John Carmack, cofounder of Id software, which is the company behind highly recognizable and popular games like Wolfenstein, doom and quake revealed some interesting things at QuakeCon 2008. He mentioned that id software is in the process of developing two games for the iPhone. He stated that the first game [Likely Doom 2] would be an extension of Id’s mobile games, which would mean cell phone graphics. But the second game (Wolfenstein) is going to be a “graphical tour de force” in Carmack’s words. Id software’s CEO Todd Hollenshead had also recently expressed his interest in bringing Doom2 and Wolfenstein to the iPhone. Doom has been ported to multiple platforms and the iPhone may also get its due.

Spore is the much anticipated game developed by Maxis, the same company behind highly popular games like SimCity and The Sims. The game releases in September and iPhone gets a spin-off version of the main PC game. One of spore’s major attractions is the sporepedia, where a large amount of user-generated content is available that can be imported and used. Although this is isn’t possible on the iPhone yet, the game’s developers are reported to be working on making it possible. Although the developers intend the iPhone version as well as every other version of spore to be able to access and use the same content from Sporepedia, this may not be possible with the initial iPhone version of the game. Though the iPhone version of the game could be patched later to include that capability.

Electronic Arts (EA) has recently released out a Tetris game for the iPhone. The Tetris game for the iPhone is customized for iPhone and comes with two play modes – Marathon and Magic. Tetris is compatible with all iPhones which run the iPhone 2.0 software update and has a price of 10$. It currently has some bugs and stability problems like crashing and sound problems. However EA mobile is developing a Tetris update to resolve the issues with the game.

Ohio Art’s classic game, Etch A Sketch, has been released for the iPhone though the App Store. The game costs $4.99 and is available for the iPhones and iPod touches that run the iPhone 2.0 software. The simulated toy features finger touch drawing capabilities, coloring options, shape creation and a photo import and export option. The familiar game’s up-down and left-right knob controls are also available and if users need to begin again, they can simply shape their iPhone or iPod touch and erase the images that they have made. Adding text and captions and sending the images is also capable with the Etch A Sketch for iPhone.

MoocowMusic:Band for iPhone

MooCowMusic:Band is an app in which iPhone or iPod touch users can create their own music. There are a number of instruments provided for the game such as drums, piano, guitars and a screaming crowd. The multi-touch capabilities of the iPhone allows users to play complex chords in real time; piano keys depress and guitar strings strum as the music is created. The instruments can be recorded, overdubbed and mixed together to form a song, which can be saved and played back later. Instruments have individual volume and pan settings and can be muted out or made solos during the playback process. A metronome is fully configurable during recording to enable users to keep in time. If a mistake is made, the last few notes can be erased or overdubbed and then mixed and recorded again. MooCowMusic:Band is in the iPhone App Store now.

Electronics Arts has announced its lineup of games for the iPhone which became available with the App Store launch. The first three native games from EA are Scrabble, Sudoku and Tetris. Scrabble and Tetris are available for $14.99 each while Sudoku is $9.99. Scrabble will allow users to use the iPhone’s multi-touch interface to zoom in and out and drag and drop tiles. In order to shuffle tiles, users simply shake the iPhone. Features of the game include multiple difficulty levels, change name rules and two to four player settings.
Sudoku grids come with five difficulty levels and an annotated keyboard allows users to enter their selection. Tetris is a version of the classic falling blocks puzzle and users will have the ability to pinch, drag, tap and shake to clear rows across 15 different levels.

Demiforce’s Trism is one of the launch games in the iPhone app Store. The game is a match three puzzle type game that has users matching colored triangles in a variety of different levels, using the touch screen and motion controls of the iPhone 3G. There are three modes of play; classic, timed and puzzle. Online high score tables and 22 collectible achievements are also available as users progress throughout the game. In the event that a phone call comes in while playing, the game will auto save. Trism is available in the App Store now for £2.99.

The recent launch of the iTunes App Store brought more than 150 games for the iPhone and iPod Touch to customers. Classics such as Ms. Pac Man and Super Monkey Ball and Indie games like South Park and Space Monkey are available in the App Store. Some of the games are free, while others cost less than $10 per application. Steve Jobs from Apple stated that of the 500 applications launched yesterday, one third are games. Although many tried to gain a sneak peek at the game applications, Apple gave strict orders for publishers not to show games to customers or media until the launch of the App Store.