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EA Mobile hails the launch of the iPhone App Store

Tim Harrison chuffed with 'revolutionary' user interface

EA Mobile hails the launch of the iPhone App Store
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EA Mobile might not have got its first iPhone games onto the App Store yesterday like its rivals did, but it's present and correct for the official launch today with two games here in the UK: Tetris and EA Sudoku.

European marketing director Tim Harrison is certainly excited at how the games make use of the iPhone's features.

"Both Tetris and Sudoku make use of the touchscreen to enhance the gameplay experience," he says.

"In Sudoku, the player taps the annotated keyboard to enter their selection or record options. With Tetris, the player can pinch, drag, tap and shake to rack up points – for example, a downward flick will drop the Tetrimino."

What's more, Harrison thinks that the iPhone will allow some great innovation from developers and publishers, whether simply different controls, or new game modes.

"I think the user interface is a pretty revolutionary extra in itself and it brings a whole new flavour to everything," he says.

"The guys in the studio have made full use of that to really bring these classics alive on the platform. We've also added new features pieces to spice things up – like a 'Magic' mode to Tetris, which adds a series of level-based challenges to the gameplay."

The touchscreen and tilt/motion sensitivity is what Harrison thinks makes the iPhone "exciting and different" from other platforms, so you can bet there's a crack team or two within EA working on new ideas for the coming months.

"We're pretty experienced in building game experiences for mobile platforms and the needs of the mobile consumer," he says. "And here, for the first time, the device itself actually becomes an essential part of the game, enhancing game playability like never before."

Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)