I seriously hope you're right. I shudder when I see development dollars shifting to the iDevices when superior gaming devices are already in the market.

The developers get stars in their eyes when they see it's huge install base, but they're forgetting that not every iDevice user is a gamer. I also think they're attracted to the digital only delivery which I plan to shun like the living dead.

It's kind of funny that the only electronics company worse than Nintendo when it comes to rereleasing devices with minor changes is pushing to get into the gaming market.

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Look at the iPod Touch compared to the iPhone. Basically the same hardware with the same interface. How can they have different primary functions if everything is pretty much the same except that one can't connect to a cellular network?

I think smartphones and modern pda-like devices are more similar to PC's than a device with one focus. They are being designed as a general use device. Which means it can be whatever it is capable of doing. So if someone wants one to play games on, then it's a gaming device to them. So hardcore gamers aren't fans of touch controls. They also tend not to like the Wii because of waggle controls. Does that make the Wii not a gaming device?

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Well said.

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It's a gaming device in so much that it's a device that plays games, but so does a TI-83 calculator, which I wouldn't call a gaming device either.

You're not paying 200 plus a monthly voice, text, and data fee of around $100 just to play games.

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Of, course this depends on your definition of "real" I mean, snake was a game, but that didn't make the Nokia 5110 a "real" gaming device.

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The PSP plays music, movies, shows videos and pictures, so maybe it isn't a gaming device either.

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lol i used to work for apple idiot

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The relevant question to a site like Kotaku is whether or not this will become a viable gaming device for the non-casual crowd that owns DSs and PSPs. I think the "wide-open" nature of the structure around the iPhone that Guillemot is praising is what will ultimately mitigate against the device become a viable platform for "hardcore" gamers.

My sense is that most of the very few games worth playing are ports of games we'd rather play on "real" game consoles. And for each of those, there are several thousand shitware games in between, through which you'd have to weed to get to anything worth playing. Why put yourself through the trouble? As it stands, Apple doesn't have the architecture in place to appeal to a gamer-oriented crowd. So their app store will be filled with a half-million knock-offs of Bejeweled.

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When Michel Guillemot says "real" I infer "dedicated". In my opinion the iPod Touch/Phone is not a dedicated gaming device, its primary purpose is not gaming and I will therefore never consider it a "real" gaming device.

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Unique for how long? Like Brian says, the PSP is multifunctional, everytime there's an update for 360 it seems another non-gaming related function is added.

Gaming, over time, has been gradually assimulated into the mainstream, as a concept, as a past-time and as a function of the hardware we use daily. As Phones and mp3 players have added gaming to their functionality, so consoles have added multi-media functions to theirs.

Soon the intended function of a system will be moot and the 'PC model' will be the precedent for any electronic entrtainment device.

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While you could reply that the primary purpose of the PS3 is gaming, what about someone who bought it who hates games and just uses Blu-Rays on it?

Bottom line, you're arguing over semantics and labels here.

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I don't consider it to be one. Others do. It's a matter of opinion.

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"The PSP plays music, movies, shows videos and pictures, so maybe it isn't a gaming device either."

It seems like you're completely ignoring the comments above you.

The PSP's PRIMARY function is a gaming device. The iPhone's and Touch's is NOT.

That's the difference between a "real gaming device" and a device that can play games.

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First of all, there's absolutely NO need to call someone an idiot or be verbally abusive on here, so knock that shit off. Second, who cares if you worked for Apple? Do you think that gives you some kind of an edge in this argument? I think not.

@NaeemTHM:

EXACTLY. Someone gets it. The PC was never meant to be a gaming platform, but it eventually evolved into one because of its features. The same can be said about the iPhone as well.

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There are PCs built for gaming, in case you didn't know. Which I'm sure you didn't by the stupidity of the snarky comments you tried to make.

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but for people like me.. i didnt buy my ipod because of mp3s.. i bought it for games.. something the zune doesnt have yet. the zune hd will have apps im sure, but i doubt itd be of the same capacity as apples app store.

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