Does the iPhone have enough game to take on Nintendo and Sony?

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UPDATE: Apple says it has 400 games for iPhone that run on its Safari Web browser.

... be as sweet together as peanut butter and chocolate, but so far the two great tastes haven’t gone great together. The games currently available for the iPhone are through the device’s Safari Web browser, which limits what the games can do. In March Apple released software development tools for programmers to build applications for the phone that can be downloaded directly on the device and take advantage of its many talents, including the motion sensing accelerometer and multi-touch screen.

Among those who have taken up the challenge is Brian Greenstone, president and founder of Pangea Software in Austin, Texas. He shared the stage with Jobs today to show off two games that are on the runway when Apple launches its App Store for third-party iPhone software in early July.

Greenstone chose to develop for the iPhone over the DS or PSP because he wouldn’t need a big marketing budget to compete with the hundreds of games released each year for the other two hand-held platforms. ‘It allows a small developer like me to compete on an even plane with the big guys,’ he said.

It’s telling that Greenstone says he isn’t motivated by the iPhone business opportunity. ‘It was just about getting a game onto a portable device,’ he said. ‘It had nothing to do with the money.’

-- Alex Pham