Is a real video game ever going to happen for the iPod touch/iPhone?

[jkasanoff]

Some games on the iPod touch/iPhone are really great. However, every single one of these games is a mobile game. While I realize it is a mobile platform, it also has the processing power and capabilities of a computer.

It would be fully possible to get a PSP/DS-worthy game on the iPhone. In fact, with creative controls, it would be entirely possible to create a 3D platformer. (I think an FPS is in the works.)

Do you think that a full video game with levels, a story, and 3D (or very nice 2D) graphics is likely to come to the iPod touch/iPhone? Or do you think that developers will stick with safer mobile games?

[arn]

It's coming.

While the indy developer's efforts are impressive, once we get companies that are able to dedicate real resources into creating an iPhone game, we'll get better quality games.

id is working on it. As are a number of other "big" developers.

arn

[ChemicalWeather]

I'm sure it's coming.. and soon. We already have Vay which is an excellent port of an older console RPG. We've seen the graphics and quality of games such as Crash Nitro Kart which brings our favorite bandicoot to a mobile platform, it's only a matter of time before we have a full-fledged game specifically for the iPhone

[Gregz0r]

Fully fledged console games by major developers take many, many months to design, create and then test. That's why we are seeing so many small titles at the moment.
I read there was a 100MB limit on app sizes though, which may prevent any game from being even Dreamcast quality.

[MattB]

Originally Posted by Gregz0r

Fully fledged console games by major developers take many, many months to design, create and then test. That's why we are seeing so many small titles at the moment.
I read there was a 100MB limit on app sizes though, which may prevent any game from being even Dreamcast quality.

I may be wrong, but I believe I've seen a number of games that are over 100MB. However, as Carmack said, the huge benefit the iPhone has is the significant amount of memory it makes available for games. He said this is what gives the device near Dreamcast-caliber power.

[ChemicalWeather]

Originally Posted by Gregz0r

Fully fledged console games by major developers take many, many months to design, create and then test. That's why we are seeing so many small titles at the moment.
I read there was a 100MB limit on app sizes though, which may prevent any game from being even Dreamcast quality.

The limit on application size is actually 2GB, it's definitely possible to design a well-polished game with this amount

[oticon6]

I can see blizzard creating a modified version of WoW for the iPhone pretty quickly. There would be a pretty big market there if they could do it right.

[MattB]

Keep in mind developers will likely want to avoid too complex and powerful of a game because it'd eat the iPhone's battery life like crazy. Already we're seeing games, that don't take full advantage of the iPhone's hardware capabilities taking a hefty chunk out of the iPhone's battery. For example, MotionX Poker after 30 minutes of play took out over half of my battery.

Since a lot of people rely on their cellphones to receieve and send calls, check email, text messages, webpages, etc. most people won't want to buy games that drain the battery so quickly. The more graphically intense a game is, the more battery it'll drain in a quicker amount of time.

[ChemicalWeather]

Originally Posted by oticon6

I can see blizzard creating a modified version of WoW for the iPhone pretty quickly. There would be a pretty big market there if they could do it right.

While I wish this would happen I highly doubt it, Blizzard is known to sticking with PC/Mac games so i doubt they'll diverge from that path. Also as Matt said your phone would be dead in about 10 minutes. There is a video out there that shows them playing Second Life on the iPhone so there is the technology out there to do it, just not sure if it's up to the hardware's standards yet

Originally Posted by MattB

Keep in mind developers will likely want to avoid too complex and powerful of a game because it'd eat the iPhone's battery life like crazy. Already we're seeing games, that don't take full advantage of the iPhone's hardware capabilities taking a hefty chunk out of the iPhone's battery. For example, MotionX Poker after 30 minutes of play took out over half of my battery.

Since a lot of people rely on their cellphones to receieve and send calls, check email, text messages, webpages, etc. most people won't want to buy games that drain the battery so quickly. The more graphically intense a game is, the more battery it'll drain in a quicker amount of time.

Definitely agree with battery life draining quickly with heavy-graphics games but I can play MotionX all day and my battery barely goes down, weird.

[MattB]

Originally Posted by ChemicalWeather

Definitely agree with battery life draining quickly with heavy-graphics games but I can play MotionX all day and my battery barely goes down, weird.

Do you have sound, music, and/or vibrate off? Turning those off helps a lot. Then again, I have a 1st gen iPhone, so the battery life probably isn't what it once was.