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In previous years, Get Into Games has dealt more with trends than seismic industry events. You’ll read plenty about the latter in this year’s edition, from the gradually healing rift between education and industry to the rapidly growing value of download models for indies. But if there’s a star, it must surely be Apple’s iPhone.

This divine piece of kit has shattered several myths, starting with the one about mobile gaming being a second-rate alternative to consoles and handhelds. In E205, HandCircus’ Rolando 2: The Quest For The Golden Orchid scored a 9, making it the highest-rated game of the month. Other statistics include the barely believable download figures for the recently opened App Store, and the considerable uptake of the iPhone SDK by thousands of developers. We’ll come to those, shortly before Rolando creator Simon Oliver leads us through the game’s development.

But what does iPhone mean for you, the aspiring student or graduate? Even if your sights remain set on roles at Infinity Ward, Media Molecule, Telltale Games or Crytek, all of which are described here by their current occupants, can you really afford to ignore it? As the influence of the App Store spreads into games, universities and households everywhere, will you even have a choice?

This, of course, is just the latest curveball thrown to an education system struggling to keep up. There are still good courses and bad ones and few tips on telling one from the other. This year, we ask Fighting Fantasy creator and Lionhead founder Steve Jackson to show us his curriculum, and travel overseas to see how things compare in Canada and Sweden. A veteran voice from newcomer Hello Games, meanwhile, shares his experience of the entire process, from lecture halls in Ireland to sitting interviews at Criterion and Kuju.

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