Why we can't wait for iPhone gaming

January 9th, 2007, 21:13 Posted By: wraggster

via joystiq

Like most of the rest of the tech-obsessed world, we were following along with rapt attention today as Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone to a massive MacWorld audience. Sure, it's pretty cool that you'll soon be able to make phone calls on the world's most popular MP3 player, but what we're really excited about is the gaming potential of the device. Why? Here's why:

Dual-touch: Imagine the Nintendo DS touch screen. Now stretch it out, design it for fingers instead of a stylus, and let it recognize two different inputs simultaneously. We can only imagine the gaming possibilities designers can create with this.
Accelerometer: Sure, Jobs uses it to simply switch between portrait and landscape modes, but we don't see any reason this feature can't be used for WarioWare Twisted-style games with tilt-based controls
Internet: Wi-Fi is already old news on the Nintendo DS and PSP, but since the iPhone is a cell phone, you could theoretically connect to your cell network and play online even without a Wi-Fi hot spot. The built-in web browser has the potential to allow for mobile play on thousands of free Flash games as well.
Built-in camera: This may sound a little silly, but we were really excited about the EyeToy-like functionality of the Gizmondo. Now that that's crashed and burned, the iPhone's built-in two-megapixel camera and detailed widescreen could bring the concept back.
Distribution: iTunes is already on millions of computers and has trained users to accept making micropayments for downloadable content. Oh, and it already has games. Dare we dream of downloading games-on-demand over a cell phone network?
While Jobs didn't sepcifically mention any gaming applications for the iPhone during his keynote speech, we think it's only a matter of time before some form of interactive entertainment is announced for the device. At least, we hope it's only a matter of time. Please?

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