AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Gameloft has graced the iOS community, the gaming part of it, with "Ultimate Spider-Man Total Mayhem" due September 1st. Want to bet that we might see this game featured as part of Steve Jobs and Apple's music event also on September 1st? Here's a short trailer and a could of seconds of gameplay at the end. More about the same at the official hompage . Anyway, I don't talk about games enough but I think I will now. After all, mobile gaming is a big part of the iOS success as a platform.

The event that Apple announced today to be help on September 1st is going to all about the iPod Touches and, likely, any new features that the iPad is going to gain from iOS 4. Yeah, I know, just about everyone has forgotten about iOS 4. But that's a post for another day. For now, we're going to see the next generation iPod Touch get some iPhone 4 goodies. Anything else?

Some app piracy rates for iOS apps are as high as 50% if not higher in some instances (try 95%). So, I'm making a general plea on behalf of all the hard-working, innovative, and imaginative developers. Pay for fraking $2 app! It isn't like we're being asked to pay for $25 or $40 that DS and PSP owners are paying even for the lamest games. Nor are these $50-$60 console or PC games. They're mostly $1 or $2 apps in the App Store. Seriously, when the number of illegal downloads are reporting scores in OpenFeint double those of legitimate buyers, something is majorly wrong. Plus, Apple needs to protect the legions of developers more. Instead of paying out $1 billion to developers, Apple can easily be paying $1.5 billion or more if it makes it harder for pirates to use apps. Furthermore, using pirated apps is only possible through jail-broken iOS devices. And while I supported jail-breaking 100%, using pirated apps does open up users to malicious attacks. More...

Some quick thoughts about mobile gaming in the age of app stores, casual gaming, and diminished support for portable gaming consoles, is it time to give thought to how Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will go on. I see a merger of platforms, birth of new ones, and a salad of old tech mixed with the new. Which is better? More at Onxo .