Apple unveils plans to let you buy iPod games on iTunes
Bejeweled, Tetris, Zuma, Pac-Man and more all on the way
Cor. iPods have been able to play games for a while now, but they've been simple, unremarkable titles. Not any more.
As we write this – and as we predicted two months ago the Pocket Gamer blog – Apple's Steve Jobs is making a series of new product and service announcements, and first on the list was beefed-up gaming capabilities for iPods.
The fifth-generation iPods will be able to play a range of casual games, taking them head-on into competition with your mobile phone as a gaming device. Jobs announced that the games will be sold on the iTunes store for $4.99 each in the US – presumably around a fiver here in the UK, although less if we're lucky.
The first tranche of iPod games for sale on iTunes are as follows:
Bejeweled — The super-popular colour matching game
Tetris — The original and still the best
PAC-MAN — Still scary after all these years
Vortex — A shoot-'em-up
Zuma — Like Bejewelled only this time you slide balls
Texas Hold 'Em — Get into the poker craze
Mini Golf — Holy Apple, it's a golf game
Mahjong — Centuries old tile-matching
Cubis 2 — Another colour matching game, this time with cubes
It is all exciting news, although it remains to be seen if this means some of the other popular mobile games (Skipping Stone! Turbo Camels: Circus Extreme! You know it makes sense!) will make the leap to iPods.
Update: We've now launched a dedicated iPod games section on Pocket Gamer!