I think it's safe to say that people are slightly narrow minded when
it comes to defining these portable device. Being a "fanboy" or a
"fangirl" is quite a comftarble status unlike simply being rational
about the situation.

First, the iPod Touch and the iPhone are multimedia platform. Often,
the music player is acknowledge has it's unique feature. The iPod
Touch and iPhone is actually a pretty powerful device (memory, speed
& rendering) that can actually browse the web, run diverse types of
application and support a large array of media files.

These device are now pushing toward their gaming aspect. The Touch
Gen are unconventional for gaming, they are somewhat less technical
and more intuitive (this is the same reason some may never like the
Wii). Because of their nature, a lot of the game released for Apple
devices are crap and of homebrew quality. It was the same for the DS
when it came out, but Nintendo had more experience in blocking trash
from their platform.

It's safe to say that the Apple Premium Games will push the gaming
aspect of the Touch Gen even beyond their MVP app's. They have to.
Why? Well this brings me to my second point.

The DS and PSP which are what people call "gaming dedicated devices"
actually have a lot of multimedia potential. Sony and Nintendo are
slowly but convincingly pushing toward multi-functions devices with
new firmware, hardware and services just like Apple. Everyone is
adventuring in to everyones territory. Thats how capitalism works
Apple, Sony and Nintendo actions are not really surprising.

I'll watch how things work out for these guys. Fanslaves, choose your
camp; technical=PSP, hybrid=DS, intuitive=iPod. Has for me, I'm
pretty much versatile.

Other than that the store needs a revamp badly. There are just too many garbage apps to sift through.

Like I said about games on the gameboy color, It's not what's under the hood that defines a system(Wii vs. Ps3 launch should be evidence of this too). Perhaps if apple has a good mix of creative/cheap indie apps and premium/in depth expensive games, they could manage a decent foothold on the gaming industry.

Just think, hold the Apple TV remote as a D-pad in your left hand, and your iPod touch motion controller in your right……..

Consumers, both current and future, of Apple TV will be more willing to shell out $20 for a game on that platform. Because then it will be up against games on stuff like Wii, 360, PS3 that cost more than double in most cases when first released. Forget the relative lack of power. The components in Apple TV are more than enough to run low to mid tier (and maybe higher) last gen games at 480p at a steady framerate. Looking at the success of the Wii, maybe that's all that's really necessary to the current consumer base.

Developers (like EA) are willing to put their products on the Mac platform if Apple is willing to open up the market a little more. As for there not being a "hint of gaming happening on Apple TV", all I can say is that Apple TV Take 2 added support for Apple TV to download things off of iTunes DIRECTLY. That was simply a software update. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that now that Apple TV is a self contained device (no longer does one need to own a Mac or PC and sync Apple TV to those things in order to use it), and that since iTunes isn't just about iPod or iTouch/Phone (HD movies via iTunes) and since developers in the past had expressed interest in developing games for Apple TV when it was announced that Apple can simply have a software update (Apple TV Take 3) to enable games developed for the platform to sell via iTunes. And, yeah, there aren't a lot of people that own an Apple TV. That's why it makes sense to open it up to gaming, thereby opening up the potential consumer base for the product.

I for one can't wait for a 'premium' tier, as long as it truly is premium. I'm willing to pay for $20 for PSP-quality games as opposed to <$10 for the obviously MOBILE-quality stuff now available.