The iPod touch can never usurp the DS or PSP as gaming hendheld of choice until it gets buttons, and I think most parties involved would generally consider that a step backward in the design of the iTouch so it won't happen.

The iphone is not a gaming device. I can see it as a legitimate way to play games and that it has an increasingly impressive library, but anyone who buys a phone for the sole purpose of games is stupid. Not that Apple or any other company would ever be able to entirely snuff out competition regardless of how quality it's product is, but unless Apple puts out a device focused on gaming it won't ever be more than a distraction from products designed specifically to make mobile game playing fun.

sure it works when you are talking about tetris. But the ipod simple lacks the controls to play anything more substantial. The virtual controls can sometimes get the job done but i'm sure anyone who owns an ipod can tell you that they can be hit or miss and often frustrating. I have quite a few simple games on my ipod but would i want to play God of War on the thing? of course not

Unless full REAL games come on the iPhone (new games, not emulated ones) there really isn't any true competition. Nostalgia competition sure, but rehashes are always going to exist.

The iphone/ipod touch was never meant to be a true gaming system. Bejewled and other simple puzzle games would work well on the platform but for anything more complex then that you need buttons and a d-pad.

What 9 year old kid wants to play fucking tetris? Analysts say such silly things. They know business, but they don't know games.

At the karate school I teach at, I see kids playing their DS's every day. Probably 45% of our students from the age of 6 - 16 have them. I even know a 4 year old girl who has her own DS.

The iPod Touch/iPhone is not a gaming device, people don't buy it for the games. Of the many people I know who have iPod Touches/iPhones (none of them are below the age of 16 might I add), NONE of them use it for games. I only have one game (Myst), and I don't even play it. We'll see what Apple does in the future, but for now it's no freakin' contest.

And apple isn't a gaming company. If they went into gaming...they would fail.

Apple can't make games, the iphone and itouch are NOT gaming devices.

DS and PSP are true gaming devices. Up yours apple and yours too pachter

IPhone gaming has done nothing for me. Yet. Still I don't really care for the wii and that thing sells bunches.
Never underestimate nine-year-old kids.

@Woland: I guess Tetris DS cost more than 20$ when it came out (in 2006, not in Pleistocene).
The real question is not "Why would you pay USD 20 for Tetris when you can get it for USD 6.99 or USD 3.99 on iPod touch?" but "why can someone afford to sell Tetris on the AppStore for 7 or 4 bucks and you still dare to sell basically the same game, with the same development costs, for 20$ or more?"
The threat posed by the iPod is not to gaming platforms, but to the criminally inflated prices of the gaming industry as a whole.

iPod gaming is definitely growing, and it does carry a lot of potential. If anything, it'll provide some healthy competition for the handheld gaming market. Nothing wrong with that. But it's a little complicated to assume what the future of the iPod is. Maybe iPod gaming will begin to phase out? Or maybe people will still have a difficult time taking the iPod as a serious handheld gaming competitor.

I do have high hopes for the iPod and its' success, as there are already some great games for it (Meteor Blitz, Space Invaders: Infinity Gene, iDracula, etc). But right now? The DS and PSP are still on top of the mountain, and they probably won't be falling off of it anytime soon.

Cellphones are the future of portable gaming. Bank on it.

Hyperbole!

iPod Touch is a threat... to touch-only DS games... of which there are few... so not really a threat at all.

With all the momentum Apple has had with their products in recent years, nothings changed for the Macintosh. Its still suicide to make games for a Mac, iPhone will still have its fun homebrew moments, but without buttons and D-pads, I don't feel its a threat to PSP or DS.

I always see most iPhone games as the flash games that we play for free on the internet.

I know there's some good third party games on iPhone but as long as the DS n PSP still have awesome first party games and some fresh new interesting IP, people who put gaming first priority will still buy them anyway.

Yet another example of people believing Steve Jobs's lies that the iPod Touch is a gaming machine. Looks like Apple will never gain a major share, whenever they start doing better (Windows Vista) they start being overconfident bastards (Shuffle with dedicated headphones, no camera on touch, etc.). Of course, Nintendo does this but is able to bulls*** their way through anything AND make money.

Jesus christ!

I could NOT even enjoy tetris on the iphone!

It was really that bad!

Well, if shooters, certain RPGs (i.e., Tales), games that require you to SEE what you are doing (without your fingers in the way), and other games that require fast responses go totally out of style, then Pachter is right on the money.

Now, for things like Prof. Layton, Animal Crossing, and other games where you just "point and click" with the touchscreen, the iPod Touch is perfect for it.

Also, I would never use my iPod Touch for games exclusively because they charge for firmware updates, so I don't want to be having to pay for a firmware update just to buy the newer games. There is also no media for the thing, so you would be totally locked into buying them from iTunes. At least with the PSP Go, you have the Memory Stick Micro that could potentially be sold with games on it.

But the main reason why the iPod Touch will never completely overtake the handheld market (with their current styled models) is that all Nintendo and Sony need to do is add a touchscreen (that you can use w/o a Stylus) and the accelerometer, and they pretty much have everything they're lacking. Conversely, the iPod Touch can't add buttons without really breaking the look and feel that Apple's going for.

Also, if the PSP can get a good POP3 e-mail program, a calendar, and some "Apps" for productivity and stuff, I may go out and get a PSP instead of upgrading to the next iPod Touch.

Quite simply, he's out of his mind if he thinks Mac will ever sell the Ipod Touch for less than a hundred bucks. They would phase it out and introduce a new model instead. I would be surprised if they retailed one for less than 150 bucks.

I love my iTouch. It's not perfect but for my gaming and everyday needs, hands down better than DS and PSP.