Square-Enix on iPod and iTunes, like woah!

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Square Enix release first iPod game, much like Final Fantasy Tactics. Can't wait to see what comes out for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Huge in scope, great graphics and music, can't lose it or have it stolen, and it is only $4.99.
It would be six times as expensive on PSP or DS and 12 times as much on PS3 or 360.

This. is. huge.
Welcome to the no-gasoline-required, drama-free, piracy-free, theft-free, inventory-free, distribution-free, shipping-free, tax-free, retail-free, high-price-free, never-sold-out, platform of the future, Mobile OS X. It is Sony and Nintendo that should be scrambling, not just Microsoft, Palm, and RIM (Blackberry)

What is funny is that game developers make about 5 bucks on a DS game and about 7 on a PS2 game, while selling them at $34.99 and $49.99 respectively. They can sell the same game on iPod or iPhone for under $10 and make the same exact profit due to less overhead, not even counting the likelihood that their volume will go through the roof due to 1) Games being cheaper and more accessible to everyone and 2)iPhones and iPods already outnumber DS and PSP, and that gap will only widen. Why even bother giving so much money to distribution, physical packaging, retail, and shipping, when you can load your game file into iTunes and the App Store and then go sip a martini?


My bet is developers are coming to OS X and Mobile OS X in droves, tripping over each other
 
[quote name='bdgskarulz']Square Enix release first iPod game, much like Final Fantasy Tactics. Can't wait to see what comes out for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Huge in scope, great graphics and music, can't lose it or have it stolen, and it is only $4.99.
It would be six times as expensive on PSP or DS and 12 times as much on PS3 or 360.

This. is. huge.
Welcome to the no-gasoline-required, drama-free, piracy-free, theft-free, inventory-free, distribution-free, shipping-free, tax-free, retail-free, high-price-free, never-sold-out, platform of the future, Mobile OS X. It is Sony and Nintendo that should be scrambling, not just Microsoft, Palm, and RIM (Blackberry)

What is funny is that game developers make about 5 bucks on a DS game and about 7 on a PS2 game, while selling them at $34.99 and $49.99 respectively. They can sell the same game on iPod or iPhone for under $10 and make the same exact profit due to less overhead, not even counting the likelihood that their volume will go through the roof due to 1) Games being cheaper and more accessible to everyone and 2)iPhones and iPods already outnumber DS and PSP, and that gap will only widen. Why even bother giving so much money to distribution, physical packaging, retail, and shipping, when you can load your game file into iTunes and the App Store and then go sip a martini?


My bet is developers are coming to OS X and Mobile OS X in droves, tripping over each other[/quote]

Apple gets 30% of all sales. That does a good job of cutting in to the profit margin.

Also, some games are playable on the iphone, while others feel clumsy. It can play games, but it isn't made as a gaming device and doesn't lend itself well in many situations.
 
Honestly I don't see what's so exciting about it. The game collection seem on par with what the n-gage had, and not to mention the graphics I've seen don't look any better than the PSP. On top of that the ipod just doesn't seem to have the buttons to be able to control most games properly.

I'll be DSing.
 
You're delightfully mad. Developers are not tripping over anything to head to Apple platforms.

You also act like no one else has digital distribution, when all the current platforms + PC have it.

When you've got convergent machines, not every owner of the product is going to be interested in every feature. Developers know that 10M DS owners is a radically different install base than the same number of ipod owners. Neither of those two products are built as specialized gaming machines, and the games will necessarily suffer/will be limited by that.

As of the last quarter report, there are about 6 million iphones sold. About 100M ipods sold when you total up every variation since day 1. The DS has 75M sold, the PSP maybe 35M.
 
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the pricepoint is fantastic, but op, your enthusiasm is a bit off

if song summoner was released on a traditional platform, it would need far more content to justify a higher price

and your numbers seem made up-
$5 or $7 profit on ds and ps2 games demands a source
are ipods + iphones outselling the ds+psps worldwide? maybe, maybe not, maybe you need a source
and while looking for a source, it would be best to track down what percentage of that ipod installed base has an active itunes account

this could be a great chance, and the game concept looks intriguing- I guess the most important question is- is anyone going to get this?
 
Any chance this will come out for the Zune?

I'd be happy for some small rpgs from square for psn, especially a tactics-type game where graphics should be secondary to gameplay anyway. It's not like these games are taking manpower from ffxiii.
 
I really couldn't care less about iPod vs DS vs PSP vs retail vs digital distribution vs Sega Master System; I just want to know if the game is any good. Has anybody actually played it?
 
[quote name='Awesomeworth']I really couldn't care less about iPod vs DS vs PSP vs retail vs digital distribution vs Sega Master System; I just want to know if the game is any good. Has anybody actually played it?[/QUOTE]

Yeah I have put about an hour into it. The idea is pretty cool, its a tactics game that incorporates your music on your iPod. The production values seem pretty good and so does the in game soundtrack. It truly is a Square game.
 
[quote name='ZerotypeX']too bad this won't work with the ipod touch :([/QUOTE]

Maybe the lack of the wheel was too much to overcome in programming the game? I know almost nothing about the Touch, so it's possible that's wrong, but it seems like trying to emulate it on the screen would be a pain and cut into the amount of real estate you've got for the graphics significantly.

[quote name='happy']Any chance this will come out for the Zune?[/QUOTE]

Since the Zune doesn't have the scroll wheel either, I don't know.
 
Maybe the lack of the wheel was too much to overcome in programming the game? I know almost nothing about the Touch, so it's possible that's wrong, but it seems like trying to emulate it on the screen would be a pain and cut into the amount of real estate you've got for the graphics significantly.
Click to expand...
From what I understand, the difference between the iPod classic and the iPod touch is like the difference between the between the GBA and DS, they very different platforms with very different interfaces, so making the game for both was probably never part of Square-Enix's plan. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Square-Enix game for the iPhone/iPod touch sometime in the not-to-distant future.
 
I just got around to downlaoding and checking out Song Summoner on my iPod today, and I must say that I am incredibly surprised at the amount of polish this little iPod game has. It's more or less a dumbed down version of FF Tactics with the same sense of joy you can get from creating monsters in Monster Rancher, and while the click wheel isn't the best medium of control, for 5 dollars, the game goes above and beyond as far as game value.
 
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