The Incredible iPhone - PlayFirst Grapevine
When the iPhone was released last summer, I was excited and caught up in the hype. It was going to be hard for me to give up my Blackberry, and I was also aware that for years my wife had endured gadget envy as I’d gone out to get myself the latest cool thing, from my original Palm Pilot 5000 (released in 1996) to my latest iPod. The iPhone offered the perfect solution—I’d buy my wife one for her birthday! She’d finally be the Queen of Gadgets, and I’d get to play with it. This wasn’t quite as bad as Fred Flintstone buying Wilma a bowling ball (cut to Fred’s huge fingers) – after all, I did port *her* phone number to the iPhone.
More than a year later, the iPhone is still the hottest gadget going. The iPhone 3G and the iPhone App Store have kicked sales into overdrive. It’s mind boggling to walk by the Apple Stores in San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Palo Alto and see people waiting in line outside just to get into the store! You’d think they were giving iPhones away for free (they’re not). It sure is fun to see this kind of success for Apple, since at PlayFirst we’re fans of both the Macintosh and the iPhone. And finally, with the launch of the iPhone SDK and the App Store, we’re able to start bringing our games to the reigning champ of gadgets.
Yes! You read correctly! I am pleased to announce that Flo and all the fun of Diner Dash is now available on the iPhone! PlayFirst is committed to bringing our unique brand of fun to everywhere our users want to play, and the iPhone is simply a natural! We’ve brought over a hundred percent of the game – the iPhone is powerful enough that there’s no need to “slim down” the game, as with most mobile devices. The biggest difference (besides the smaller screen) is the touch interface. Fingers (at least my big fingers) aren’t quite as accurate at pointing as the tip of a mouse cursor. But fear not! Our designers and engineers worked hard and did such an amazing job tuning the game that now I can even play with my thumb. It feels totally natural to play: dragging customers to seats, then just pointing at tables, the ticket wheel, and the dish bin. You’ll love it – it’s Diner Dash as it’s meant to be played!
It’s really exciting to see Flo on the iPhone. At PlayFirst, we love the characters we’ve created and the worlds they live in, and we like nothing more than to see them appear on new platforms to extend their reach. As we release more iPhone games, it’ll be fun to see more of the DinerTown characters and our other story worlds in new places.
The other day, coming home from work on the train, I was playing the GM (Gold Master) approved build of Diner Dash on my development iPhone (I had to wait almost a year, but I don’t have to be jealous of my wife anymore). It was such a cool feeling – I felt like the coolest kid in town, knowing I was the only one lucky enough to get to play Diner Dash on my iPhone that night. However, soon I won’t be surprised to see other’s playing it. Lucky for me, though, I’ll always be one game ahead!
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posted Sep 17, 2008 2:13:19 PM