Paul Farley is a gaming industry veteran, having worked on the development of the Grand Theft Auto series and State of Emergency, as well as spending time at I-Play as Head of Design before founding Tag Games. He posted a guest editorial over at the Mobile Games Blog, speaking about the impact that the iPhone has had on mobile gaming. Farley draws many comparisons to the Wii and the Wiimote, and points out that Tag Games’ experience with the Zeemote gives them an edge up on the competition when it comes to designing for a new interface paradigm (such as the iPhone touch screen).
Strangely absent from his comparison is the Nintendo DS, which also features a touch screen. Despite the two screens on the DS, many games would port over quite easily, especially considering the much more impressive specs on the iPhone. This ties in with another point Farley makes, which is that that many customers will expect more from iPhone games than just J2ME or BREW ports, given the price point and the capabilities of the phone.
Farley also notes the edge Apple has over carriers: the iTunes platform. Many people are already familiar with the iTunes store, from purchasing music and movies or from iPod games. Anyone familiar with the experience is likely to prefer it over operator portals.
0 Responses to “Grand Theft Auto developer speaks about iPhone”