MAKE: Blog: Nintendo building video game version of iTunes...and why Apple needs to open up the iPod

Nintendo building video game version of iTunes...and why Apple needs to open up the iPod

Our pals at iLounge have a recap of what might be an interesting development for gamers & developers - I'd love to grab games over WiFi on my DS from an iTunes-like store - "During a keynote address yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata divulged further plans for Virtual Console, an online download service he described as "the video game version of Apple's iTunes music store." - Link.

Here are some related thoughts (I've been talking about this at conferences for a bit this year) - Apple really needs to open up the iPod "platform" a bit so we can start to develop games/apps for our iPods. I dual boot iPod Linux and have a ton of new and fun games, but ideally I would develop (and sell) little applications like the Xbox 360 live has (Geometry wars!). I would like to see a Macromedia/Adobe Flash player port / Flash Lite to hit the iPod. It's a selfish request - I made a lot of stuff with Flash that runs on crummy processors, but I think an application development environment for iPods would be great for phones, portable media players and beyond (imagine apps that runs on your phone and iPod). iPods aren't wireless, yet, but you'd still be able to do a ton of great games and applications. Gamecasts, appcasts, branded little games, utils, puzzles and more - I have gigs of old Flash games from Flash on Pocket PC days, there's so much potential. There are UI and navigational challenges, but those are fun. Flash and Quicktime work great together and you can do all sorts of neat applications when you mix the two. Quicktime 7 supports Flash 5+ -in- Quicktime now.

Despite there not being a Flash player for PSP (Playstation portable) yet, the PSP maker community made their own "player" it's not a real Flash player, but it's not a bad start. What do you think Makers? With all that processing power and folks with iPods who want to do/make more with them...

Related:

Flash Lite - Link.
Flash player for PSP (SWF player) - Link.
iRiver u10 - Plays Macromedia Flash... Link.
FlashEnabled the Book - Link.
Interactive QuickTime Authoring - Link.
Flash support in Quicktime - Link.

Related:

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