More gaming functionality headed to Apple’s iPhone

We’re only a few months shy of the iPhone’s one year anniversary, just in time for some new changes to be added to Apple’s precious handheld. What kinds of changes, you ask? How about extending the functionality of the iPhone as a gaming device? Yeah, I thought that might catch your attention.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at a conference today that Apple would begin offering free SDK’s (software development kits) and API’s (application programming interface) to all game developers… a move meant to broaden the gaming support on the handheld. As far as we currently know, these new gaming features are going to be implemented only on the iPhone, plans to do such a thing for the iPod Touch were not mentioned.

Not long after announcing his big news, he introduced three new titles; two from Electronic Arts and Sega, and one from Apple. Interestingly enough, the two titles from Electronic Arts are two you should be familiar with by now. Heard of a little game called Spore? How about Super Monkey Ball? Graphically, the demos shown off were breathtaking, and looked quite impressive. Whether they were mere demonstrations or actual games, however, has yet to be seen. One game that will be released as one of the early iPhone games is Touch Fighter. Touch Fighter will play as a 3D space shooter, and will be controlled Wii-style, with the accelerometer built into the iPhone.

With this new development from Apple comes the continued interest of how in-depth Apple will go with their gaming plans. Will it stop with the iPod and iPhone games? Or will we see an Apple gaming device in the near future? It has yet to be seen, but if this is any indication, Apple fans have something to be looking forward to.