Apple iPhone OS 4.0 to get Gamecenter

[Rob]

Apple has announced its plans to include Gamecenter in its iPhone 4.0 OS. The service will include many of the social features that have made Microsoft's Xbox Live service a success. Friends, matchmaking, leaderboards, and achievements will all be available starting this summer.

Sounds like a welcome addition to the OS, but i'm wondering how many games can currently benefit from the added social features. How many developers will take the time to modify their existing games to hook into the new service? There are over 50,000 games currently available for iPhone and i'm betting a lot of developers will release sequels with Gamecenter hooks.

This is the first time that a successful mobile gaming device has got this type of support for gaming and social intergration. Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS have slacked big time in this area and it has held them back from pulling in more consumers. I hope that Apple nails this feature and people use it because that will put the pressure on Sony and Nintendo to include the same features in their future handhelds.

Apple Keynote here (http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/)
Engadget link here (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/apple-previews-game-center-social-gaming-platform-for-iphone-os/)

[Jason]

Ergh. No matter how hard I try, I still can't take the iPhone seriously as a gaming platform. It's good if you're on the bus or train or whatever and need to kill an hour, but if I wanted to play serious games on the move, I'd be shelling out for a DS or PSP - Apple will keep trying to dip their toe into the gaming market by tweaking existing devices to be more gamer-friendly, but until they actually make the leap and say 'right, we're going to make a console' - be it handheld or otherwise, they're always going to struggle. As the Wii is finding out, the casual gamer market is profitable in the short term, but they quickly either lose interest or move on to more fulfilling games.