Onyx Online to become the iPhone's Xbox Live?

Steve Demeter is one of the App Store's most popular success stories, after Trism proved to be one of the most revered iPhone launch games back in July.

But Demeter apparently has much grander ideas for the App Store, especially now it's rapidly filling up with more games than the PSP and DS put together. His new concept, Onyx Online, isn't all that new, however.

"I wrote this kind of system into Trism as a case study, and it's been a complete success," Demeter explains on his blog. "Since Trism launched in July, we've been hard at work adapting this online code for use in any iPhone game, and the results are stunning. What we're going to do is allow any developer to insert the Onyx code into their game, which will instantly enable online scoring, achievements, leaderboards, and customised forums."

The Onyx Online code is soon to be made available to iPhone game developers for free. Around a dozen developers have already signed up, so players will be able to set up an Onyx Online account through their games and begin building their own iPhone gamer profile.

Demeter believes a system like this is vital to keeping the increasingly bloated and unorganised App Store alive and useful for the millions of iPhone gamers adopting the handset as a console as much as a mobile phone. Head on over to his blog to read his thoughts on the matter, and let us know your opinion of an online iPhone gaming system in the comments section below.