Jobs: iPod 'Best Portable Device For Playing Games'

The iPod is "the best portable device for playing games," according to comments made by Apple head Steve Jobs, speaking at the Let’s Rock event in San Francisco. The event was primarily focused on the company’s music-related products, including iTunes 8, a new model iPod Nano and iPod Classics with higher capacity hard drives. According to a liveblog from consumer site Engadget, Jobs described Apple as the number one music distributor on any format, with over 8.5 million songs, 125,000 podcasts, 30,000 television shows, 2,600 movies and over 3,000 apps for iPhone and iPhone Touch. Introducing the new slimmer iPhone Touch, Jobs revealed that there have been over 100 million downloads from the Apple Apps store, with around 700 games currently available out of a total of 3,000 different applications. Specific titles highlighted at the event included EA’s Spore Origins, based on the initial cell phase of the PC game, as well as Need for Speed: Undercover and Gameloft’s Real Soccer 2009. Though game controls are still considered the most problematic aspect of developing titles for Apple’s portable hardware, Spore Origins appeared to make successful use of motion controls, while Gameloft’s soccer title used an onscreen virtual D-pad to control the action. Also demonstrated at the event was a new ad for the iPod Touch highlighting its use as a games device, despite the cost of the hardware.