From PocketGamer.biz:
1. More and more games
Almost all iPhone game developers we spoke to are increasing their number of releases. Maximum development cycles remain six to three months but many companies are also looking to release much smaller, viral games and entertainment apps. Dev times for these are anything from a couple of weeks to a month.
The thinking is so many games are being released on the App Store, there’s less point spending a long time polishing your game. Best take a shotgun approach and immediately support any success with fast updates and sequels.
2. Average prices will continue to drop
As more, smaller games are released, the average price of apps will drop as developers find it increasingly difficult not to launch at an introductory price of 99 cents. Most companies we spoke to consider $3.99 as an absolute price ceiling unless their game was a big license or triple-A title.
3. Micro-transactional slice-and-dice
Both the release bubble and price deflation will be reinforced by the introduction of micro-transactions in the 3.0 OS update. This is particularly the case as you will only be able to charge for micro-transactions on paid apps.
Once again, the idea will be to release at 99 cents and then make the real revenue selling in-game items that take the toil out of level progression. This, perhaps more than any other factor, will drive price deflation on the App Store.
4. Cheap games are long term suicide
The contrary attitude, particularly from more established developers, states that selling games at 99 cents - despite micro-transaction support - isn’t sustainable even for the smallest companies. Of course, there will be some examples of success, but the majority of examples of using 99 cents for both the razor and the razor blades will end in failure.
Indeed, one publisher claims that in terms of the top 100 games on the App Store, average prices are now rising as a segment of the audience comes to realise the best, most innovative games are defined by their $5+ price point.
5. Fragmentation raises its ugly multiple heads
Compared to the spaghetti junction of mobile development, the App Store will long remain an oasis of serenity but fragmentation is increasing. Developers already have to deal with the minor differences between the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and the two versions of iPod touch. The iPhone 3G S will add another option.
Most obvious is the much improved processing capability will enable higher quality games, at least in terms of bumping up the graphics. A more subtle point is because 3G S content is likely to be contained within the same download binary - we don’t believe Apple will allow a separate version for 3G S releases - the size of binaries will increase, perhaps doubling in the case of some titles, making downloads more cumbersome.
6. When to support 3.0 and 3G S?
Everyone loves the new features contained within the 3.0 OS. Micro-transactions, push notification, peer to peer connectivity, voice chat, streaming video and audio, even the in-built compass has its fans. And, of course, no game developer worth the name is going to turn down the option of more processing capability in terms of iPhone 3G S.
But the question of when to add support, especially for 3.0, is causing furrowed brows. In particular, Apple’s decision to charge iPod touch users $10 to upgrade means that 20 million of the 40 million App Store-capable devices will follow a much longer upgrade path.
The result is that while everyone is planning such content, they’re all waiting for someone else to prove such features are economically sustainable first.
7. The first million dollar iPhone game
We’re pretty sure it hasn’t happened yet, but there have been several rumours about a couple of iPhone games that cost over $500,000 to develop. More typically, studios are regularly spending $250,000 on their products. The one million dollar game will happen sooner than you think however. It will likely be an MMOG, and if it’s a success, be very afraid.
8. If you don’t have community, you’ll die alone
Social networks will be a single biggest push for future iPhone games with leaderboards and friend challenges viewed as necessary element: even the most simple 99 cent puzzler should have them.
Thirdparty middleware such as the OpenFeint platform - which just launched its 2.0 version and is already used by over 400 developers - offer far deeper features. It’s also cheap enough to quickly become the de facto standard in terms of the level of integration with Facebook, as well as lobbies and chat rooms that operate across the games of many different developers.
The addition of Xbox Live Arcade-style achievements and gametags as in OpenFeint v2.0 will only increase developers ability to hold player within the games that use it.
9. Discover more discovery channels
Getting people to find your game on the App Store is a big hassle for developers and while we’re sure Apple will continue to improve this on device and through iTunes, publishers will aggressively push such features too.
We expect to see this in terms of in-game channels and the rise of publisher subscriptions - via micro-transactions - and offers delivered in-game via push notification. Shared community features also provide great opportunities for cross-selling.
In addition, there have been rumours that Apple will allow developers to bundle games in a similar way to the 2-for-1 deals currently used by mobile publishers to shift back catalogue.
10. Piracy
Not widely spoken about, especially on the record, but iPhone piracy is certainly out there and growing. One developer told us he thought it was running at about 25 percent on iPhone - compared to 90 percent for his Java games.
Both Apple and developers will have to think and act smartly to ensure a lid is kept on the one issue that could derail the otherwise cloudless sky of iPhone development.
Here’s a great list of games that are a blast to play and will waste massive amounts of your time! Here are games 1-4:
Puzzle Pirates
One of the more popular free games on the ‘net, Puzzle Pirates is a persistent MMO with a very casual bent. You create a cute pirate that looks like a Playmobil figure, and sail the seven seas in search of pieces ‘o eight. The catch is, each activity (and there are many, from manning the guns to repairing the ship to bilging out water) is performed with a simple puzzle game. Everyone on the ship plays their puzzle at the same time, and the cumulative performance determines how well your ship does. There are tons of community features, lots of help and tutorials, tournaments, clans, etc. There is a money angle, though—you can play for free forever, but you can also purchase a subscription or buy doubloons to access more advanced features.Freeciv
It’s Civilization, and it’s free! Okay, so maybe this free and open-source strategy game “inspired by” the beloved Civ doesn’t have all the nice UI features or pretty graphics of Civilization IV. Maybe Freeciv has more in common with Civ II than the modern entries in the series. Once you come to grips with the keyboard commands and the way the game presents information on research, diplomacy, and cities, it’s really just as addictive as any other Civ game. Just…one…more…turn.TribesNext
Remember Tribes 2? There was still a hardcore community of players when Vivendi shut down the authentication and game list servers last year. Fortunately, there’s TribesNext, a free patch to restore multiplayer functionality with a new free authentication server and lobby. Oh, and the game’s free too, so you can just go download both the client and patch at the TribesNext site. What are you waiting for? Party like it’s 2001!Ikariam
Take control of a town on a small Mediterranean island in this browser-based strategy multiplayer game. The pace is leisurely to the point of being something you only need to check in on from time to time. Set your people to gather some resources and start construction on a new building or two, then check in on your little corner of the world in a few hours. Ikariam is built for this—close your browser window whenever and your workers continue to work, your researchers continue to research…you get the idea.You’re playing with other real people, so there is opportunity for diplomacy, trading, and armed conflict. You can spend real-world money to buy “Ambrosia” which you then exchange for increased resource gathering rates or advanced features that let you see more of your buildings at a glance, but the whole game is essentially playable for free. It’s actually a fairly deep, yet accessible game that’s quite easy to play without a lot of time investment.
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from the GlobeandMail.com:
People have long been able to watch YouTube videos on their televisions through media centre PCs, Apple TV, and the web browsers of certain game consoles, but the experience is less than ideal. YouTube was designed for the 18-inch viewing experience of someone sitting at a desk; its text and video thumbnails are just too small and unwieldy for the couch-bound.
Hence YouTube for Television, a new interface for the popular video sharing site designed specifically for the ten-foot living room viewing experience and optimized for web browsers available for the Wii and PlayStation 3 (plans are in place to roll it out for browser-equipped set-top boxes in the future).
I powered up my Wii this morning and headed over to www.youtube.com/tv to try it out. After spending almost a minute waiting for the site to load, I found myself on a simplified version of the YouTube home page that consisted of three tabs across the top allowing users to search, sort videos, and access their YouTube accounts, and four large video thumbnails below that showed the most viewed, top rated, currently featured, and most recent YouTube clips. The few words present were giant and easy to read.
As far as browsing content goes, YouTube’s new TV interface is just as powerful as its PC counterpart. Searching for videos was a snap, and all of the standard tools—including favourites, playlists, and subscriptions—were just a couple of clicks away. Plus, you can set video playback to auto-play, which starts up a new video the moment the current video stops playing, simulating to a degree the experience of watching one program after another on television.
However, there are a few missing features for which some avid YouTubers might pine, such as user comments and the ability to upload videos. It seems Google’s goal in developing the TV interface was to facilitate a better viewing experience, even if it came at the expense of community and contribution.
On the topic of viewing experience, the videos don’t appear to be of any higher resolution than what you’d find on your PC, which means when they’re blown up on a TV several times the size of a computer monitor they look grainy and splotchy. I was sitting about two metres back from my 42-inch set and I found many of the videos difficult to watch. The image quality was a bit more palatable when I moved back an additional metre, but I’m not about to move my couch just so I can better appreciate YouTube videos.
And that’s the crux of the streaming-web-video-on-television issue. It doesn’t matter how smart or simple the interface; until YouTube video resolution gets bumped up a few notches I won’t want to watch the site’s clips on my high-definition set.
Still, I’m happy I took the time to check out YouTube for Television, if for no other reason than that I stumbled across the video below—a machinima dance-off between a group of Halo Spartans and characters from Unreal Tournament. Bless nerds with time on their hands.
Warsaw, Poland – November 18, 2008 – Today GOG.com, the best place for digitally distributed, DRM-free PC classics, announced an agreement with Epic Games, Inc. that will bring several titles in the renowned studio’s Unreal series to GOG.com. Under the agreement, Unreal Gold (including the Return to Napali expansion pack), Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition, Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor’s Choice Edition will soon be added to the GOG.com games catalogue, completely DRM-free, compatible with modern operating systems, packed with bonus materials and sold at unreal prices.
“Epic Games redefined the first-person shooter with the Unreal series, and we’re very happy to welcome them to the growing list of companies that share our vision of digital distribution,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “We know that a lot of gamers have been waiting for new deals, and we’re sure that the Unreal games will satisfy their lust for alien blood and intense multiplayer action… DRM-free, of course.”
“Epic has partnered with GOG.com to make our time-honored Unreal series more accessible than ever before,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president of Epic Games. “GOG.com provides an affordable way to buy our back catalogue of games and get up and running with minimal effort.”
The Unreal games have already begun to appear in the GOG.com games catalogue with today’s release of Unreal Gold (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/unreal_gold) and Unreal Tournament: GotY Edition (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/unreal_tournament_goty). More titles, as well as announcements of additional publishers and new site features, will appear in the coming weeks.
Came across a good story in the NYT via Valleywag on Gamestop.
“Everyone argued that games would be distributed online … but these guys stuck to their game plan.” That’s true, but GameStop’s success is mostly due to the nascent state of digital distribution. Broadband is still too slow, and console hard drives are still too small. Those limitations hinder the sale of full-length, multiple-gigabyte games. GameStop’s success has been a matter of luck as much as timing. Playing videogames has grown as a mainstream obsession even faster than the broadband pipes that were supposed to make GameStop’s business model obsolete. That, and it’s still really hard to download a Wii.
It’s true that the conventional wisdom of a store beating out the digital distribution model is strange, but that’s exactly what’s happened here.
PLAY
