One of the biggest disadvantages that Apple computers has is its less than stellar game catalog. While it is true that many of the best games eventually make their way to the Mac platform, it is usually months if not years after most gamers originally had interest in the title.

The lack of gaming options on Apple computers has been reason enough for many potential buyers to stick with their PCs. Intel Based Macs combined with Boot Camp has allowed for many gamers to get their fix of entertainment by running Windows as a second OS but plenty of gamers still prefer to just manage one Operating System.

Although Apple hasn’t announced anything recently that suggests they’ll start bringing popular games to the Mac at release, they seem to be approaching mobile games with a much more aggressive plan.

Mobile Gaming with the iPhone & iPod Touch

The iPhone and iPod Touch have become the gaming focus for Apple. They recently updated the iPod Touch to include an external speaker and volume controls. This hardware adjustment appears to be specifically for games and other entertainment medias. It allows users to enjoy the experience without a headset and prompts the interest of others sitting by watching the Apple Gamers enjoy their product.

Apple is marketing their latest iPod Touch as “The Funnest iPod Ever” and the iPhone/iPod Touch application category with the most apps is Games.

Its clear that Apple is starting to understand the value of games. Many believe that with the hardware volume of sales that Apple has with the iPhone and iPod Touch that they soon will be a strong competitor to Nintendo and Sony in the Mobile Gaming market.

Game Prices

One great aspect of the mobile games for the iPhone is their price point. Often, the most popular titles on the platform cost only $9.99. Lets hope that price sticks if the device does become a true competitor in the Mobile Gaming market. Games for the DS and Sony PSP are priced considerably higher.

I believe that part of the reason that games are being priced as low as they are for the iPhone is that many developers are offering their games for Free. This automatically makes higher priced games seem, well, that much more expensive. Also, the ability for users to purchase their games anywhere, while on the go, may help bring the price down. If you’re targeting “spontaneous” purchases it often helps for the prices to be as low as possible. This helps eliminate consumers questioning the purchase because of price.

Game Reviews

As Apple continues to push into the Mobile Gaming market and more and more games are developed for their mobile platform people will want to know more about what games they should try out next. We here at Maciverse will be writing reviews of the iPhone & iPod Touch games we play. Be sure to check back here often to get the latest game and application reviews as well as information on other Mobile Apps for the iPhone & iPod Touch.

Lets hope that Apple sees the benefit of games on the iPhone and iPod Touch and starts to push for more game development for the Mac.

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Having used the new version of iTunes 8.0 for a couple of hours, here are some of my initial thoughts. The thing I like best about the latest version of iTunes isn’t Genius, but rather the new visualizer. I found myself searching for songs that I wanted to see on the visualizer as some of the new modes are highly responsive to the audio. Ironically, I found the visualizer responded better to classical/instrumental music than to songs with heavy beats. Your mileage may vary. But you can check out some classic Chopin below.

On the other hand, Genius playlists are good. I haven’t used them enough to say they are great. But as long as you don’t mind sharing your song information with Apple, you won’t be disappointed. But that brings us to the Genius Sidebar which is probably my least favorite aspect. The Genius Sidebar  “recommends” (i.e. sells) related albums and songs based on what is playing. Apple claims that the Genius Sidebar won’t recommend songs you don’t own, but my sidebar recommended a song for me to buy that was already in my library. I own “Shadows Part 2″ but the sidebar notes it is one of the top songs I am missing.

Genius Sidebar recommending an existing song

To me, that’s not a big deal. What is a big deal is the whole notion of “Top Songs You’re Missing.” Perhaps the greatest strength of iTunes and specifically the iTunes Music Store was that you could buy exactly what you wanted. Two tracks here, another track there, and you had your awesome music collection for way less than the CD’s. The Genius Sidebar betrays some of that coolness of iTMS by ignoring that those missing tracks may be intentional. But the main focus of the Genius Sidebar is to get you to buy more music so from that perspective it makes sense. So far, the Sidebar hasn’t recommended anything I’m remotely interested in. Perhaps despair.com was right, none of us is as dumb as all of us. Time will tell.

Couple of other things to note. NBC is back with HD shows, not to mention a freebie episode of The Office. 1.33Gb download for 41 minutes of HD fun. Those Apple TV’s are going to fill up even faster assuming HD shows are a hit with Apple TV owners.

You can still roll your own ringtones with songs you’ve imported from CD’s. You can find the details on how to do it here.

Also, time will tell if the synchronization between the App Store regarding updates has been resolved.

Overall, iTunes 8.0 is a decent update.

PS. You can download the screen cast of the visualizer here

According to demographics, I am too old to “get” SMS txting. That’s OK. I actually don’t want to get it. In fact, not having an SMS option is a compelling reason for me to want an iPhone. Why? There are few reasons.

First, text messaging is a lot like email. Actually, text messaging essentially is email with restrictions and extra cost. If I’m already paying for the bandwidth, I shouldn’t have to pay more for small text challenged emails to my BFF. In fact,  you can easily go to most cellular websites and send your BFF a txt:

• T-mobile
• Sprint
• Verizon
• att/cingular - Send an email to number@txt.att.net

Secondly, one of the taglines for the iPhone is that you have “the power of the internet in your pocket.” Having the power of the internet in your pocket automatically makes SMS Text messages obsolete. I mean, you can watch youtube videos with no additional bandwidth cost, but txting costs extra? At least the data plan is unlimited. But with the new iPhone 3G plans, I’m not sure if AT&T gets it because they continue to charge extra for SMS text messages (like it’s worth extra). Yet maybe they do get it because SMS is optional. Either way, I am still perplexed with an article from AppleInsider recommending you play it safe and get the 200 sms text messages for $5 more per month. Let’s consider some alternatives:

• You can use Safari on the iPhone to go to each of the above sites and send an SMS text to whomever you want. Additional cost to you: $0.
• Send an email. It’s not all that different.
• You can use instant messaging instead. There’s the new Gtalk web-app which is nicely suited for the iPhone, or you can use meebo.com and get all your instant messaging clients included in a one stop web-app.

• You can use twitter and tweet from your iPhone instead of txt.

Consider for a moment that these web-apps (and sites) are available right now (no new iPhone required). Come July 11th, when the app-store is also goes live, all of these applications (or similar ones) might be found on the app-store as native iPhone applications. The added bonus is with an iPhone 2.0 app, information can now be pushed to the phone. This means you can be interrupted with any number of application messages, just like text messages except without the additional monthly costs. Of course, iPod Touch owners are not left out with these web-apps either. All you need is some Wi-fi.

As the iPhone makes good on its promise to bring the power of the internet in your pocket and as competitors follow, text messages will become increasingly irrelevant. Kind of like that thing you did when you were young because it was cool and everyone else was doing it and then one day you were like “this is so immature”. It’s all part of growing up.