Do iPhone or iPod Games Run Better on the Newest Generation Models? A Head to Head Comparison

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Iron Fist Boxing Third Strike. 3G version is shown on the left. 3GS version shown on the right. Notice shadow, lighting, and some extra details

It has been 5 months since the release of the iPhone 3GS and 3 months since the third generation iPod Touch has been released. Are game developers taking advantage of the stronger processing power of these newer machines? Are the games any different between the newest models and the older generation models? These questions are sure to be on the minds of many users who have not upgraded their devices to the newest model.

Developers are starting to make games that utilize features unique to iPhone 3GS and the third gen iPod Touch. Specifically, these new games run advanced graphics API called Open GL ES v2.0 that lets game developers use textures and effects such as bloom not accessible with older devices that uses v1.1 specs.

Notice the difference in water effects

Currently, differences between iPhone 3G and 3GS games include frame rate, loading time, shadow effects, enhanced water effects, lighting effects, and draw distance. In most games there are minimal graphical differences between the two models. However, better lighting effects, higher frame rate, and draw distances can enhance the game experience.

Is the improvement sufficient for older iPhone and iPod Touch gamers to get the new hardware? In my opinion, the graphical differences between current 3G and 3GS games still aren’t that far apart. iPhone 3G users can probably continue to enjoy their games as much as the 3GS users. However, 3GS has some functions such as augmented reality that aren’t available on 3G models. Thus, if you really need features specific to the newest generation of Apple’s app machines, getting the newest model right now is still now a bad idea.