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iPhone 3GS Graphics Can Top PSP’s – Fishlabs

Tom Ivan's picture

By Tom Ivan

June 10, 2009

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Michael Schade, the boss of Germany-based mobile game developer Fishlabs, believes Apple’s new iPhone 3GS will prove a greater rival to Sony’s PSP platform than its predecessor.

“The OpenGL 2.0 support will push the iPhone beyond PSP,” he told Pocket Gamer.

However, he also noted that game creators will initially be wary of attempting to push the device’s graphical capabilities to the limit due to high early development costs.

“As graphic assets need to be designed from scratch to benefit from 2.0 shaders it will be very hard to monetise the extra effort in the early days. It's definitely not worth it for $0.99 apps.

“It makes more sense now to have a setting for extra high graphics to run on iPod touch 2 and iPhone 3GS,” he added, “even if that means more dev efforts and testing.”

Unveiled this week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2009, the iPhone 3GS is set to launch later this month.

CyberData4's picture
On June 11th CyberData4 said:

They *can*. But they won't. Remember, a PSP or DS doesn't have to have an entire OS running in the background dealing w/ other processes such as your music playing, checking your email, incoming text messages, incoming calls....etc. All that crap going on while your game is running is going to limit the potential of the device.

Another reason why the iPhone will NEVER have portable games with the production value seen on the DS and PSP is simply because most development teams aren't going to spend millions to make a game on the iphone to charge 9.99 at most. EA might, but then again...the Sims 3 on iphone is a crash fest with no quality control.

iphone gaming is great for quick potato chip fun. But if you're looking for deeper portable games...the DS and PSP are still top tier.

mutant_clown's picture
On June 11th mutant_clown said:

That's nice and dandy, but where are the games?

Alex Hardy's picture
On June 11th Alex Hardy said:

You're absolutely right. The iPhone can't do "proper" games, as videos like these prove :)

http://www.firemint.com/realracing

http://rolando2.ngmoco.com

http://stardefense.ngmoco.com

http://blimp.craneballs.com

mutant_clown's picture
On June 12th mutant_clown said:

Are they any good? reviews? links? That all?

s2h's picture
On June 11th s2h said:

I agree, motion control is only good for certain games and trying to map a d-pad onto the screen like some games do now is a disaster. The iPhone does need an attachable pad so it can capture all genres.

I disagree that the motion control is good for racing. Its great to show off the tech and for casual types but is impractical for serious gamers.

Dan_Chippendale's picture
On June 11th Dan_Chippendale said:

a clip on peripheral would be my choice too, but I can't see how that would work, as some people might have them, some not. Then how would you create games for both users? Now a blue tooth controller for the iPhone would be great, one that could either clip on or be held away from the phone itself... oh hang on.. that would make it a games console..

Alex Hardy's picture
On June 10th Alex Hardy said:

I kinda agree, but not 100%. There are definitely genres the iPhone doesn't lend itself to - beat 'em ups for instance. Other genres that it *can* do very well are racers, puzzlers, physics-based platformers, strategy, even action-RPGs.

First-person shooters remain to be seen, although with ID working on Doom and Ngmoco releasing Livefire it'll be interesting to see.

My favourite gaming handheld is the DS, but I love my iPhone too. I remember doubting that a Zelda or Metroid game could work with a stylus - how wrong can you be!

Hopefully iPhone developers will be able to co-operate and thrash out some kind of "industry standard" for iPhone inputs mapped to joypad etc that can drive third party controllers.

An iPhone with a controller snapped to it would be no more ungainly than a PSPGo...

Tony-Wicks's picture
On June 10th Tony-Wicks said:

Great, but for gaming it's like having a PS3/ Xbox 360 without a gamepad. Pretty games with limited control options leading to shallower experiences.