I know that I just reviewed a SquareEnix game yesterday on this site, but I ran across Song Summoner for the IPod that has just recently been released on ITunes. I must say that SquareEnix is really trying to expand their market. I have not actually played this title yet (as my IPod is broke... hard drive crash).
I was a bit sad to see though the limited selection of IPods that this title works with. Apparently a click wheel model is required, IPod nano w/video, IPod classic, and 5th gen IPods. Apparently the touch isn't supported.
The game play reminds me of monster rancher as the premise is to use external media (in this case songs from your ITunes library) to create units called "Tune Troopers" to fight for you in a very FFTactics like system. Listening to your music outside of the game also levels up your units, presumably using the listening count feature on the ITunes/IPod players.
It's really a novel idea and I hope that it is a good game and does well for SquareEnix. I would love to see some other major developers do likewise. Simple games that are sold for cheap using hand held devices functionality is really something that we have not seen much of yet. Most games for hand held are between 40-50 dollars. Which, understandably is a much more desired market, also require end users to purchase specific devices used solely for gaming.
I think that with systems like the IPod and the Zune, there is a much larger market for developers to target, as these devices are purchased by anyone for their music and video playback capabilities and not only by hardcore gamers. Also, at 4.99 from the ITunes store, this is something that I think many people may buy just because it is cheap and really one of the only larger titles out there (other than your traditional Sudoku/Bejeweled style puzzle games).
No comments:
Post a Comment