Apple Brags: iPhone Gaming Superior to PSP

Greg Joswiak eats, sleeps and breathes iPhone. As the Vice President of Product Marketing for Apple, he certainly should. However in his enthusiasm for all things Apple, he might have gotten a bit carried away this week when he proclaimed that the Apple iPhone (and Touch) offers a gaming experience that is superior to systems already being offered by Sony and Nintendo. In an interview with technology magazine T3, Joswiak said that the combination of powerful processor, touch input and download service meant that other gaming systems were simply living "in the past". He also announced that licensed versions of Sim City and Need for Speed Undercover would be making their way to the iPhone App store soon.

We agree with Joswiak that the App store opens up a lot of promising possibilities for mobile gaming. However, we strongly doubt that the device will be able to steal a significant marketshare from either Sony or Nintendo in the long term. Here are some reasons why we disagree with Joswiak's optimistic assessment:

Sony and Nintendo have App Stores too -- Sony just launched a successful PSP version of their PlayStation Store, which offers full first party games directly for download to memory stick. Nintendo has plans to follow up with their own DS Shop Channel once the DSi officially launches in North America.

The PSP is a dedicated gaming machine -- The PSP was built for gaming. It has an analog stick, face buttons, and even shoulder triggers. Anyone who has played a game using the iPhone touch input has undoubtedly wished for a control scheme even half as good as the one currently offered on the PSP.

Too much junk/casual content on iPhone -- The reason that there are so many games available on the App store is because development is open to anybody with $200 and a dream. The fact that much of the content is junk should not surprise very many people. In the rare case when an iPhone developer actually has a good idea, the game usually plays more like an unfinished tech demo and less like an actual, full-fledged game. That is why these bite-sized apps usually sell for less than $10.

It could be that some day the Apple iPhone will be able to directly compete with dedicated gaming systems like the PSP and DS. However, there are several things holding the iPhone back from being a perfect gaming device. Apple needs to offer a better control scheme, a more mature lineup of feature-rich games, and a few killer third-party apps, before gamers are ready to proclaim the PSP obsolete.

[Source: T3]