Allow me to state the obvious:
The iPod Touch sucks as a portable gaming device.
No, it's got a very nice display, and the accelerometer lets you do some interesting controls with it, but i have to admit that none of the games i've played on the device have really been all that compelling.
Perhaps my non-transparent thumbs make tapping at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time a bit harder. Perhaps the fact that when my device "sleeps" because i need to suddenly do something else, the game doesn't really stop. Perhaps it's the fact that i'm used to dedicated, offset controls. (Ask anyone who's played a motion controlled driving game while on a bus or in the back of a car what it's like sometime.)
i'm sure that there may be some great game out there that really works fantastic on the iPod Touch. i'm sure it's delightful. i'm also pretty sure that i didn't buy a $60 multi-tool because it had a Phillip's head screwdriver. (Or a pair of pliers, or a knife, or any of the other single items on it.) That's because individually none of those items are fantastic and justify the price of purchase alone. It's the fact that i can have all of them (or reasonable representations of them) bundled together that made that purchase decision for me.
So, no Mr. Jobs, i don't believe that the iPod Touch is the future of portable gaming. i honestly would have preferred having a device that has features like the iPhone, except for the obviously expensive "phone" bits. i was willing to give you money for such a device even though the one i have is still working quite nicely.
(Oh yeah, also calling shenanigans on the whole "A still camera would have made the ipod thicker vs the thin CCD camera" because, you know, nobody every managed to screen-cap an image from a video stream before.)
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justinpie2009-09-12 11:02:20The handful of games that actually work on the Touch are things like Sudoku or crossword puzzles - with no time limit, and no risk of failure if my fat fingers get in the way. The thing can hardly play Pac-Man. I think the Touch is the closest thing we have to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- that's a lot cooler than billing it as another Gameboy.
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callous2009-09-12 12:07:31Glad I'm not the only one that was asking WTF after that ridiculously interest-free presentation. I'm completely willing to accept that I'm a freak and that everyone else uses the iPod Touch for gaming, because if popular culture has taught me one thing, it's that my preferences and uses are not the norm. But does anyone have any data that suggests people actually are doing this? If the possibly forthcoming Apple tablet uses the same OS and UI model, then I can see the push for gaming utility now because a 10" device will probably have the opportunity to deliver an interesting experience. But that's just me projecting.
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Kent Brewster2009-09-19 18:23:33I like Wurdle, Edge, Strategery, and Geo-Defense. Especially geoDefense; it's a brilliant Desktop Tower Defense clone that gets a lot of the picky stuff--saving the action when somebody pages you, for instance--exactly right.
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2009-09-28 14:34:42The iPod touch and iPhone w/shiny games and movies are the new electric babysitter for silicon valley parents.
