New Apple patent for iPhone gaming

A new patent filed by Apple hints at an exciting future for musical games on future versions of its iPhone and iPod touch devices.

The patent covers a technology that'll let you control games and music at the same time using different movements on the touchscreen, according to AppleInsider.

It's titled 'Techniques for interactive input to portable electronic devices', and will essentially make it possible to control non-gaming applications from within games, simply by pressing differently on the screen. Alternatively, it appears you could also play games from within non-gaming apps, too:

"As an example, a portable media player can be effectively integrated with various other applications including gaming applications. The media player can, for example, be used to play a game and still behave as a media player during the game play."

The patent application also describes how it might work in practice:

"The game can be controlled by using intuitive and simple motions (e.g. directional and/or rotational movement and/or touching a particular location using a thumb or finger)… In one embodiment, during game play, the media player can still be controlled in the manner familiar to users."

It sounds like it has plenty of potential, although obviously before we can see how it works, Apple will have to a) release some iPhone games, and b) release a new iPhone model that includes the technology.