The joys of playing on my belly

I know many of you have had and iPhone or Ipod Touch for a while, and even perhaps an iPad.

I got mine, an iPod Touch 64 GB, just about 6 weeks ago, after accepting that my iPod classic had kicked the bucket.

And this opened up the wonderful world of the App store, and, especially, the world of iOS games. Too bad there’s not a NWN2 for iOS yet… ;) But I’ve got other games on there, my favourites being Tower Madness (I never get tired of hearing these aliens explode!) and Civilization Revolution  (a dummed-down Civ-game, but just as addictive), Carcassonne  and, of course, Grokion  (great music and graphics! ;) Though I haven't been much of a platformer kind of guy since the heady Shareware days). The Diablo-like Dungeon Hunter is pretty good too, though I’ve only played the Lite version so far. I was quickly turned off on the other hand by GTA Chinatown Wars’ controls and the 3D CRPG Ravensword with its wafer-thin story and poor writing, not to mention the game breaking bug I hit. More than ever now, I'm looking forward to Ossian's "real" RPG on iOS.

How pleasurable I’m finding now to disconnect from my computer to play quick, fun sessions crashed on the living room couch or lying on my bed. These days I’m spending more time playing in that position than sitting at my desk.

I’ve had a GBA for years now however and it never caused me to part with my computer in this way. It was more of a poor substitute when off travelling somewhere, in some hotel room. Perhaps its the games (and the fact they cost much less on iOS and therefore you can try out more till you find one you really like : gotta love App store pricing and demos!), but likely the actual machine and its interface has more to do with it.

The position of the hands on the iPod Touch and the tactile relationship with the game is something that feels natural and pleasurable. In fact, I’m noticing I’m enjoying more iOS games that you actually interact with through the screen rather than those that use a virtual joystick and buttons.

That’s not to say that PC gaming is dead for me, far from it. I’m still playing : NWN2 of course, Wyrin’s fantastic White Plume Mountain in particular, Mass Effect 2 and Wheelman (I’m a big fan of Vin Diesel, and I’ll enjoy anything that has to do with him, I’m not even sure why!). And I just bought Borderlands, just because it was $10 on D2D. On my PS2, I'm still strumming along to Guitar Hero and Rock Band games from time to time.

And you, if you’ve got an iPod, iPhone or iPad, what games are you playing? I’d like to know what other NWN2 fans are enjoying.

Thanks for reading!