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Hidden SDK Gaming Features, iPhone Games On Your TV

Ars Technica has been hard at work uncovering hidden features in Apple’s iPhone SDK. Today, they broke ground with their research and have turned the iPhone into a complete gaming device fit for the big screen.

The following video is a demo that Ars Technica’s Erica Sadun, and Freeverse, makers of Moto Chaser, have collaborated to produce. It’s a tech demo showing off what is capable when applying some of the iPhone SDK’s hidden features. The iPhone’s accelerometer is used for input, which routes the game video output through a connected video cable into the television. Additionally, correlating with an article run by Touch Arcade, Freeverse was able to confirm that the program ran best on a second-generation iPod touch (The new iPod touch utilizes a 532MHz CPU versus the iPhone’s 412MHz).

“I got in touch with Freeverse, makers of Moto Chaser, one of the top iPhone games in App Store. After a few back and forth e-mails, they agreed to try applying the MPTVOutWindow class to Moto Chaser (iTunes) to create a TV version of their game,” Sadun explains.

Bruce Morris from Freeverse was adamant about the fact that TV-enabled Moto Chaser would not be showing up in the App Store in the near future. “We only use approved Apple methods and approved frameworks in our programs,” he states. One of the coding classes used, while public, is technically unpublished. “Among other reasons, we don’t want our software to break,” he said, “and we have been very happy with our relationship with Apple. We’re going to continue to follow Apple’s lead. It’s been great for us.” If Freeverse is able to share this working demo with Apple, than they may be inclined to expand the SDK to open TV output for developers.

They are still working to improve the frame rate of the gameplay to enhance the overall experience, noting that they would not release a final product that could not exceed 20 frames/second. “Our video methods have room to improve,” Morris stated, “and we’re positive we can bring up that frame rate with time and work. But we won’t release anything at 20 frames per second. Right now, we see this as a tech demo. If we have the chance to grow it and improve the user experience, we will.”