Will the Nexus One revolutionise Android gaming?

Google hasn't really got too involved in the games market (yet, anyway) so it's hard to predict what its overall intentions are for its Nexus range of smartphones, which launched recently with the powerful Nexus One 'superphone'.

Portable gaming was owned by iPhone in 2009, despite Android finding its way onto a steady stream of first class hardware. The Marketplace hasn't proven to be any kind of goldmine for game developers, however, and right now there's little in the works to prove that its fortunes are due to change.

That is, other than the Nexus One. Can Google's first hardware foray change the fortunes of Android gaming? Let's take a look.

The iPhone has seen its share of complaints due to a lack of physical buttons, but it's also pushed the realm of touchscreen gaming to new levels. Considering the Nexus One has a bigger, brighter, substantially higher resolution screen, it therefore stands to reason that the Google phone has the potential to top Apple's device in this vitally important area.

It's not all good touchscreen news, though. Over here in Europe the Nexus One apparently has multi-touch enabled, but our US smartphone-owning cousins are having one hand handcuffed to a radiator. In the US, the Nexus One doesn't have multi-touch.

It's this multi-touch aspect alone that's ensured touchscreen gaming works, and without it being fully implemented the Nexus One's gorgeous screen will go to waste. But even if it is enabled, what about all the other Android phones?

You can have all the flash hardware you want, but without the right operating system putting it to use that hardware will fall among thieves.

The Nexus One pips the iPhone 3GS in most every technical area, but it's still using an operating system that needs to work on the T-Mobile G1. Perhaps developers will try to release games strictly for the Nexus One - or for Android 2.0 and above, at least - but whether that dog will hunt on the Marketplace or not remains to be seen.

I suspect it won't.

Hardware fragmentation has been the bane of Java gaming for a long number of years, with developers having to port a single game to over 800 different devices. This problem is already rearing its head with Android, and while Java gaming has succeeded, developers won't relish the thought of Android being the new Java.

Perhaps the Nexus range of devices will at least forge a stable niche in Android handsets, but right now the Google phone is stuck playing games that must also work on 12 month old hardware (which wasn't particularly impressive even then).

Memory cards are awesome. Any device that takes an SDHC card is a winner in my book - you can never have too much memory, and the Nexus One has a very welcoming slot.

Alas, this is another feature that refuses to lend itself to portable gaming. The Nexus One only has 512MB of memory onboard, and won't allow purchased applications to run from the memory card for security reasons.

So you can shoehorn all the gigabytes you want into the SD slot, but without tinkering with the operating system (ahem) the Nexus One sports just one sixteenth of the smallest iPhone's game-able memory. Ouch.

As already discussed, the touchscreen is the input of choice in a smartphone like this. But the Nexus One - like all Android phones - also has a small trackball.

Admittedly, the trackball hasn't been put to much use in Android gaming as yet, but all it needs is for the right developer to find a vital role for it in a killer app and this physical control could prove essential in pushing Android gaming forward.

Apple has the iPhone in a vice-like grip, but Google's third-party friendly approach is a real benefit to the Nexus One, so long as the company chooses to cultivate that particular shoot.

Primarily, from a gaming perspective, the adoption of open sourcing allows anyone to get involved, and that doesn't just mean game developers.

Adobe has been showing off Flash 10.1 running slick and smooth on the Nexus One, and with websites clearly designing Flash games specifically to run inside the Android browser (including touchscreen support) there's massive potential for developers who aren't enamoured with the Marketplace to work through Flash-driven web portals.

Apple, it seems, is never going to allow this, and with thousands of Flash games already out there on the web that's a portable gaming market Android is primed to tap.

We tend to hear more about Apple causing headaches for developers than much of anything else, but Cupertino does at least offer support, an SDK, and an easy, accessible and immensely popular storefront.

Mountain View has come under plenty of criticism not for making things deliberately difficult for developers but for ignoring them entirely.

Google really doesn't seem interested in supporting the Android community, and although we're hoping that'll change now that it's involved in hardware sales, this is one of the major factors behind the lacklustre Marketplace.

Version 2.1 of the Android SDK wasn't even released to developers before the Nexus One launch, which has turned a huge number of programmers against the platform, as well as the company behind it.

Google needs to take a considerably more enthusiastic participation in the development of Android gaming if the Nexus One - and all other Android-powered devices - are to unleash their gaming potential.

The Nexus One is capable of being a first class gaming device, that could beat the iPhone (3GS) in every aspect. The problem isn't the hardware, however, but the software and support.

Nexus One gaming could be awesome, but there's still no signs that Android gaming is anything other than the new Java platform. Flash, however, could yet prove to be its gaming saviour.

Should Google take control and solve the design, distribution and hardware fragmentation problems that are nailing Android gaming to the floor, Apple will have some serious competition. Right now, it looks like Palm will soon be taking Google's place as the pocket gaming number two.