Up On the Roof…

MacRumors reports that the first native iPhone game has been released for the iPhone. Its a puzzle game called Lights Off.

First the good news:
It’s an exciting anouncement because the developers created it without much help from Apple. Apple has not provided developers with an SDK (software development kit). This means anyone who wants to make a third party program, has to more work to do to get a game or other program to work with the iPhone interface, etc.

Now the bad news:
I haven’t played or downloaded it myself because it takes hacking the iPhone and installing some extra pieces of software to get it to work. On top of that there is a risk that the iPhone could be permanently damaged by doing this. Here’s their disclaimer text “Disclaimer: Lights Off is provided on an “as is” basis, without warranty of any kind. If your iPhone breaks, don’t cry on our shoulders.”

But this is still exciting news because it indicates that additional software for iPhones, (other than web-based via Safari) is on the horizon.

Prediction:
I expect Apple will do one of two things in the next month or so, release an iPhone patch that makes the game not run, or give in to developers and release an official SDK.