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Apple Sr. Product Manager Talks About iPhone Gaming and App Store

Aviv — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:20:50 +0000

PocketGamer.biz has posted an interesting interview with Eric Jue, Apple’s senior product manager for iPhone worldwide product marketing. The interview touches upon Apple’s intentions with gaming and the possibility of an Xbox-live style games community.

The interview takes place in London, and among some of the most interesting responses given by Jue are in direct comparison to the way Microsoft (among others) is handling their business model. When asked whether Apple was planning Xbox Live, Jue responded.

“I don’t think we look at it in quite the same way [as Microsoft],” says Jue. “Xbox is a system that they’re creating certain capabilities with, but we have a very open platform, with technologies built into it that are free to developers through the SDK and the APIs.

“So if somebody wanted to develop that then they certainly could, but… we’re not championing that type of experience per se. It’s open to the developer community and wherever they want to take the platform.”

“You could take that the next step further and combine it with Facebook or MySpace and a gaming experience, but I haven’t seen anyone pull those things together yet. There’s been a lot of talk about it though.”

Additionally, PocketGamer explains that Jue “seems enthusiastic” about connected gaming on the iPhone, and the potential that this brings. “…whether local – he says his team has “killed hours in the office” with wi-fi multiplayer on ngmoco’s upcoming WordFu – or online.” Delving into the social aspect of connected games, he sees significant potential here as well. “There’s a whole lot of activity around the social networking side, including location-based social networking applications like Loopt and Whrrl,” he says.

App Store

When asked what Apple is doing in regards to making the App Store a better experience for everyone involved, developers and end users alike, Jue explains that everyone (including Apple), is learning together as the app store grow. “We’re hearing the same thing,” says Jue. “We’re all learning as we march down this road together, but you’re right: with 15,000 apps out there, it is a little bit harder to find applications.”

Jue explains that Apple is employing two particular ways in reducing the burden of developers and making it easier to “cut through the noise” of seemingly third-rate applications. “He cites two ways Apple is trying to combat the problem. There’s the editorial content within the App Store itself – the featured applications – which he says are being changed daily to ensure users always see fresh apps when they return to the store,” Stuart Dredge explains for PocketGamer. “Then there’s the iPhone Your Life section of the Apple website, which Jue says is an example of the company ‘being much more pro-active about highlighting certain applications’.”

Jue explains, “There’s a lot of websites like yourselves doing reviews and top ten lists and trying to get a bit more visibility for some of the better apps.” – “It’s all starting to happen, but we’re looking at more ways too. It’s going to be an evolving story.”

When asked whether Apple would utilize the same technology that drives its iTunes Recommendation Genius feature, only for apps in the app store, Jue replied, “Certainly it’s possible, yeah,” – “I can’t comment on anything that we may or may not be doing in the future, but it’s a good idea. We already do it for music, so it’s certainly possible to do.”

Pricing iPhone Games and Location

Jue continues to show how confident he is with Apple’s success and the business model they’ve deployed around the iPhone’s app store. Being a game changer is an understatement for the app store, especially given that nearly all of Apple’s main competition is now directly copying the idea.

When asked about the rumored $19.99+ premium game category in the app store, Jue responds, “Are we creating a new category? People can charge those prices now – they can charge whatever they want to charge. We haven’t publicly talked about any new format to the store or creating a new category though.” – “We’re much more open – we didn’t really have a pre-defined idea for how iPhone would play in the games space,” he says, stressing that the platform is powerful for a lot of things besides gaming.

“Medicine is coming on board, business too. Lots of other people are exploring the power and utilisation of technologies in the iPhone. So where it goes with developers and the gaming world is fine by us, but we’re not trying to steer it down one particular path.”

Rounding out the interview, Jue touches upon his excitement for the iPhone’s potential with GPS functions. “Gaming is going to be one of the areas that takes advantage of location,” he says. –
“You can do virtual scavenger hunt type experiences, and you’ve got the camera and networking in there besides GPS. You could do a Dungeons & Dragons type thing on the city streets… There are so many cool things. It’s just a matter of time before these games get developed.”

“Better graphics, better levels and worlds, better interaction, better sound… Everything is marching down the path where we’re getting more innovative stuff, more creative stuff and more sophisticated stuff. And then we have multiplayer coming in, so we have a lot going on.”

Functional iControlPad Gaming Prototype In Action (Video)

Aviv — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:04:12 +0000

The first prototype of the iControlPad gaming pad definitely looked promising. Bringing extrenal input buttons and a directional pad to Apple’s purely touch interface handhelds is seen by many people as a must. For gaming, we definitely agree.

A developer that goes by ZodTTD has posted the above video of him using the iControlPad to play quake4iphone on a jailbroken iPhone. As Engadget notes, there’s still no word on availability or pricing.

As we’ve previously covered, Apple definitely touts the iPod touch as a gaming device, but the fundamental lack of controls still hinder a vast majority of the gaming experience. Whether Apple opens up and embraces add-ons like the iControlPad has yet to be determined. But with out at least some support from Apple, additions like the iControlPad may never flourish due to lack of official acceptance.

Hidden SDK Gaming Features, iPhone Games On Your TV

Aviv — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:18:10 +0000

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.”

Apple Is Investigating Gaming, Browser Related Graphics Errors

Aviv — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:49:23 +0000

Apple is investigating two different issues customers are having with their new unibody Macbooks. Some digging around the Apple discussion threads shows that the issues are in fact fairly widespread.

As Macnn explains, the first issue is strictly plaguing Macbook Pros. It involves a “hard lockup”, where the screen will suddenly turn black, during games such as Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft and Company of Heroes. An Apple support thread commenter has contacted Apple UK and explains they are aware of the issue.

Just spoke to AppleCare UK and they also confirm “Apple are aware of the issue and are investigating. At present we do not know if this is a hardware or software issue and have been advised not to offer customers exchanges until the issue is better understood.” — I’ve also read the posts suggesting this is a thermal issue but I got screen noise/distortion when just waking the machine from sleep and also monitored the fans while playing WoW and they were running at 6000+ rpm consistently.

In order to circumvent the hard lockup, some owners have gone as far as installing alternate NVIDIA drivers, and a utility for controlling fan speed manually. This is assuming that the Mac is overheating due to a driver or cooling issue. However, other Macbook Pro owners have had to swap out their logic boards, or even get a replacement system.

The second issue is more widespread, affecting both unibody Macbooks and Macbook Pros. Owners are reporting various problems with scrolling in web browsers and video playback. The issue seems to cause “scrolling distortion” while web browsing and “tearing” of HD video playback on the web. Strangely, this issue is only affecting Mac OS X and not Windows. Early speculation leads users to believe that the cause is directly related to NVIDIA drives as well as the open source WebKit browser engine, which Safari uses. The Opera browser, which doesn’t use the WebKit engine, appears unaffected. AppleInsider points out that Apple is aware of the issue and already working on a software fix.

After discovering this problem on the MacBook Pro I purchased a few weeks ago, I visited the Apple Store in Regent Street to check whether the problem was common to all the new MacBook Pro’s. I checked five MacBook Pro’s they had on display and they all had exactly the same wave distortion on the screen, when scrolling in Safari using the side bar. There was no distortion when the up/down keys were used. I showed this screen distortion to an Apple salesperson, who seemed genuinely surprised. He disappeared to the back office in the store for a discussion with a ’senior Apple Engineer’ and after five minutes he returned with the statement that this was a known problem and there will be a software fix for it sometime…

All I Want For The Holidays Are App Store Development Guidelines

Aviv — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:04:05 +0000

Apple’s App Store has changed the way mobile developers can reach their audience. By setting up a fast, secure environment for developers and game publishers to distribute their games and applications, Apple is attempting to bridge a major gap between the industry. However, some setbacks remain and the environment still needs some attention.

One of Apple’s major attractions with the App Store is the fact that developers can distribute their games and applications fast and in a secure environment. Once a particular game or app is approved and pushed through to the App Store, millions of people instantly have access to the title, and with the right buzz online, it can generate literally millions of downloads.

While Apple’s App Store has been subject to extremely harsh criticism, primarily focused around harsh rejections and an overall lack of communication. It’s important to remember how big of a push Apple has made with the App Store. Not only was the iPhone earth shattering in terms of user experience and making mobile data accessible, but Apple’s long-term goals in turning the device into a development platform have been more than realized. The speed in which a game or application can be downloaded and distributed through the app store is enough to send any aspiring developer into a cerebral tailspin about what iPhone users potentially need.

However, since the launch of the App Store, countless stories about very useful applications being rejected have sent shivers down most developer’s spines. Without a clear set of development guidelines, developers are taking an enormous gamble in cultivating a game or application on the iPhone platform. While it may seem reasonable for larger more established companies to devote time, money and general resources to hoping their applications get approved. Many smaller teams, producing extremely useful applications are not as lucky. A quote from a colleague of mine who develops for the iPhone explains it well:

“Without development guidelines, there is no way to know for certain if an application or game you are spending your time on, will get approved by Apple. In which case, you can organically appeal the decision and hope the community picks up your story, in which case word gets around to Apple that people are angered and they reverse the decision. Or perhaps they will realize that they made a mistake in rejecting your application/game and reverse the decision. Either way, Apple’s communication thus far has not been comforting to say the least.”

Dropping the iPhone NDA was a step in the right direction. Actually, releasing the iPhone SDK was the first step towards a brighter future, however, the community needed to basically beg Apple to do both. Couldn’t Apple release a well documented set of guidelines, that developers could follow while developing their games and applications? I think this could be done with relative ease, and the impact would be substantial. Not only would would developers be given a clear set of rules to follow, but real-world, long-term companies could be founded. Companies that are interested in establishing roots in the industry, developing platforms of their own and contributing in ways we can’t imagine. These things can’t happen to their fullest potential until Apple opens up and comes clean with what is really driving app store rejections and approvals. No more guessing, hoping and praying that a response will be given, the iPhone development community deserves more. And the potential behind the technology is enough to transform the mobile market as we know it today.

Some setbacks remain, and until Apple releases a clear set of development guidelines, the App Store will still be considered an “application boutique.” Developers and game publishers will continue to devote energy and resources to developing great titles that may never see the light of day. But remember, the iPhone SDK wasn’t so easy to reason out of Cupertino. So what do you think Apple, maybe some official App Store development guidelines for the holidays?

Will iPhone Gaming Ever Really Compete in the Mobile Gaming Market?

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:18:38 +0000

Since the launch of the App Store, Apple has officially entered the mobile gaming market with the iPhone and iPod touch. Despite the wide influx of games and extremely talented developers that have embraced the platform, many are still left wondering whether the iPhone and iPod touch, will ever be able to rival more established and dedicated mobile gaming devices.

There’s no denying that the blockbuster success of the app store is down right astonishing. Massively successful game developers such as EA and Gameloft have already embraced the platform, and one independent novelty game developer was able to rake in nearly $250k in revenue.

EA Mobile’s 3rd quarter revenue was nearly $47 Million, of which the iPhone and iPod touch were surely a noticeable chunk. Games such as Spore and Real World Soccer have made some waves amongst Apple fans and gamers alike.

In the future we will undoubtedly be swarmed with new and better games for both the iPhone and iPod Touch, but will they ever truly compare to the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP? It is really dependent on how you measure comparisons. Some can compare the quality of graphics and overall gaming experience, while others may measure price and ease of access to new games. Let me clarify, I do not think that there is any doubt that the physical quality of the games offered through the App Store, coupled with the touchscreen user experience can truly compare to that of the PSP. The best way to measure this would be to try it out for yourself. If you are an iPhone or iPod touch owner and have an extra couple of bucks, go ahead and download a more premier action game such as Real World Soccer. You may instantly notice that there is not much in the way of graphics comparison and the touch screen controls make game play far more difficult than if the user had access to a d-pad.

iControlPad, for example, is a prototype shell that wraps around an iPhone or iPod touch giving it a very Sony PSP like feel. The outer casing provides a directional pad and four physical buttons for game play. And best of all, they hope to offer their final product for less than $30. A third paryt accessory such as this could definitely lend itself well to those seeking a more powerful, intuitive and natural game play. But couldn’t Apple take care of this themselves? It seems as though they want to make the iPhone, iPod touch and platform as a whole a serious contender for mobile gaming, all the while ignoring the need for a directional pad or physical buttons.

Apple has definitely broken the rules on a few things in the past, and at this point nobody can tell Cupertino what to do, or how to do it. But, if Apple wants the entire platform to be taken seriously by those in the market for a Sony PSP or Nintendo DS, options need to be given to the consumer. Surely someone who has a Sony PSP on their holiday wish list, specifically hoping for Grand Theft Auto won’t be swayed into an iPhone or iPod touch (for gaming). The device might woo them on other levels, but when it comes to that gaming experience, expectations will most likely fall short.

On the other hand, the average pricing for games available through the App Store is drastically less than those made for the DS or PSP. Users of the iPhone and iPod Touch also have far greater access to purchase new games. So the advantage for overall ease of obtaining games as a whole would certainly go to the iPhone and iPod touch platform. Imagine lying in bed on a Sunday morning, wanting nothing more than to remain sedentary and possibly ease a hangover by playing a new mind-numbing game. With the just a few swipes of the finger you have access to over 1,700 to choose from, while you can scoff at the idea of having to get in a car and go purchase a new game for a PSP.

Overall I think that, at this point it is a matter of preference, as both platforms have distinct advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps the hardcore gamer would not be satisfied with the overall performance of the iPhone and iPod touch’s game play, but maybe the everyday user could find these devices to be a more practical way to waste a couple minutes or hours of their day. There is a lot to be said for the future of the mobile gaming industry, and short of Apple releasing an entirely new device better equipped for the challenge, it remains up to the user’s personal preference to decide what type of gaming experience they require.

Tetris Co. Pulls “Shaker” Application From App Store

Christina — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:21:12 +0000

Adding to the laundry list of complaints and negative attention that Apple’s app store has received, the game “shaker” has been pulled from the iPhone App Store, by Tetris Co, because it apparently too closely resembles Tetris.

A message to every iTunes app developer out there: If you are planning on writing an application that is even slightly reminiscent of a popular game owned by a major publisher (especially one involving colorful, geometric falling shapes), think again. As the brainiacs at Phunkware recently found out: You are wasting your precious nerdy time.

A game called Shaker has been pulled from the iTunes App Store for being “too much like Tetris,” reports arstechnica.com. Shaker, basically Tetris with an alcoholic twist, boasted a few unique features such as block style options, accelerometer support for shaking to change block orientation, and martini recipes for good scores. This gave the Tetris Company a hangover, and serious deja-vu. Back in August, another clone called “Tris”, fell to the same fate.

Therefore developers, heed our warning. Give Apple something they’ve never seen before, not just variations on a proven successful past-time. Apparently, the idea behind the iTunes app store is Apple’s definition of innovation, so it looks like it doesn’t matter what consumers want to see. Here’s to hoping that Apple starts listening more to us and less to big corporations about what can, and cannot reside inside the app store.

iControlPad iPhone Gamepad Case Prototype; Looks Promising

Aviv — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:22:04 +0000

The iPhone has undoubtedly changed the way mobile gaming will be developed, but for many, the iPhone’s gaming controls are a serious disappointment and are preventing the device from making the impact initially expected.

iControlPad is hoping to deliver their final product for under $30. Contrary to the picture above, they say the final product will be glossy and smooth, more resembling the renders below.

“You guys are really going to enjoy playing games with this thing, it is like night to day in terms of how much better it is with real controls,” iControlPad explains.

Super Nintendo gamepad used to play snes4iphone (iPod Touch)

The addition of third-party accessories is hugely beneficial to Apple products. Especially when the third-party makers touch upon a much needed device, which this would be. Gaming controls, for many of the games are simply not up to par. For serious gamers, and for Apple to have the device taken more seriously by gamers, an optional external controller could seriously garner the device the attention it deserves (in the mobile gaming world).

Alternatively, the image below is supposedly an anonymous tip sent to TouchArcade.com, “I’ve also anonymously received an image of what appears to be another gaming pad design that is reportedly scheduled for testing in October. No other details were provided about who might be producing the device, but the image is published here for interest:” TouchArcade.com reports.

[via Engadget via TouchArcade]
visit- iControlPad

Carmack: “Steve Jobs Doesn’t Care About Games”

Dave — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:00:42 +0000

Lead programmer of Doom and co-founder of developer id Software, John Carmack, seems to be a rather straight shooter when it comes to his opinion on gaming.

During last week’s QuakeCon, Carmack shed his thoughts on Apple’s drive in the industry. He stated that :

“The truth is Steve Jobs doesn’t care about games. This is going to be one of those things that I say something in an interview and it gets fed back to him and I’m on his $***head list for a while on that, until he needs me to do something else there. But I think that that’s my general opinion. He’s not a gamer.”

Despite Jobs’ introduction of the App store, that has opened the floodgates for software developers, and already features hundreds of games, Carmack still insists that Apple doesn’t “deeply get” gaming.

He added, in an interview with EuroGamer that:

“It’s difficult to ask somebody to get behind something they don’t really believe in. I mean obviously he believes in the music and the iTunes and that whole side of things, and the media side of things, and he gets it and he pushes it and they do wonderful things with that, but he’s not a gamer. That’s just the bottom line about it.”

While Carmack maintains his pessimistic outlook on Steve Jobs’ support for gaming, it doesn’t mean that he negates their products. “I think the iPhone is a potentially extremely important platform for a lot of reasons,” said Carmack in putting Apple’s product up against handhelds such as the PSP. I think it’s a great platform for content and new talent on there,” he said. id Software is currently developing two games for Apple’s device.

Article

From EA to iPhones

Christina — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:45:14 +0000

Neil Young, former executive of EA Games, recently announced his departure to form a new start up, Ngmoco, aimed at making games (for time-being) exclusively for the iPhone. According to Young, the stagnate mobile games market is ripe for change and Young believes that “we are finally at the place where we can reinvent the experiences and the economics of the mobile games business.”

With the iPhone being the catalyst the mobile gaming world needed, it is by no means the end all for Young, who rose to fame at EA as the development executive responsible for the millions-sold success titles “Lord of the Rings”, “Sims 2″, and EA’s next expected hit, “Spore”. Ngmoco and Young plan to make and publish games for the iPhone as well as to-be-released Google Android OS (depending on its viability as a gaming platform.)

Young looks to the 3G iPhone and the AppStore as perfect platforms to give mobile gaming the boost the industry feels it so rightly deserve. We look at Young as the potential creator to endless hours of thoughtless entertainment. At least one of us is working hard.

Oh by the way… YESSSSSSSSSS !!!! We welcome you with open arms.

via VentureBeat