Qualcomm’s BREW 2008 conference is currnetly underway in San Diego. It’s a three-day event where Qualcomm and its partners strive to “show their stuff," giving the industy a glimpse of what’s coming in the world of wireless. As such, it’s not surprising to see some exciting iPhone announcements coming out of this event.
Pocket Gamer is attending the event and had the opportunity to spend some hands-on game time with Re-Volt, a new accelerometer and touchscreen controlled first person shooter for the iPhone and iPod touch from Canadian developer IUGO Mobile Entertainment.
I got hands on with it tonight at the show. You tilt the iPhone back and forward to move your character forward, and left and right to strafe. Shooting is automatic, although you can tap the screen to auto-aim at an enemy.
It took me a couple of seconds to acclimatise, but once I did, the game was smooth to play – the controls felt intuitive pretty quickly. It could be an iPhone hit, for sure.
As can be seen from the YouTube video, the graphics are sharp, the gameplay is smooth and the accelerometer control definitely adds a new dimension (+5 points for not using “tilt") to a genre that, frankly, has offered up few surprises lately. We’re excited to see the iPhone’s processing power and unique control characteristics bring a breath of fresh air into the types of games that we all know and love.
IUGO CEO Hong-Yee Wong seems to share our excitement.
“The touch and the accelerometer really opens up a lot of opportunities for innovative gaming. We’ve been really impressed with the iPhone. The tilt is really sensitive, and you can get precise movement using it."
IUGO has not yet decided whether it will release Re-Volt through the upcoming iTunes App Store or follow a different distribution route with an established publisher. We will provide further information surrounding this promising title as we receive it.
