Just in case you don't obsessively follow every word that Steve Jobs speaks (as if), the Apple CEO unveiled a software development kit for the iPhone yesterday, allowing game developers to create new titles for the popular handset. EA and Sega are already onboard, with versions of Spore and Super Monkey Ball on the way, the latter set to use the phone's accelerometer to provide tilt-based gameplay.
Apple has also announced its own internally developed iPhone title, Touch Fighter, a space shooter which, according to MCV, the team knocked up in two weeks. They're clearly taking the mobile games market seriously then.
So Apple is pushing two of its latest platforms - iPhone and iPod Touch - as leading new arenas for touch screen gaming. But Apple is not alone in this market - most other phone manufacturers have their own touch screen handsets. Indeed, I met with Glu mobile today who were telling me that Vodafone expects 50% of its new handsets to be touch screen-based.
And let's face it, touch screen technology is what mobile gaming has been crying out for. The mobile keypad has proved itself resolutely awful as a game controller, but a touch screen/stylus combo could work wonders for accessibility, especially with strategy and puzzle games. Glu showed me several of their forthcoming titles, most of which support touchy phones - I'll talk more about those next week, but there was a really nice Picross-esque puzzler and sequels to the excellent Diner Dash and Brain Genius titles, all very much improved by the touch interface.
Touch is the future for small games - Steve Jobs says so.
