iPhone 16 as Apple's gaming machine

Plus PS5 Pro sticker shock, Mass Effect, Gimmick and Rugrats.

Hello there! I don’t know about you but I feel like this week has had around 18 days in it. Just too much news. In today’s very fine newsletter we’re looking at the iPhone 16’s gaming credentials, the wildly expensive PS5 Pro and the Mass Effect boardgame. Also, a new game that legitimately feels like a lost classic, and a sequel to a game that really is one. Let’s go!

Could iPhone 16 work as a AAA gaming device?

By Tim

There are people within the hardware design and app store teams at Apple who really want the iPhone to become the ultimate video game machine, even if they can’t get into the meetings where an overall approach to marketing or integration is decided. With a Backbone controller attached, or propped up and paired with a DualSense or Xbox pad, playing games on iPhone rules. With decent games occasionally making it to Apple Arcade, and more AAA games hitting iPhone at the same time as Mac, the ecosystem is moving in a good direction. So, what did Apple have to say about any of this at its iPhone 16 reveal event this week?

The most important takeaway may be that the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus seem like very capable gaming machines, which is a different situation to last year where the Pro phones were clearly significantly more powerful. All the iPhone 16 models have a variant of the new A18 chip (although the one in the Pro still has more graphics cores), and the standard phones are getting a bump in RAM, reportedly to 8GB like the Pro phones. Physically larger batteries, better cooling and more energy efficient tech should help add a few hours longevity to all models too. And the new Game Mode coming in iOS 18 is supposed to reduce background activity to boost frames, while lowering Bluetooth latency to keep your controller and earbuds from getting laggy.

As usual with Apple though, amazing hardware can only get you so far. Yes, the iPhone 16 will play Death Stranding, Assassin's Creed Mirage and the Resident Evil 4 remake, which is extremely impressive. But do we have any guarantee of future AAA game releases? Certainly no publisher has come out and pledged ongoing support, and all reports indicate the existing big-budget games have sold very slowly on the platform. Publishers have the option to bundle purchases across iPhone and Mac, and the tech provided to port from one to the other seems solid, but Mac itself could generously be described as an emerging platform for games. Big publishers could decide it’s just not worth it.

Unfortunately the most obvious boosters for iPhone as a gaming platform — like giving you access to local versions of games you bought on other platforms, or including AAA games in Apple Arcade — just aren’t going to be palatable to Apple in a monetary sense. But it has to do something if it wants more people to start taking full advantage of all that lovely tech.

What to play

• New to Game Pass this week is Riders Republic. Remember Riders Republic? The Ubisoft extreme sports MMO? No? Well now you can play it!

• On Apple Arcade you can now play Monster Train+, a fully-featured no-microtransactions version of one of the finest deckbuilding roguelike games you can get. It somehow skipped my notice last month that the service also added Vampire Survivors and a new Temple Run. It’s a good time for Arcade!

• Love Fallout Shelter? Love Argonians? You may be interested in The Elder Scrolls: Castles! I’m pretty sure this is Bethesda’s third attempt to make Elder Scrolls happen on mobile, but I’m willing to give it a chance.

• Free on the Epic Games store is Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, which is brand new and something you should consider picking up on other platforms anyway if you’re into old-school platformers. It has an NES-style sound and graphical presentation with the option to change to a more modern hand-drawn wide-screen mode, and it reminds me a lot of old Ninja Turtles and other licensed games where you switch between characters and find hidden treasures. Also free on Epic is Super Crazy Rhythm Castle. Ok!

• I was looking forward to the Marvel vs Capcom collection on Switch this week, because I love all of those games (except Punisher, which I’ve never played), but the $70 price point gave me pause. Maybe one to save for a sale, or for when I know there’s a party coming up that calls for some serious X-men vs Street Fighter action.

What is Sony even doing?

By Alice

There was a lot of gaming news this week, and almost none of it was really good. Annapurna Interactive imploded, Xbox laid off 650 employees, and PlayStation removed Concord from people’s libraries whether they wanted it gone or not, raising awareness that no one truly owns or controls their digital libraries. All that’s depressing and deeply sucks on multiple levels. But let’s talk about the odd news, rather than the depressing news - this week Sony announced the PS5 Pro.

Everyone has been expecting the PS5 Pro for a while, because we’re at the middle of the console cycle, it’s almost law that a more powerful version is announced. Xbox almost certainly has one good to go next year. But, here’s the thing - when the PS4 Pro was released, the regular PS4 was starting to struggle. Loading screens were taking a long time, and developers were being constrained by the aging technology. That’s not happening yet. There’s almost no one wishing their PS5 was faster yet.

The two big features on the PS5 pro are advanced ray tracing, and 8K compatibility. Those were also things that were originally promised for this current generation of consoles that makers didn’t quite pull off. As someone with an 8K TV, it would be nice to have some more content to make the most of it. But is that worth $1200 to anyone? Who is this for? The PS5 Pro doesn’t come with the vertical stand or disc drive, both need to be purchased separately. If you get the PS5 Pro, disc drive and vertical stand, that pushes the price up to $1388. Or, for $1507 you can get a PS5 Slim, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch Lite, all of which will certainly be cheaper in the Christmas sales.

I hate to bring up the phrase “cost of living crisis”, but what is PlayStation even doing here? This has to be one of the most tone deaf releases in a long time, and that is saying a lot. Do I want one? Obviously. But I’m saving my kidneys to buy groceries.

Bricks, Boards and Beginnings 

by Alice

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: board games based on video games generally do not work. That’s what makes it so exciting when you find a board game that preserves the vibe of the video game, without over complicating things. Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz has an incredibly clunky name, it can’t be ignored, but it’s also a good game, drawing together the best of what Mass Effect could offer a board game. You can play several different scenarios, trying to keep your whole crew alive and staying on mission. If you die, you still progress to the next stage of the scenario, but have a worse outcome.

The game comes with lovingly detailed minis of Masc Shep, Fem Shep, Liara, Tali, Wrex and Garrus, and all of them are delightful. The scenarios also seem to be written by people who have a truly impressive grasp of the tone and lore of the games. It’s as much a love letter as it is a game.

In my first play through with friends, the first thing that I noticed is that it’s incredibly difficult to stay alive. The difficulty level and random nature of some of the attacks really took me by surprise and meant that we had to change up tactics a few times.

What I found really interesting is that I had a better time playing Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz solo. Generally, I’m of the opinion that board games are best played with friends. Perhaps this will be if you have a truly dedicated group of role players. But the experience of playing solo felt so much more true to the video game to me, and also meant that it was easier to see the whole board and what I wanted to achieve. This is a game where you can go deep into the lore, try every permutation and be a complete control freak. It’s a game for Mass Effect fans (both casual and hardcore) and anyone looking for a good light-medium intensity role playing game to play solo or in a group.

Retro Esoterica

by Tim

Do you know about Gimmick? Before insufferable gaming influencers on YouTube and know-it-alls on Reddit (and in newsletters), it was a relatively unknown 8-bit platformer. Released by Sunsoft for Nintendo’s Famicom a full two years after the Super Famicom was already out, it’s a beautiful and very difficult adventure with a silly story and an unusual control scheme.

You play as Yumetaro (who I’d previously assumed was named Gimmick, as I don’t otherwise have any idea why the game is called that), a little green guy who’s really a demon but he’s so cute that he’s accidentally given to a girl as a toy. When she’s whisked away to another dimension by bad toys, Yumetaro heads off to rescue her. But he’s not just running and jumping like a regular platform hero. He can summon and throw a star that bounces in very specific arcs depending on how far it falls, and you beat enemies with it, flick switches, or ride it to reach high platforms.

It’s the kind of game that kills you immediately and makes you feel dumb because you don’t understand how it works, but with time and practice it reveals itself as an intricately designed set of challenge boxes and enemy patterns. It never got a broad international release, but its unusual physics-based gameplay mixed with its stunning graphics and mind-blowing (for the time) chiptunes meant Western nerds took notice, and its growing cred eventually led to a global release in 2023.

The reason I’m bringing this up now is because of the brand new Gimmick 2, which I wasn’t sure of from the trailers but can now confirm is very good indeed. It ditches the pixel look for a cleaner design (I think it looks kind of like Cut the Rope, which isn’t the highest praise), and brings in famed composer David Wise for the soundtrack, but the setup and gameplay is exactly the same. It’s less punishing, introduces some new customisation options, and is a lot of fun when it comes to experimenting with the star’s physics. It’s of course not as impressive today as the original was in 1992, though, which makes its $37 price seem steep.