely thrilled that Apple has brought so many improvements and new features to the iPhone. The 6-axis input device gives us the opportunity to extend our existing games as well as design new games especially for this new feature. Super Monkey Ball has been a huge success on iPhone and is an ideal fit for the iPhone 4 and its 6-axis input. We’re working on other games that will be great fun on the iPhone 4 and look forward to being able to talk about them in the very near future.

"In regards  to how this will impact the iPhone gaming space, it [6-axis input] allows for more innovation and a greater level of control for games and other applications. No other handheld device has this right now and we’re delighted to see Apple--yet again--pave the way forward."

iPhone studio ngmoco wasn't quite ready to discuss the iPhone 4's features just yet, but Simon Jeffery seemed pleased nonetheless: "Anything and everything that Apple does to expand on the gaming potential of its devices gets a big thumbs up from us!"

Update: We've heard from Trip Hawkins of Digital Chocolate as well. He said in an e-mail, "I can briefly say the new motion is radical for a brand like Rollercoaster Rush and will enable it to live up to its name."

The iPhone has become incredibly popular as a gaming platform and has certainly put pressure on Nintendo and Sony to innovate in the portable space. Adding full 3D motion gaming to the iPhone could really shake things up. We can't wait to see what's developed for the device.

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.