It seems highly likely that Apple will be showing off yet another iPhone design come Monday at their annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
We even know what the phone looks like. Gizmodo has a nice rundown of what they expect to be happening at the BIG show come Monday, and they tend to nail this sort of thing. But what will it all mean to mobile gamers?
A Second Camera
The new iPhone will have a second, front-facing camera, giving the Apple device the same sort of set up as the Nintendo DSi.
What does that mean? Well for starters, it would be a lot easier to put your face in an iPhone game. In theory, games could also use head-tracking and even video-driven motion detection in its games.
Higher Resolution
The iPhone 3Gs has 480 by 320 pixel resolution with 18-bit color. Higher resolution, if it's coming, could mean some much nicer looking games coming down the pipeline and who isn't all for that?
Full Body Touch
Gizmodo didn't quite know what to make of the new, perhaps glass, back on the upcoming iPhone. One theory, is that the back of the phone could potentially detect multitouch gestures. It's pure speculation, but if true, that's one more surface that could be used for input. And that means another way to interact with games.
Games
We're almost guaranteed to see new games during Monday's presentation.
Every year Apple has used some of the time during their presentation to highlight games coming to their devices. I'd expect to see the likes of Gameloft and Electronic Arts taking to the stage to show off some gameplay. But I'd also love to see a bit more time spent on iPad games. I'm still waiting for the iPad's killer game.
We also will hopefully hear who won this year's Best Apps of 2010 awards. Fingers crossed that at least one game made the cut.
Rumors, Rumors, Rumors
We've been hearing for a year that Apple is working on better support for gaming peripherals for the iPhone. Imagine a case developed by Apple that, like the Mophie Juice Pack, adds functionality to the phone. Instead of a second battery, though, you get two thumbsticks, or a directional pad, or buttons.
iPhone game developers have mastered the art of including highly customizable, multiple choice controls in their games, adding one more form of support seems like it would be fairly easy. But maybe Apple worries that a first-party joystick peripheral would be too close to admitting that plenty of people are unhappy using touch controls for everything.
Only time will tell.
There's also strong signs that Apple has been building up their internal game development team. They've hired away some pretty bright minds in the world of game development and promotion.
Ensemble Studios' lead designer Graeme Devine, who worked on Halo Wars, Age of Empires III and The 7th Guest, made the jump from game development to Apple last summer. Since then he's been suspiciously quiet. Well, quiet to the press, not to other developers.
Apple has also been beefing up their public face of gaming, hiring away media and PR folks from Electronic Arts and IGN to work on their gaming PR team.
Check back Monday for the details.