Looking at the long list of iPhone games both in-development (based on the SDK) and currently available via jailbreak, there’s no mistaking that the iPhone is a particularly flexible gaming platform. An excellent demonstration of this recently came from a group of Japanese researchers who developed a multitouch, multiscreen, multiplayer version of Pong. And what’s more, they put it all together “in about an hour."
As can be seen in the above video, three players, each with his own iPod touch, are huddled together playing this adaptation of Pong. One player deflects the ball with his paddle and off of his screen it flies, appearing as an incoming blip on his neighbor’s iPod touch which is wirelessly connected to his own. And on it goes from player to player — an impressive demonstration, despite its apparent simplicity.
It’s exciting to think of the types of full-blown titles of this sort that lie ahead, offering the player a previously unknown level of immersiveness thanks to the iPhone’s unique combination of rich connectivity and innovative control technologies.
