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Super Monkey Ball On iPhone Sells 300k

Zach Lott — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:32:02 -0500

It has been just a month since the launch of the iPhone's new App Store gave people yet another new version of Super Monkey Ball, but sales for the game are already flowing in, as it has sold 300k units, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is big news for proponents of game development on the iPhone, who have argued that the system is capable of competing with the DS and PSP for market share of the handheld gaming industry.

"That's a substantial business. It gives iPhone a justifiable claim to being a viable gaming platform," said Simon Jeffery, president of Sega of America. Sega grossed nearly three million dollars from the game by selling it for $9.99.

Keep your eyes open for news on the performance of other iPhone games, as their success (or failure) will have an interesting impact on whether or not the iPhone will truly emerge as a third viable handheld.

iPhone 3G Release Tomorrow At 8AM

Tim Grube — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:56:34 -0500

Its almost time. In one day, Apple will release the iPhone 3G (July 11) for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a new two-year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers.

The App Store will be available beginning today via iTunes 7.7 and part of the free iPhone 2.0 software update for all iPhone customers on July 11. iPhone 2.0 is also available for iPod touch users for $9.95. Apple also announced today that more than 500 native applications will be available on the iPhone's App Store when Apple's iPhone 3G goes on sale tomorrow.

"iPhone enables The Associated Press to deliver news in a way that simply wasn't possible before," said Benjamin Mosse, director of Mobile Products, The Associated Press. "Taking advantage of iPhone's revolutionary location-based services, our Mobile News network can capture and store local news stories that can be read by users even when they're offline and our award winning photography and AP video are displayed in stunning clarity on its high resolution screen."

Yes, we know this is a gaming blog but many of our fans use or are interested in the iPhone. Heck, we even may be covering user-created games for the device in the future!

Spore and COD4 Mac-bound. Is Mac Gaming Going To Improve?

Aaron Dunlap — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:45:52 -0600

We in the gaming world typically don't need to pay attention to the Macworld Expo for news, since it's been pretty well-known that gaming on the Mac sucks. One of the "hottest" games on the Mac right now is Age of Empires III, which came out something like 400 years ago.

Macs use Intel chips now, and the market share is expanding day by day. There's no reason for the gaming market to be so bleak on the Mac, and it looks like perhaps things are starting to make a turn.

Today, Activision announced that uber-hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be coming to the Mac via game-porting specialists Aspyr. Yesterday it was revealed via EA that Spore is being developed for the Mac, and is even available on display at Macworld.

I do most of my work on a MacBook Pro but I have to hang onto a Windows box for the sake of the few PC games worth playing that come out every year or so. If the PC and Mac gaming markets were a little more symmetrical, I'd be ecstatic for one, but I think it would be good for gaming and great for Apple.

Go into an Apple store and the only games you'll see on those machines are such fare as Finding Nemo and some new age analog of Reader Rabbit. Aren't Macs supposed to be for the young, hipster, media-savvy crowd? Shoddy ports coming out months late doesn't strike me as very hip or savvy.

This could be a product of Microsoft's buddy-buddy status with the publishers. They've dumped millions on this "Games for Windows" concept, and pushed DirectX on the developers like smack on a pre-teen. It could also be a product of legacy. Games started out on computers, and although this tricked-out "gaming rig" trend is a recent phenom, PCs have always been seen as gaming vehicles.

They're also beginning to be seen as antiquated, and Apple is moving in as the younger alternative. If they'd like one hell of a boost in that direction, a decent library of video games would do that.