Submitted by Comparisons between iPhone and the Wii have already been fairly abundant simply because the two have arguably garnered the top spots in”electronic gadget mindshare” for at least a year each. But looking at the demos today, OFB’s Timothy R. Butler thinks perhaps the iPhone could be on its way to being the Wii of portable devices— literally.
I doubt that.
The first thing when I think about the Wii is NOT ‘too freaking expensive’.
But what else beyond playing games can you do with a Wii? How portable is a Wii?
Can you use the Wii online and browse the web?
Can you synch it with your data/contacts on your PC/Mac?
Can you call a friend with it, or someone else?
Perhaps the Wii is a great thing for what it does, but it doesn’t have nearly the flexibility/functionality of the iPhone, so it can’t reasonably expect to command nearly the same price. Chances are, the Wii is going to be a better game machine in terms of human usability, but it is quite tethered by the same thing that makes it a better device for playing games.
For all that the iPhone can do for its price, it really is a Wii little thing that’s a great value
The Wii can go online and browse the web.
But, you can’t take it with you, so it isn’t a real competitor in that area for portability. Is there something online that the Wii can browse through and use in a meaningful way that the iPhone can’t, perhaps such as the oft-despised Flash? I suspect the iPhone will wind up with a Java port one way or another: it has more than enough CPU power and physical RAM to be manage that, as well as more than enough guaranteed-to-be-there flash RAM.
No one is saying that they are competing in any sort of way.
What they are doing is comparing how each device has impacted their respective markets.
opera is available on the DS iirc…
“Which is more useful for polishing furniture? Today we compare a popular brand of furniture polish with… a claw hammer. And look at that! The polish does a better job than the hammer!”
Um, what’s your point? But since you asked. Yes you can browse the web. Yes you can Sync it with your PC/Mac (sorta, you can create a Mii from your computer and export). No you can’t call your friends but you can communicate with them through the Mii community.
The suggestion here is that the iPhone is like a portable Wii not that the Wii isn’t as good as an iPhone because it’s not portable or doesn’t do this or that.
The point here is the iPhone/iTouch has a vast amount of possibilities for some innovating gaming based on motion just like the Wii.
Tethered. Um, what do you expect from a consoles controller? Portable? Not really the point of the Wii. Though the Wii Mote is quite portable and you can take your Mote and move from Wii to Wii with your Mii and play as you. Or did you mean portable gaming? Um DS. Different product.
On the other hand, if the SDK allowed access to the Bluetooth capabilities of the iPhone, it might be possible to program it to talk to the Wii Mote. That might be interesting.
Neither, of course, is the iPod touch, which handily runs the same OS and applications.
…that it will give the Sony PSP a run for it’s money. It basically does what that does, and a host of other things too. So for a bit more you get a lot more…
Anyway, just a thought…
yeah, totally. ‘Cause, everyone will LOVE playing games using only tilt sensors and a multitouch screen instead of having actual tactile buttons for playing on.
I can see the iPhone having some fun games that require using a touchscreen, but for anything that requires fine control and such, like a racing sim, I can’t see being that fun on it. it’d get old real fast having to squeeze the phone and rotate it around. I can also see people breaking screens smashing virtual buttons too hard. I’ve broken quite a few game controls doing that. You get caught up in the game and don’t realize how hard you are doing it
That being said, there’s a bunch of games that would work fine with the touchscreen. Like 3D MMORPGs and what not
THat’d be a blast to have something like WoW on your phone… hehe..
Edited 2008-03-08 02:59 UTC
‘Cause, everyone will LOVE playing games using only tilt sensors and a multitouch screen instead of having actual tactile buttons for playing on.
Yup, and nobody thought the Wii would catch on too.
Oh look, they’re outselling the competition 3:1.
Multi-touch opens up new gaming possibilities just as much as motion-sensing has on the Wii, and they’re only just getting started on that. iPhone development will move at a much swifter pace than the Wii.
kroc… The Wii also still has buttons.
This is a pointless argument
We will just have to wait and see.
… hit enter too soon and forgot to edit. .heh.
I wish they’d come out with a sprint version of the iPhone. I’m NOT going to go to AT&T. ever.
Yep. this is perfect for the those DS games like Brainage. WarioWare woudl be perfect on the iPhone. I have the SDk I guess i better start working on that clone.
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I take it you haven’t handled an iPhone or watched the stress test videos out there. From what I’ve seen and read, you practically have to hit the thing with a large hammer to break it; it’s a very solid device. In one video on YouTube, it was dropped face-first four feet onto concrete without a single chip or scratch. That is simply amazing to me.
I completely agree. I’ve said in previous iPhone articles here that I’m not planning on getting one, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that once the SDK matures, this is exactly the kind of device I’ve been waiting for. I had planned on “upgrading” from my Treo, whose features I barely use beyond talking, SMS, email and VERY light browsing, to a Nokia N73 which is technically superior for what I need. Now, though…I’m going to make the drive to an Apple store and play with one for a bit. If it’s useable right now for my above listed needs, I may just take the plunge and get one. The video of the SDK roadmap event really impressed me.
yes, I’ve seen the videos. Dropping it on concrete isn’t exactly the same as smashing the same small area over and over again. Stress will eventually take it’s toll.
But who knows… maybe not.
When was the last time repeatedly tapping your finger on glass broke it. I would love to see some video of that. The screen is made to be tapped to, they know there are some gorillas out there who don’t know the meaning of tapping and translate that into jabbing or possibly stabbing, Typing text requires a lot of screen interaction and I have yet to hear anything about the screen getting damaged. Not to mention that apple is pretty good when it comes to replacing devices if you have Applecare.
yeah, good points. I’m just saying SOMEONE will end up breaking their screen playing a game
No, I’m pretty sure you are probably the only person to have ever broken their controller from hitting the buttons too hard.
…and I’m pretty sure you probably don’t know many gamers. I know several people that have broken controllers.
If nothing else, it’s just from wear and tear from playing a LOT. ‘Course, most people probably wont have their iPhones that long… They will most likely upgrade every few years..
Anyway,s I’m suddenly reminded of “arguing on the internet is like competing in the special Olympics. Even if you win, you are still retarded”
One possibility I see for the button problem is building the ‘buttons’ as part of of the interface. No you don’t have tactile buttons but it still might work.
Yeah, we mentioned that
That would work OK.
Sure, except that the PSP cost a fraction of the price, has infintiely more and better games and has better controls for gaming.
It doesn’t have to clone every great feature of the PSP to cut into its market share, though probably not by much. They really are worlds apart, but for a very casual gamer like me, the iPhone makes sense as a do-it-all device. I’m just not willing to drop $200-300 for a portable console that, while having great games and familiar controls, barely does more than play said games. Yes, I know it does video and Skype, and even browses the web, but that’s still quite vertical.
It all comes down to what a person needs out of a device. For people like me, the iPhone is a world-class communicator, with the added bonus of near-PSP-quality gaming ability, limited only by the controls and the internal storage capacity. As another said here, the iPhone has the potential to be the absolute leader in portable MMORPGs for the foreseeable future. You have a device that is always online, with a robust 3D architecture, adequate storage, and an innovative control scheme. Games similar to World of Warcraft would be very playable on a touch-and-tilt interface, and something along the lines of Eve Online may benefit even more from it. I can’t wait to see what amazing games and other apps come out of this over the next year.
For people like me, the iPhone is a world-class communicator
I’ve been following iPhone threads for awhile now and notice even though you said you’re not an iphone fan boy but all your posts seem to indicate iPhone is God.
Do me a favor: for $400 you could get a phone that will do the following:
3G support
Exchange support (even better than DirectPush as it sucks battery badly)
Built-in GPS receiver so you could geotag all the pictures
DVD quality when recording video
5MP camera (it actually has 2 cameras)
Voice dialing
Great voice quality for phone and does not hang up by itself if you put the phone to close to the ear
3D and Games support (though I’m not a game boy so I’m not so sure how well but I’ve seen my boy plays FIFA07 and Asphalt Street Rules 3)
Real-time traffic thanks to GMap.
If you’re a developer, applying for an account is free and you could digitally sign your app and publish to the mass. Don’t have to go through iTunes’God.
Battery is sold everywhere and you could purchase extra battery for as little as $15 and don’t have to send in your phone if the battery is dead.
I don’t think the above are iPhons features. Lemme give you a hint, it starts with letter N.
want it supposed to have some kind of clever sensor that figured out when it was close to the side of the face?
It does. The backlight even turns off anytime you put it close to ear or in holster. This guy probably never used an iPhone, because I or anyone else I know with an iphone have never had that issue whatsoever.
You clearly haven’t used an iPhone in the real world, or even paid much attention to various reviews, or you’d know that it *does not* hang up on you when you get it close to your face, unless you’ve got a really weird way of operating, because it has a proximity sensor that keeps it from acting in an undesired way in that respect, and also keeps it from readily dialing out when you put it in your pocket. You have to do something really odd to get it to dial out when it transitions between your hand and into a pocket; once it’s there, the chances are astronomically against it dialing something or doing anything else wonky (like selecting one of the apps) even if you wanted to. I’ve managed since I got one in November to have exactly one weird event happening where it dialed out: I had the Favorites list on display, and then put it in my pocket while it was still fully displayed, and managed to dial someone as a result, but chances are best that the dialing happened from me randomly brushing the phone’s face before it got to the pocket itself, so what can you really expect? And sure, while the touchscreen does get a bit messy from human skin oils and whatever may be in your pocket, it’s very easy to clean, and it still functions fine even when less than perfect in cleanliness.
Other than the issue of no real tactile feedback from using the touchscreen (it’s rock hard, seriously, and I’ve not seen any scratches form yet) it really does work rather well.
Even as dirty as the screen gets, once its lit up you won’t see any of the smudges on the glass. Its only when the screen is off that you see all the crap that our hands produce all over the screen.
Wow, real world eh? LoL. My bro-in-law told me about the phone hang-up on him issue. Let’s see how real world is defined.
Taking a picture, uploading to your blog and viewers are able to tell where the location of that picture on the map is…this is probably a real world use don’t you think? How about…riding on a shuttle bus to the airport and got an email notification on your phone about another deal just got signed without pressing any button to check e-mail? I would think this is a real world use.
Incoming call that actually telling you who’s calling without looking at the phone, this is another real world use. Would you want me to list more?
All I’m trying to say is iPhone is not the best all-in-one device out there if you look around. If it is, it would have all the features I originally posted.
By the time uncle Steve got your money for the so called new features, I would probably buy soda and gas with my phone already.
If you’ve really been reading my posts you’d know that I don’t need any of those features. I’ve already stated what I need most: Good voice quality, good SMS, a true email client (IMAP specifically) and a good web browser. Everything else is just fluff to me.
Most of my posts in the other big iPhone thread here were calling out inaccuracies and flamebait, not outright defending the iPhone itself. In fact I’ve questioned its true effectiveness as an enterprise phone more than once; hardly fanboy material, eh? I’ve said over and over that I’m torn on getting one, which I still am. The Nokia N73 (as I mentioned elsewhere in this article’s comments) is still my top choice as a replacement for my Treo. The iPhone is one of those “I’d love to have it, but is it for me?” phones. I can compare it to my recent vehicle purchase. I ended up going with a relatively tame Chevy Impala, as it met all my needs with style and then some (as the Nokia would); though it would have been nice to have that Lexus at the dealership next door, the price difference was not mitigated by the difference in features. Sure, the more expensive of the two had a better feel and cleaner, sexier look, but I’m wary of paying a premium for that, just as I am with the iPhone.
At the end of the day, I’ll probably stick with getting the Nokia; it’s $100 cheaper at most online retailers I’ve seen, it’s unlocked so I can move away from AT&T whenever I want with zero hassle, it’s got an amazing camera, which might lead me to actually use a camera on a phone for once, and while the screen is smaller and not a touchscreen, it’s still good enough for me.
Unless Apple drops the price of the iPhone drastically, I don’t think that it’s going to be a broad-based mobile game platform. There’s a reason why Nintendo DS is one of the most popular mobile game platforms in existence: It’s cheap, it’s targeted at the primary users of mobile game platforms (8-17 year olds), the display and controls are tuned for gaming, and it isn’t trying to be more than it is. It’s very good at what it does. When companies create devices that aim for CONVERGENCE, they typically fall short in small but important ways. For example, limited/awkward user input devices, difficulty balancing system resources (CPU, memory, storage) among competing applications, poor refresh rate, difficulty/complexity of programming, etc.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a good idea to underestimate Apple. But it’s difficult to be all things to all people.
Well said. It’s never going to be a true competitor to gaming-specific devices, any more than they are a competitor to it regarding communication. They are two different markets with just a little bleed-over here and there. It will definitely shake things up in the cellphone gaming arena though. N-gage who?
I have to agree with you there. As far as mobile gaming, the DS is a tough nut to crack. My family has two, I have one as does my daughter. It is a truly excellent little gaming platform.
Oh the other hand, I would like to make games and from the looks of things, it would be easier for an Indie to do that on the iPhone/iPod touch than it would be for the DS (if I’m wrong about that I would truly love to here it).
I’m honestly tempted to buy an iPod touch just as a gaming platform (portable music & video is a plus I guess).
I think yes,
or you could also say, the Wii is Apples gaming console. (Of course, it’s not) When you look at Wiis boxing you can find a lot of apple-like styling elements.
This would go nicely togheter.
I think no. Nintendo DS is the portable Wii. They both sell astronomical figures never seen before.
Edit: also, ignorance is bliss. TFA speaks of Super Monkey Ball like it’s this new, amazing thing available for iPhone…
Edited 2008-03-09 08:16 UTC