Blair and I often sit up late at night debating life’s little problems and events. Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about Minis, Apps and the chances of seeing them cross over. Then we thought it might be even better to let you, the community, join in.
Blair: A lot of iPhone devs seem to be spreading out to other consoles. We’ve seen Angry Birds and Flight Controlannounced for Sony consoles, what do you think of this? It’s surely a good thing that they are becoming available for everyone, right?
Murdo: I wouldn’t say so. Much of their success has come from being so portable and cheap. Titles, like Angry Birds, benefit from the 59p price tag and the iDevice platform is perfect for them. They should stay where they are.
Blair: Angry Birds might have been 59p at the start, but with its jump over to Nokia, it’s gone up in price to £1.50 for ‘Level Pack 1′. Surely a full game with all the level packs would be worth £3 or £4?
Murdo: Angry Birds for the iPad is £3 and I still feel that is over-priced. The style of game doesn’t warrant a price tag above £2, although Rovio Mobile have done an excellent job of adding maps etc. Flight Control was an instant hit on the iPhone but without the touchscreen, it won’t feel the same. I’m glad there are rumours of Move support but that also rules out a Mini.
Blair: I’ve spent hours playing Angry Birds, I think that for £3 I’d get more than my moneys worth. Flight Control is great and I think it would work really well with Move but I don’t think it would be a great game for a home console. I can see Angry Birds working well but Flight Control would just come out when I want to show my friends what Move is all about.
Murdo: But would it really feel the same? The novelty of the iPad/iPhone is the touchscreen and how easy a game like Angry Birds plays. The games would play differently if an analog stick is used. No more flicking or multi-touch. Move would also feel very gimmicky for me. Playing Flight Control with Move be like scrolling through the Wii Home screen, very much a point and click game.
Blair: I agree that the touchscreen controls are fantastic for both of these games, but I can’t see the analog stick taking away too much from Angry Birds. As for Flight Control Move, it would be really precise and as easy as drawing a line. Anyway, enough about these games, what about games like Peggle and Plants Vs. Zombies?
Murdo: Funnily enough, I own Peggle on PC, PS3 and iPhone but I have only ever played the iPhone version. It is just so much easier to use and, again, the portable nature of the product is its biggest selling point. And Plants Vs. Zombies. Well I have that for the iPhone and iPad and I doubt I’ll be buying that on the Xbox in September. After ten minutes with the iPad’s multi-touch screen, the game flows so well and playing it becomes a delight. Whereas, I already feel the 360 port will suffer from clunky controls. Firstly there’s the terrible D-Pad. Alright, you could probably use the analog stick, but even that will get tiresome. These games belong on anything with either a touchscreen or mouse.
Blair: I’ve never played Peggle on an iDevice, but I’ve played a lot of it on the PC, and I think it works really well with the cursor and big screen. The PS3 version doesn’t have great controls, but it’s still the same amount of fun. Just less… accurate. I’ve never actually played Plants Vs. Zombies but I can imagine the 360 D-Pad being an annoyance. I think these PopCap games really belong on the PC. Tower defence on the PC is as easy as pointing and clicking, literally.
Murdo: It would be interesting to see some of the Apps, not games, ported. During the announcement and introduction of Minis, it was widely suggested that we would see Apps appear on the store but so far there has been nothing. Obviously the PSP isn’t as connected as the iPhone but a Map Mini would be a useful addition, or even just a Utilities feature. PS3 versions could also have many more features, with perhaps a facebook app similar to the 360′s. It does do everything remember…
Blair: Yeah, I’d love to see apps that you could use in-game on the PS3. TweetDeck? Yes please. But this is all just dreaming; we’re unlikely to get these kind of apps on the PS3 whilst not even having a stable internet browser, nevermind one that works in-game! PSP apps could work, but I’m not entirely sure about this. It would be an iPhone port too far.
Murdo: There’s definitely potential but it would have to be done in a very precise way. In-game usage would require a lot of hard work from Sony’s end. We all know how long the in-game XMB took and that’s still sluggish. With the rumours of a new browser coming and all these iPhone ports now console-bound, could we be seeing the maturation of the Minis and a new war between the console giants over additional Apps? I still believe certain games should be left where they are but the possibilities of other projects following on is an interesting thought.
Blair: As I said, it will be a good thing for more people to experience these games, and if Move is incorporated, it would be even better. I don’t like the idea of Apps too much, but I’d happily welcome any iPhone game to the minis or XBL Indie Games service. Well, we’ve talked enough, let’s see what the readers think of iPhone games on bigger platforms.
