[Macworld]

Post your comments for Ex-Sony employee: iPhone game development 'better than PSP's' here

[pburgoyne]

This is appalling journalism. The headline is a fabrication, using a partial quote out of context. This guy does not say the iPhone has better games or comparable games, or that it is a better game development device, he says the iPhone SDK is better.

[tjv88]

@pburgoyne

First off, chill out, its a gamepro article. How much can you expect? Secondly, the guy said the iPhone SDK is better, and he said the submitting process is clumsier for Sony. Those are the two keys to game development that are specific to the device being used. So in essence, he's saying game development is better on the iPhone.

[pburgoyne]

Poor journalism, fabricated headline.

He said the iPhone SDK is better. Thats the start and end of the iPhone reference. He talks about the development and submittal process for downloadable games on the PSP, saying it could be better. Not PSP game dev in general. His company makes and sells downloadable PSP games.

The journalist then fabricates the headline + story that he said `iPhone game development 'better than PSP's'`, and implies that games are better on the iPhone, and development is better. Which he did not say, he only bemoans the process at Sony for downloadable games.

[palane]

Speaking of fabrication. There is no implication that games are better on the iPhone. In fact, the direct quote from the article is
"Apple's iPhone hasn't even been out for two years yet and already iPhone games... are comparable to some games you'd see on the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP."
The wording is COMPARABLE TO, not better than.
As for the rest of your critique, add KIT after development and the fabricated headline allegation falls apart.
BB

[snej]

pburgoyne — I don't understand your point. Do you know what an SDK is? It's what you use to create software for a platform. The APIs, the compiler, the development environment, the documentation, everything. And he directly said the iPhone's is better.
This is exactly what I'd expect — The iPhone APIs, like Cocoa on OS X, are a best-of-breed framework for app development. While all models of the Playstation have always been notorious for being difficult to code for. I've read many interviews with developers where they say it takes years to figure out how to use the PS2 or PS3 effectively. Sony is great at some things, but API (and UI) design are not among them.

[hagen]

Editors write the headers to get you to read the article. Authors do not control the headlines. At least that's how it works in the journalist world.
So relax, chill before exposing your own flaws.

[MrPhotoEd]

pburgoyne says:
Re: Ex-Sony employee: iPhone game development 'better than PSP's'
This is appalling journalism.
I have to agree that it is appalling journalism. It does not state what position this person held at the company. For all we know this guy could of been a paper pusher with no idea what the process was and who is bitter at being laid off by Sony. Were is the 2nd or 3rd source to give this story any credence ? The original Edge story is even weak, this is one guys opinion, not a news or even a feature story. Weak even for a blog. So why post it. Running low on your quota??
Just my 2 cents,
Ed

[Rhywun]

Appalling journalism or not, unless things have changed radically in the last couple months since I paid attention to gaming on the iPhone, there is not one game for the device that comes close to being "comparable" to an average DS game (I can't speak for the PSP), for the simple reason that the device is not a dedicated games platform. I will admit there are one or two games I have enjoyed, but the clumsy workarounds required because the thing doesn't have any buttons more than detract from the experience: they make playing a lot of games downright tedious.

[Ilgaz]

As a person hating the idea of app store, single tasking phone I have to agree to that engineer whoever he is.
iPhone SDK and the development environment is or must be ages ahead of PSP and even Nokia/Symbian MS/WinMobile stuff out there.
How do I know it? Well, the endless saga of Skype for Symbian, some games never appearing on PSP, the lack of developer support from Sony, their treatment to homebrew scene (trust me, Apple is angel compared to them), not using the excellent capabilities of the device...
We have all seen software which never appeared on Symbian, Windows to ship for iPhone in matter of months. Guess what? N96 kind of phone users and PSP users are totally baffled since they actually know their hardware is way more capable than iPhone.
So? It must be SDK and Development environment. In fact, as all these Developers are forced to use XCode, Mac, we may see a massive ''halo'' effect as there is no reason a developer won't look into real desktop coding which will be way more flexible.
While on it, if I was into handheld gaming, it would be either PSP or that Nintendo DS thing. They are designed for gaming, a big matter.

[Ilgaz]

Funny is, he can't even see PSP development while any developer can go out, buy a Mac Mini (trust me, really powerful for developing), install XCode and start developing for iPhone right away.

I know ordinary people who just plays around with XCode, it is all going back to 8bit age again. People started to try developing for themselves, tiny basic apps but still, applications. That is one thing no PSP owner ever did or even can.

Does Sony allow ordinary human beings get the SDK for PSP and play around? I don't think so really, didn't even look into it. What will we do with the application? There is no app store to begin with.

[grahamvidger]

the iphone will never have a good shooting game, unlike the psp.