"Apple's Next iPhone Will Rule at Gaming" (3rd gen

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/third-generatio.html

 

Kind of bitter sweet really.

The reason I like developing on closed platforms is; by definition, you know what hardware you have to work with. It's already a pain having to test on 1st gen Touch's, but now we have 3 levels of hardware to support?

But...

I'd rather have the option than not.

 

<vent>
agreed greg - i'd kill for a fixed fps on one of my current projects!
</vent>

[edit: and oops! seriously off topic!]

 

I think there are pros cons here. The upside is that Apple is making a big push on gaming (which is awesome). Already their publishing model shows they are paying attention and having beefier hardware is going to allow for new forms of compelling content which is a win for everyone as I see it.

Sure it means hobbyists will have to be more creative and not just copy other's works, but who says that is a bad thing?

As for supporting multiple handsets, an annual cycle is not too different from developing for the Mac, and you can always lock your feature set to one or the other depending on who you want to reach and what you want to create.

 

on topic... agreed joe!

 

I like it finally will make buying a iphone worth it to me and getting the iphone develpper's kit for unity1

 

There are PowerVR chips that support OpenGL ES 2.0 now, so it's a good bet we are going to get shaders in this next version. Not to mention more texture memory, etc. That means that Unity for iPhone is going to make a bit more sense.

I'm also excited about the implications for Apple desktops and laptops in the future. Like it or not, iPods and iPhones bring people to the Mac platform. It's going to make business sense to begin positioning a Mac for gamers for those types of "halo switchers."

Finally, giant $$$ are staring the face of Apple in the name of gaming. If it pans out that way, this news could be great for EVERY Unity user, iPhone or no.

 

Ha, sweet. So my guesses were right

 

I just hope that the upgraded iTouch this time is released in time with the new iphone and especially that Apple starts making the real specifications available to the devs.

Many who wanted an iPhone got a 3G and are now 12 to likely 24 month bound to their not too cheap contracts, so a new, even if more performant iPhone, will be on hold for many of the "already addicted users", which is why I hope to see a new iTouch soon after as well. I still have a 1st generation iTouch so an upgrade there would make sense for me for development purpose.

 

Except that they will always be very useful to test/make your game on them as they are the slowest of all iPod/iPhone. So if your game runs well on a first gen, you can be sure it will run well on the other ones.

But yeah, if we ne have OpenGL 2.0 with the new gen of iPod, then it would make sens to own both a first gen (for compatibility purposes) and a third gen in order to create very cool effects using Pixel Shaders.

Sounds exciting!

 

Sorry to throw water on the post but this is all speculation....Apple have not made any anouncements on what they will be adding or where they will be takeing the iphone in the future my guess is apple will keep us guessing for a long time yet

 

If you look at the release pattern (iPhone - June 2007, iPhone 3G - July 2008...) then perhaps it won't be too long until Apple gives us the low down...

 

I hope so....my guess is that they might op for enhanceing the camera features and video footage but not much else and they will probably make it seem as if there pioneering the mobile industry when they do that...I mean what they did with 3g was a joke 3g should of been built into the earlier release of the Iphone and not as a after thought but they made it out as if it was the latest thing since slice bread instead of old outdated technology....

 

Guess it depends on what you focus on. The changes were not minor if you look at them in total.

New with iPhone 3G:
- 3G (ok)
- talk longer (on 2G networks)
- lighter (by .1g)
- headphone jack is not recessed (useful to some)
- GPS (huge awesome update IMO, now if only Unity would support it )

Some of those are minor, but as a whole it's not too shabby eh?

 

fair point joe....however the GPS feature was important but again hardly ground breaking but glad its there and looking forward to a upgrade of unity iphone that allows us to use the afore mentioned feature

 

Hopefully the next iPod Touch comes out soon. I've been meaning to get one of those, now I think I'll wait until there's a brand new one.

 

The current one's only been out less than 5 months, so it seems unlikely to be updated any time soon.

--Eric