I've blogged before about the rise of iPhone game apps, and how this is fueling a new golden age for indie development.
Apple execs agree.
This week, in an event rolling out a new series of iPods, the company took direct aim at its handheld competitors - the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP.
Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Philip W. Schiller trumpeted the iPhone/iPod Touch for having better, cheaper games - and a wider library of titles from which to choose.
I agree - but with one caveat. The iPhone has yet to have a single breakout title that captures the popular imagination. Of course Nintendo and Sony haven't done very well in that regard either. Nintendo got close with Nintendogs, a pet-training simulation, but that's about it. Â
Why haven't we seen something like a Halo effect in mobile games?
I think it will happen. And when it does, look for it on a phone.
David Kushner is the author of many books, including Masters of Doom, Jonny Magic & the Card Shark Kids, Levittown, The Bones of Marianna, and Alligator Candy. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has written for publications including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine.
