Comments on: Why the iPhone is changing the games market http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/ The Business of Games Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:29:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Tom Jubert http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Tom Jubert Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:12:38 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-142 Hari, if you think Nicholas didn't realise the irony of the link, I think YOU kind of missed the point. I'm sure we all have better things to do than nitpick blog posts. I realise the irony of stating that while picking at your comments. Tom Hari, if you think Nicholas didn’t realise the irony of the link, I think YOU kind of missed the point.

I’m sure we all have better things to do than nitpick blog posts. I realise the irony of stating that while picking at your comments.

Tom

]]> By: Hari Seldon http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-135 Hari Seldon Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:28:26 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-135 Nicholas, if your only evidence that "Learnings" is a real word is the Borat movie, I think that you kind of missed the point. Borat is a character from Kazakhstan with deliberately bad/broken English. Hari Nicholas, if your only evidence that “Learnings” is a real word is the Borat movie, I think that you kind of missed the point. Borat is a character from Kazakhstan with deliberately bad/broken English.

Hari

]]> By: Nicholas Lovell http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-134 Nicholas Lovell Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:53:59 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-134 @ Hari, yes, it is a word: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/" rel="nofollow">www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453</a> @ Hari, yes, it is a word: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453

]]> By: Hari Seldon http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-133 Hari Seldon Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:50:18 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-133 "Taking the learnings from iTunes" Is that even a word? don't you mean lessons? “Taking the learnings from iTunes”

Is that even a word? don’t you mean lessons?

]]> By: Nicholas Lovell http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-131 Nicholas Lovell Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:13:15 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-131 Interestingly, Diane, some devs think of the patching things as a *benefit* because the AppStore resets your launch date if you issue a new version, which moves you back up to the top of the "recent" list. Not sure this will stay though, as unscrupulous devs could just issue a slightly different version every day. Couldn't agree more about lack of virality/contacts. Integration between an iPhone game and Facebook could be very interesting. Interestingly, Diane, some devs think of the patching things as a *benefit* because the AppStore resets your launch date if you issue a new version, which moves you back up to the top of the “recent” list. Not sure this will stay though, as unscrupulous devs could just issue a slightly different version every day.

Couldn’t agree more about lack of virality/contacts. Integration between an iPhone game and Facebook could be very interesting.

]]> By: Diane Lagrange http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-130 Diane Lagrange Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:08:50 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-130 For me the main issues with iPhone games are : -the lack of virality in the way the apps spread (there's no way in the App Store to see which games your contacts are playing, and you can send suggestions but it's not widely used) -the difficulty of maintaining a community (few available communication channels) -the lack of ability to patch a game (you have to release a new version each time) -the lack of recurring revenue options. All of this makes it hard to use for service-based models, which is a shame as it would be a convenient way to raise the production values while keeping free or cheap access to apps. It looks like Sony and Nintendo got the App Store message though, with the DSi and its online store and the download-only games for PSP (there's also a rumour these days about a UMD-less, download-only new PSP). For me the main issues with iPhone games are :
-the lack of virality in the way the apps spread (there’s no way in the App Store to see which games your contacts are playing, and you can send suggestions but it’s not widely used)
-the difficulty of maintaining a community (few available communication channels)
-the lack of ability to patch a game (you have to release a new version each time)
-the lack of recurring revenue options.
All of this makes it hard to use for service-based models, which is a shame as it would be a convenient way to raise the production values while keeping free or cheap access to apps.

It looks like Sony and Nintendo got the App Store message though, with the DSi and its online store and the download-only games for PSP (there’s also a rumour these days about a UMD-less, download-only new PSP).

]]> By: Nicholas Lovell http://www.gamesbrief.com/2009/02/why-the-iphone-is-changing-the-games-market/comment-page-1/#comment-128 Nicholas Lovell Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:19:26 +0000 http://www.gamesbrief.com/?p=1105#comment-128 Spanner Spencer at <a href="http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/iPhone+news/news.asp?c=11811" rel="nofollow">PocketGamer</a> has some interesting analysis of this article: <div style="margin:10px">So there are lessons for both Nintendo and Sony to learn from the iPhone - assuming it's not already too late for them, which it probably is (in this generation, at least) - but Apple has a brief window of opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the DS and PSP if it wants to continue revolutionising the handheld games industry.</div> Spanner Spencer at PocketGamer has some interesting analysis of this article:

So there are lessons for both Nintendo and Sony to learn from the iPhone – assuming it’s not already too late for them, which it probably is (in this generation, at least) – but Apple has a brief window of opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the DS and PSP if it wants to continue revolutionising the handheld games industry.
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