Maybe that's just my mistaken impression. Actually it is a business, I think the decision should somewhere related to money. And what is true is that people predict that iAd and GameCenter would elimate current service providing similar service. And seems like change of iPhone Developer Agreement will elimate Adobe Flash too (and maybe Unity3D?), which is also a paid service to convert flash to objective C. Maybe that's just my mistaken impression, I think that Apple is blocking services benefit from Apple iPhone.
Assuming that you're a developer, you can read what's possible with game center in the iPhone 4 section of the apple developer forum (link).
Hey Everyone, Let me just talk a little about how Scoreloop's welcoming Game Center: Disclaimer: I work for a cool company called Scoreloop 1. Game Center provides basics, we focus on the advanced. Game Center provides basic capabilities for every developer, we focus on white label advanced capabilities for better developers and studios who are willing to spend more time and resources to build great games. Our white label CoreSocial SDK provides challenges with push notification, virtual currency, cooperative play, ghost challenges, and much more. It's essentially a library of social procedures which developers can creatively pick and use to suit their games, and integrate seamlessly into their games. We too, are willing to spend more time and resources to work with these better developers and studios, and not go after every developer in the market. So despite Game Center, we're still of good utility to our partners. Showcase game: FDG's Parachute Panic HD (iPhone and iPad) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parachute-panic/id317435143?mt=8 2. We're a Social Enabler, not a Social Network, so no direct conflict. We provide the tools & infrastructure for game developers to make their games social and more fun. We're not pushing our brand because in our humble opinion, this might not be in the best interest of the developers or the users. So if Game Center unites all users with a single sign-on, we're more than happy. After all, we're gamers too 3. Our in-game virtual currency revenue model has been approved by Apple. Shared in-game virtual currency revenue is Scoreloop's business model. It has been approved, and working to great effect in games like Parachute Panic and Astro Ranch. 4. We've already gone Cross-platform. We currently support iPhone, iPad, and Android, with more platforms to come. Please feel free to feedback. Cheers, Junde http://www.Scoreloop.com http://twitter.com/Junde
I did a quick rant about it on my blog, but the choice is awesome for developers. Not so much for users. Personally, I think for most games it's a mistake to integrate the services unless you're going to pay a lot of attention to it, since it can really destroy your UX.
Ben, this is not necessarily true Take a look at Parachute Panic HD if you can. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parachute-panic/id317435143?mt=8 Let me know if you wanna know more Cheers, Junde
