What impact will the Next Ipod have on gaming?
 

With the annoucment that Nvidia would be providing the grafics chip of the next Ipod I go to thinking, apple could really do some damage to the portable gaming market. Much like Wii's virtual console, will Sega and NEC jump to distribute their classics via itunes? Hell for that matter will nintendo make anything available? Also, Apple has never really given a damn about piracy, so the emulation market is gonna be wide open. Sony and Nintendo can see a real challenge coming their way.

O yes. Everyone will now use the iPod to game!

Dunno, mobile phones have been able to download hundreds of classic games for a small fee for years now in addition to the pile of new crappy clone games made for them basically every three or four seconds. Nobody really cares though, and a lot more people own phones than iPods. Maybe if the new iPod has a decent size screen and exclusive games that aren't so boring you'd want to hack your face off with an onion within a strict time limit while juggling babies to be amused.

I tried playing that Breakout game on my iPod and it chugged if I had music playing at the same time. ;_;

I don't think I'd be using an Ipod to play games, simply because I have other handheld game systems which are dedicated to doing just that. But the other problem is, how long is it going to last? Music doesn't eat much in the way of batteries (hence why the MP3 players with batteries often last a long time), but playing a game on it, where the system's going to be draining a ton of power, I can't see it lasting a long time (without being expensive anyway).

It's kind of like the N-Gage. Not many people bought it cause it doesn't last too long when playing games (aside from other problems, like looking like talking into a taco when using it, and crappy games). While it'll be a nice gimmick, and I'm sure some people will buy it for that reason, I don't think it'll do too well.

On a similiar note, how many people do you know watch movie trailers and commercials on their Ipods? Nice gimmick, but unless I can watch a whole movie or tv show, I'm not interested in paying to watch essentially commercials).

Well you can watch entire shows and movies on the video Ipod. Hell the first time I saw Advent Children was when I downloaded it in Mp4 format. Also I have Robotech and some of my other favorite Anime eps on my Ipod. The torrents for shows like Lost also seem to be pretty popular. If the rumors are to be believed this next Ipod is going to be horizontal and a wide screen format. The fact it has a graphics processor means they must be approaching things like battery life seriously. I don't think this will replace my DS Lite by anymeans, however I certainly welcome playing all my Nes, and Snes classics on the go and for free

About the same impact as what the N-Gage had on the handheld market.

The current games on the iPod are novelties, gimmicks which aren't of much fun. Besides, I don't even know how the controls would work: I've owned an iPod, and I know for a fact that the touchwheel is rather awkward to use at times.

Since people have already experienced the N-Gage (and learned from their mistakes), much like most Apple products, there won't be much of an appeal aside from the appearance of a technological fashion statement.

If anything, it would just horn in on the PSPs territory and the iPod has a very good chance of upsetting the PSP in that market. Why fumble around with UMDs when you can download your stuff onto the iPod and watch/listen/play it? So the iPod is effectively becoming a PDA eh?

I'd think absolutely nothing. I'm still waiting for Tetris on my iPod.

The problem with the iPod is that the more it tries to do, the more people will realize that they just need it to play music on. I have the video iPod and hardly ever use it to watch movies and have never shared pictures on them. It's good in concept but when the battery life is what it is, then people are far less likely to use such an inefficient feature. I expect playing games on your iPod would suck out the batteries faster than a fat kid with a glass of chocolate milk.

Well, the first hurdle it would have to overcome is support from countries outside North America. It makes much more business sense, for example, for a Japanese publisher to publish something on the wildly-popular DS than for an untested system from a company heretofore not especially associated with gaming. Yes, Sony got its start in this fashion, but in that case each of its competitors had a fault that made going with the PlayStation platform the more practical choice (pricey cartridges and awkward programming, or so I've heard). iPod competitors at this point would be the DS and PSP, both of which possessing solid technology and a devoted fanbase. Mobile gaming might also could, and ostensibly be a more direct competitor, but not if iPod is serious about being a game machine - as has been mentioned, what could it offer that a cellphone game can't besides awkward ring control?

Not to say Apple should worry about sales. People will buy the newest iPod out of habit and/or devotion, and the bulk of their revenue willcome from people buying singles, not extra versions of Bejewelled. iPod gaming will go nowhere until Apple is serious about making inroads, and that won't happen until the music doesn't bring the big bucks anymore...and that won't happen until shortly after the Earth hurtles into the Sun.

I think most people buy the newest versions of iPod because their previous one broke due to crap quality.

At least, the average consumer does. Or, at least, this one did.

apple hate but ipods are shiny

The trend seems to go in a direction of "one gadget to rule them all".
So the iPod 2 generations ahead also has a built in cellphone...
Or something. Then another 2 generations ahead, iBook and iPod will have become one.

Guess I'm too old fashioned for this glitz. I prefer an MP3 player over any iPod.

lol, this isn't a joke thread.

It will have no impact on handheld gaming, just like N-Gage. iPods will never be totally devoted to gaming and therefore won't make an impact on anything gaming oriented.

Are you serious.

You'd have to have been born yesterday in order to think that an iPod with an nVidia graphics chip will do anything to the handheld market.

OK, all I bet the chip is going to be is a low-powered 2D graphics chip, because that's all the iPod needs.

All the move was, was that nVidia was probably better at providing what Apple wanted: more chips, at lower prices. Broadcom can't compare to nVidia when it comes to that.

Apple knows what the iPod is and what it's designed for. You obviously don't.

Not to mention that most games require, you know, buttons. The iPod has its directional wheel and one, central button, which isn't exactly placed well so as to make a lot of games simple to play. Most games which require seperate buttons to perform actions would be impossible to play. The only games you could do would be Tetris, and pretty much anything that was on the Atari.

Apple's claim to handheld fame is in the sleek elegance of the iPod. It doesn't need a dozen buttons. Adding them for games would be counterproductive to everything that made the iPod a success in the first place.

So if you're expecting to see "Grand Theft Auto" on an iPod, forget it.

Only having one button sure didn't stop some goons from getting Doom to run on it!

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/1575/doomipodbc8.jpg

Doesn't matter that it runs at a snails pace, you can't change weapons, movement is virtually impossible and it's not even scaled to fit on the screen.

I'm sure that if Apple ever did release a game playing iPod they would modify it enough to allow for some sort of pad (digital or analog) as well as face buttons. They wouldn't be that stupid now, will they?