There’s been a lot of chatter over teh intarwebs in the past few months about whether the iPhone will overtake the PSP or even the DS as a gaming platform. It is my firm belief that for a number of reasons this will never happen. Granted, from a certain perspective, everything Apple touches turns to gold. The iPhone is incredibly popular, and has the same “cool” going for it that the iPod does. But Apple has a less than stellar record with gaming.

A lot of the buzz I’ve been hearing hints that much of the iPhone’s potential comes from its motion-sensing capabilities and its touch screen. The Wii introduced motion-sensitive controls to gaming, and after 2 years stores still can’t keep Wii consoles on shelves. The Nintendo DS introduced touch screens, and outsells home consoles in some markets. So if Apple introduces a handheld with both, it’s bound to be popular. Right?

I’m not so sure.

From the initial reviews, it’s seeming like early iPhone games are running into many of the same problems as early Wii games. Anyone remember the Wii version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance? Red Steel? Far Cry: Vengeance? They had shoddy, tacked-on implementation of the Wii’s motion controls. I believe that many iPhone games will run into the same problems. Most of the Wii’s best games are first-party games. And while Nintendo does make many of their own games, not so with Apple. The game developers more likely to create iPhone games are the sort who develop for mainstream audiences rather than “core gamers”. And while we’re likely to get some good PopCap-style games for the iPhone, my expectations are not high.

Another big problem is that the iPhone has no D-pad or buttons. In fact, it has no tactile game controls whatsoever. How well do you think the Nintendo DS would be doing if it didn’t have the D-pad, the A/B/X/Y buttons, or the shoulder buttons? Without buttons that you can feel with your fingers as you press them, you’ve got to continually look at where on the screen you’re pressing. And when you do press, your thumb is covering a portion of the screen. Both of these issues could be partially alleviated by placing on-screen “buttons” at the corners of the iPhone screen, but it’s still a problem. You simply cannot replace a D-pad with touch screen controls.

Lastly, the iPhone will have nothing in place of a stylus. At first, using your finger rather than a stylus might seem an improvement. After all, now there’s no stylus to lose! But have you ever tried playing a Nintendo DS game with your finger instead of a stylus? There are two major problems. Firstly, your finger blocks your view much more than the stylus. Secondly, your accuracy when using your finger is crap, seeing that your fingertip is at least fifty times larger than the point of a stylus.

In the end, I think you can look at the three companies involved here and apply their overall success in gaming to their success in the field of handheld gaming. Nintendo? Hugely successful in gaming. Their Nintendo DS handheld is no exception. Sony? Also very successful with their Playstation brand. The PSP may not be doing as well as the DS, but it’s certainly a success. Apple? Well, let’s just say that gaming on Macs has never gone very far. Nor do I expect it to do so with the iPhone.