This weekend saw me finally take the plunge and buy an iPhone. The reason I decided to get one? Because of the games I kid you not. Honestly I’ve come across websites that have reviewed some iPhone games and my desire for the phone increased drastically.Being able to play games like 3D Homerun Battle, Baseball Stars 2010, Sword & Poker 2, Zenonia and Axion finally persuaded me to go for an iPhone and the salesperson (despite me telling myself that I would only ask for a price) did a good job of hypnotising me with an offer I couldn’t refuse.
So over the weekend, I’ve been playing a few iPhone games (mainly Zenonia) and despite a few issues (the in-game control is a bit of a pain) I am convinced that the iPhone (and the iPad) is not just a great platform for games, but it could be considered a handheld in its own right.
The amount of games that are on offer is staggering and they are pretty reasonably priced although some of the more “bigger” games can be more pricy. However, there are games that are very cheap or even free that still offer fantastic gameplay. I recommended sites like Pocket Gamer if you want to check out what games are available - http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/latest.asp?sec=7
The iPhone is another platform that Train2Game students could use to design and promote their games. The majority of iPhone games are “on-the-go” type of games that the increasing number of casual gamers love to play. Games such as Chess: Pirates Vs Ninjas and Carbon Strom Front and other numerous projects that the Train2Game students are working on could find the iPhone a suitable home and a useful platform to distribute their games commercially.
The power of convergence has truly made the iPhone has become a serious contender in the handheld market. The chance for profit is also a good reason to start developing for the iPhone.
According to Alex Ahlund, former CEO of AppVee and current adviser to Appolicious, the average iPhone app costs $6,500 (£4493) to make. While that may seem like a lot of money for indie developers, the average download an app can expect to have –should it become popular – is around 100,000, which would lead to a huge profit, even if a game was sold at a low 59p. Even those that aren’t top sellers manage to gain around 11,600 downloads, which is still enough for a profit at the lowest selling price.
So developing for the iPhone seems to be worth the risk, as the potential for using it as a successful platform is huge, despite the market being crowded.
Sources: http://www.develop-online.net/news/34840/Study-Average-iPhone-app-downloaded-100k-times
http://www.develop-online.net/news/34839/Average-iPhone-app-costs-6500
