Will Disney release new video games for the Apple IPhone ?

On March 6, Apple released what every programmer was waiting for: the IPhone SDK.
With this tool, new IPhone applications will appear in June and be release through ITunes, some of them free, others not.

But one thing is sure: the IPhone, before the end of the year will be not only a mobile phone, not only a great IPod, not only a perfect video player, but also it will be very close to a Sony PSP, and yes, with a lot of games available.
Sega and Electronic Arts have already developed IPhone games as you will see below, and yesterday, Namco announced an IPhone version of the Pacman and Galaga games, Popcap Games announced they will enhance and release new IPhone versions of their famous games Bejeweled and Zuma, and Gameloft also announced officially that they will release 15 new games for the IPhone!



So, is Disney going to develop new games specially for the IPhone? In spite nothing has been officially announced yet, i can tell you that the answer will be: YES!

Not only because Steve Jobs is Disney's biggest stock holder and member of the board, but mostly because Disney really want to make more and more money through his on-line products.

Take, for instance, this February 20 article from the very good appleinsider web site, where we can learn that "Disney produces first movie-license iPod game":
"Slipping through the cracks of the week's releases is the first iPod game to draw on a movie license: Disney Online Studios' Pirates of the Caribbean: Aegir's Fire.

Compatible with both newer iPod classic and iPod nano devices as well as the older fifth-generation iPod with video, the new game is based on a new story set in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy's universe.

Players chiefly engage in ship-to-ship combat over the course of 30 missions and are encouraged to use the iPod's click wheel as though it were a boat's steering wheel.

Gamers can also upgrade their ship and bring on well-known characters from the movies as crew members, Apple says.

The game is priced at the same $5 as for all iPod titles and is only the second game based on an outside movie or TV license, the other being an adaptation of ABC's ongoing Lost TV show."

And also this yesterday's article of the Silicon Alley insider web site "Disney: $123 Million From iTunes Since 2006" where they reveal that "Disney CEO Bob Iger tells the audience at the Digital Hollywood Media Summit that he's sold 4 million movies and "40 to 50" million videos through iTunes since he launched the service in 2006."

Not to mention this other MyWay.com news "Iger: Disney to Reap $1 Billion Online" where we can learn that "The Walt Disney Co. expects to collect $1 billion in revenue from online content this fiscal year, a significant rise from estimates for fiscal 2007, CEO Robert Iger said Monday."

So,considering that Apple will definitely sell this year 10 millions IPhone, and many more in the years to come, you can be DEAD sure that Bob Iger is not going to let escape the phenomenal amount of dollars Disney can reasonably expect from the sale of specially-made-for Iphone video games.

Now, i know, each of us who tried before to play a video game on a mobile phone was stunned to see how bad it looked. But, you see, the IPhone is NOT a "normal" mobile phone, it's a computer, the smallest computer available on the planet.
Everyone who own already this beautiful device knows it. And its possibilities are more than amazing. Not to mention, too, that in June, Steve Jobs will proudly announce the new 2.0 software version and a 3G IPhone. And, just like last year, it's going to be a new revolution in the mobile world.



When Steve made his SDK announcement one week ago, two demos of IPhone video games were shown to the audience. Each game is played using only the multi touch function and IPhone accelerometer. For each, the companies - Sega and Electronic Arts - had two weeks only to create them! That's not a lot of time indeed to develop new video game for a new kind of device, but have a look at the result. The first video below is the "Super Monkey Ball" developed by SEGA for the IPhone.





This other one, from Electronic Arts, is called "Spore", where a fish must eat smaller than him and avoid to be eaten by bigger than him!



And what about this"Wing Commander" which do a great use of the IPhone accelerometer.



I agree that Sony PSP games are still superior, but if you keep in mind that these three games were developed in only two weeks, just to be ready for Steve Jobs keynote presentation, you will guess what we can expect for the end of the year, whether they will come from these different companies.....or from Disney.