By now, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that Apple hardware has hidden/crippled features, but it comes as quite a shock to hear that the iPhone can be made to output video to a TV within minutes.

The revelation comes courtesy of game developer Freeverse and Ars Technica, who got together to see just what was possible with a little smart coding.

Promising test

Freeverse used its own iPhone game Moto Chaser as a test-bed for what might lie ahead for both the iPhone and the iPod touch platform when Apple deigns to support live video output.

Its programmers say they managed to get the first TV-connected version “going in minutes”, while an almost fully functional big-screen Moto Chaser was on the table within three hours.

Way ahead

The team used the latest version of the iPod touch because of its faster processor (532MHz, compared to the iPhone’s 412MHz) and was able to make the game play at 20fps.

Although that’s not quite up to the 30fps generally considered the baseline for a commercial game, it’s certainly an indicator of what we can expect from the burgeoning gaming platform.

[Post from: TechRadar]

Update

Here is a video of the team playing Moto Chaser on the big screen TV – awesome!