iPod game
An iPod game is a video game playable on the portable music player, the iPod, from Apple Inc.. The original iPod had the game Brick (originally invented by Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak) included as an easter egg, or a hidden extra feature, and later firmware versions added it as a menu option. Later revisions of the iPod added three more games in addition to Brick: Parachute, Solitaire, and Music Quiz.
On September 12 2006, the iTunes Store began to offer nine additional games for purchase with the launch of iTunes 7, compatible with the fifth generation iPod with iPod software 1.2 or later. Those games were: Bejeweled, Cubis 2, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Tetris, Texas Hold 'Em, Vortex, and Zuma. These games were made available for purchase from the iTunes Store for US$4.99 each. On December 19 2006, two more games were released by EA Mobile at the same price: Royal Solitaire and Sudoku, bringing the total to eleven games. Then, on February 27 2007, Ms. Pac-Man was released raising the total number of games available to twelve. On April 24 2007, iQuiz was released to bring the total to thirteen. All thirteen games may be purchased together for US$60.87. On May 22 2007 Apple released Lost: The Video Game based on the television show, which is made by Gameloft Gamestudios. Apple also released on June 22 2007 SAT Prep 2008 by Kaplan. This was introduced as 3 separate educational games based on the subjects writing, reading, and math. In December 2007, the iPod released Sega's classic game; Sonic the Hedgehog, which was originally packaged with the Sega Genesis system in the early 1990's. With excellent third parties like Namco, EA, Sega, and Hudson Soft all making games for the iPod, Apple's MP3 player has taken great steps in entering the video game handheld console market. Even video game magazines like GamePro & EGM have reviewed and rated most of their games as of late.
The games are in the form of an .ipg file (iPod game), which is a .zip archive in disguise. When unzipped, it reveals executable files along with common audio and image files, leading to the possibility of third party games. Currently Apple has no publicly available SDK for iPod development.[1]
Current Games
The current game titles available to download as of Tuesday December 18 2007 (in order of release) are:
Default Games
These are the default games that come on the newest iPods.
| iPod Version | Title/s | Publishers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPod Classic 6G | Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike | Apple Computer | |
| iPod Nano 3G | Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike | Apple Computer |
.[2]
Criticism
iTunes has come under much criticism due to the UK price of iPod games, GB£3.99 (about US$7.40). Many people from the UK have given the games 1* ratings, stating that Apple is "ripping off" Britain.
A similar thing has occurred in Australia. Australians pay $7.49 AUD, while the regular exchange rate hovers at between $5.00 and $6.00 AUD.
Developers have criticized Apple for not creating a software development kit (SDK) for software developers to create new iPod games. This is likely to keep the DRM scheme of iPod games closed.
When iPod Classic and iPod Nano 3rd Gen was released the games bought for the old iPods cannot be synced with them thus making many users angry because of their lost investment.
Unofficial Games
Some older iPod units are capable of using replacement firmware such as iPod Linux and Rockbox. These firmware projects can play many other games including a native port of Doom, and via a native port of the gameboy emulator Gnuboy many other games including Super Mario, Pokemon, MegaMan, Kirby, The Legend of Zelda, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and hundreds more.
References
- ^ "What's Inside an iPod Game?" bensinclair.com, 2006-09-14.
- ^ "Fun for your iPod", 2007-11-26.
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