iPhone gaming: Top Five Unanswered Questions

The iPhone SDK is out there, (And actually it just had an update today.) and we know a lot of people are working on a lot of great applications, many of which will be games. Unlike the launch of a true gaming console at CES or the heyday of E3, this is the rare instance in which millions of the "console" have already sold, and no one quite knows what will happen with games. And so we present (in no particular order) the top five unanswered questions about gaming on the iPhone.

1. Is the hardware up to the challenge? Or more precisely, how much of the hardware power will Apple allow to be unleashed? According to specs from Roughlydrafted.com, iPhone specs include a 620mhz processor (underclocked to 412mhz), compared to the 67mhz ARM processor in the DS, and a 333mhz processor in the PSP. Of course as anyone from the PowerPC days knows, processor speed is only a small part of the story. The iPhone also has four times the RAM, and much more than ten times the storage capacity. However, it is after all, a phone. How much of this hardware can be maxed out for gameplay? How much of that RAM needs to be ready for use by mail, iTunes, Safari, etc? How hard does Apple want to push the hardware, and was this in mind when the phone was designed? After all, some have questioned whether Apple ever wanted to put out an SDK to begin with.

2. What will happen with battery life? Again, related to just how much of that raw hardware power Apple wants to unleash. The processor is already underclocked by more than 100mhz, presumably to save battery life. And as mentioned on this blog previously, battery life can be slightly shorter than expected already. What happens when you have 3D graphics running all the time during game play, as well as accelerometer input, etc? Look for a surge in 3rd party battery solutions to give gamers more juice.

3. What happens when the phone rings? When you're playing most consoles and the phone rings, you can ignore it, or glance over at your phone and take the call. It's presumable that gameplay will pause, and a dialog box will ask you whether to take the call. Given the concern over Apple's limitations on running apps in the background though, will you lose your game/saved data? This seems like an unlikely scenario, yet the SDK limitations could be interpreted to show this as a potential problem.

4. Can your music be integrated with gameplay? Already some games for the iPod allow you to continue listening to your iTunes while playing. Will Apple's restrictions around music, ie. not allowing developers to access iTunes, limit this capability on the phone? And more importantly, will it limit the creation of exciting new games that could integrate the users media already stored on the device? Imagine a 3rd person shooter in which the tv in one of the settings is playing your favorite music videos. Personalization could be taken to a whole new level, or it could whither on the vine.

5. What about wifi/bluetooth? Three cell phones ago, I enjoyed playing Battleship with a friend via bluetooth. Yes it was nerdy to sit there at the same table and play on two different phones. But it was also fun. The bluetooth functionality of the iPhone is limited right now, to put it kindly. Devices like bluetooth-enabled cars, with integrated address books are unable to communicate with the phone. Will we see more support of bluetooth standards in general, or will developers have to create their own solutions? And even if they can, will Apple give them access to the system calls and underlying OS to make that possible? The same questions surround wi-fi. Will iPhones be able to communicate directly with each other? Will a wifi network be required?

Clearly those five questions lead to many, many more. What are your predictions? Let us know in the comments.