Game Phones

The new iPhone 3G has been announced, and an opinion piece on Gamasutra ponders the possibilities of the iPhone as a viable platform for gaming. The piece pushes for the development of phones that can also be used to play games. Sure, many phones already are capable of playing games, but we’re not talking just Solitaire here. What if, for instance, one’s phone could not only be a phone, an MP3 player, but a game console as well?If one’s phone was also a portable gaming device, would that make the sharing of games easier? Games are certainly a form of communication, but if made as an essential part of something everyone has, such as a phone, games can perhaps be placed on a level of such things as social networking and instant messaging as a form of digital communication. What would this mean for game design? Would users be encouraged to create and share their own games?Personally, I’m worried about putting all of my eggs in one device. One device seems like one big opportunity for one grand failure at one time.