iGot Game: Coders Abandoning DS, PSP In Favor Of iPhone

Game Developer Research just released their "State of Game Development" survey, and if you're not willing to pony up the US$2,495.00 to download a digital copy (you're not seeing things: two and half grand for a Word document!), here are a few salient points:

• 25% of all games are being made for the handheld market.  That number, by the bye, was half that prior to the introduction of the iPhone and iPod Touch.
• During the last three quarters of '09, every game developer is writing iDevice games.
• 19% of those game developers are coding just for iPhones/iTouches -- more than double the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP coders.

It doesn't hurt that the iDevices are (a) wildly popular, (b) multi-capability devices that offer phone/Internet/media/messaging/app capabilities the game-only units lack, and (c) have a one-stop, easy-buy storefront in iTunes/the App Store.  Developers can often charge less for their games and still make a profit, while knowing their games won't be resold at Game Stop.  Plus Apple has made it easy for developers to port existing games to the iPhone OS while taking advantage of touch-screen capabilities.

Not a bad turn of events for a smartphone that very nearly didn't even see the light of day...

[Via Electronista]

Dis-Location and Ban-Droids: What's Apple Suppressing This Week?

With all the time and energy spent on the recent iPad launch, the House of Jobs still has time for complete and utter randomness when it comes to regulating what goes into the App Store.

A recent App Store Tip warned developers that submitted apps which "use location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location" are likely to get the old heave-ho (Keep in mind that applies to non-location type apps only.  i.e. Yelp is fine, Free Game is not).  What's NOT mentioned is that Apple themselves are plunging headfirst into the location-based ad-targeting biz; after trying unsuccessfully to gobble up AdMob (Google beat 'em to it), they quietly settled on another mobile ad company (Quattro).  Many developers depend on embedded ad code to help amortize the cost of creating a program, as well as being able to offer it for little to no money.  The logical conclusion here is that Apple wants to control (and profit from) the adverts that appear on their devices, as well as customizing the ad experience based on where you are.

But base avarice alone can't explain this next tidbit: App developer Flash of Genius received a nastygram from Apple's legal beagles, insisting that they removed the phrase “Finalist in Google’s Android Developer’s Challenge!” from the App Store description.  Huffed Apple, "Providing future platform compatibility plans or other general platform references are not relevant in the context of the iPhone App Store."  Regardless of the fact that the phrase had reportedly boosted FoG's sales of the app, they reluctantly removed the offending verbiage.

And you wonder why Google wants to put a Nexus One in service on every cell network in the US of A...

SlingPlayer iPhone App To Steam Content Over 3G Soon

 

 

AT&T is finally getting off its high horse and taking a more flexible approach when it comes to its precious 3G network. It seems like the usually uptight carrier has given the green signal to Sling Media for streaming content over their 3G network. So this basically means that the SlingPlayer iPhone app will now be able to stream video content over Wi-Fi as well as 3G. The only hitch? Both companies still need the nod of approval by Apple.

AT&T's generosity is no coincidence as recently it was announced that VoIP over 3G is no longer a distance dream.  iCall and fringe are already bringing 3G calls to iPhone and soon the Skype iPhone App will also follow suit and one would be able to make free local calls over 3G.

New Security Flaw Found In iPhone

 

 

What is this we hear? The Jesus Phone isn't perfect and might actually be flawed? It seems like hackers are having a field day over a security glitch by Apple which allows them to play with iPhone’s proxy settings, redirect internet traffic to a malicious site and even disable Safari, Mail and other iPhone apps. If this didn't give your heart palpations, then the fact that you need to do a full wipe to get rid of it, will surely do!

The problem is the setting, which allows configuration files to be installed over-the-air through Safari. Hackers can take advantage of this, as they can make their configuration file report back as “Verified” and even fool you in thinking its from Apple itself! Tricky buggers aren't they?

So what do you do? Well, just stay away  from something which looks like the screenshot above!

Image courtesy Mobile Crunch