Well "Patapon" didn't work out so well for me today (the story reveals what a moron I am, so I'll skip it), but in the hours I spent with nothing to do in L.A. Superior Court (I obviously wasn't chosen for a jury) I finally played "Fieldrunners."

And wow is it good. I've never particularly gotten into tower defense on the PC; it's just not something I would ever choose to do in my home when I've got a million other options. But when I'm short on options and I need something that works and looks great on my phone, "Fieldrunners' is pretty much perfect. It looks awesome, plays almost flawlessly, and a game that's entirely about placing weapons is perfect for the iPhone's touch screen (luckily it doesn't use the iPhone's clunky tilting sensor -- I'm talking to you, "Spore Origins!"). And because the game is played in waves and has a simple save feature, it's perfect for a device on which you often don't know how long you'll have to play.

Unlike consoles or PCs, which offer an almost unlimited array of game types for an almost unlimited array of situations, mobile devices are severely limited in what they can do and when/how we typically use them. Which is why the fact that "Fieldrunners" is so perfectly suited to the iPhone is its best asset.

True, there's only two maps, but at $5, there's still a lot more enjoyment to be had per dollar here than on many $60 titles.I must have spent a good three or four hours on it today and I honestly am already looking forward to my holiday cross-country flight when I'll have the perfect situation to play some more.

iPhone games have gotten so hot so fast that traditional media is now partnering with the hottest of the bunch.

The super popular rythm title "Tap Tap Revenge," which was recently ranked as the #1 free game in Apple's app store, has garnered around 3 million downloads and over 100,000 active players per day. As Bart Decrem, CEO of publisher Tapulous, told me when we met earlier this week, it was originally a game from the "jailbroken" scene, where users hacked their iPhones to put in non-Apple approved applications. But Tapulous bought it, along with several other applications, once Apple came out with a legal store for distributing them in June. "Tap Tap Revenge" has since become not just the company's biggest hit, but it defining product (thus the corporate name).

The only revenue it's currently generating, however, comes from small ads on the bottom on the bottom of the screen (served to those who are online, which explains why people like me who only play on airplanes have never seen them). Tapulous has managed to add new song downloads for the game every week, but they've all come from artists/labels/publishers willing to provide their music purely for promotional purposes, for free.

But of course Tapulous needs more than little ads to build a business. It needs players to pay. Which means it needs better content. Which means it needs to start sharing revenue. And it needs to do all that without disrupting the free "Tap Tap Revenge" model that has proven so successful.

Decrem's solution is two spinoffs, both of which are being released this week. The first, "Tap Tap Dance" is a partnership with EMI that features ten dance tracks from the Chemical Brothers, Moby and others. The second is "Christmas with Weezer," which has six traditional Christmas songs recorded by the band, along with two "bonus tracks." They both feature the same basic gameplay as "Tap Tap Revenge," but with totally different graphics that match their content (the Weezer version also has a new, can't fail, "kids" setting). Both cost $4.99, with that money being divided between Apple, Tapulous, the labels and publishers.

It's a real sign of how much Apple's app store has grown, and how fast, that Tapulous is already in a position to sign deals with major labels and artists. The obvious choice would be to start charging for track downloads, as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" do. But given how easy it is to produce these small mobile spin-offs, perhaps the "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" model makes more sense, especially if there continue to be more bands willing to provide free tracks to the core game (an update to "Revenge" coming this winter will allow Tapulous to delete tracks after a while, thus encouraging labels to circulate them into the game for promotional windows).

If the spin-offs are a hit, it will demonstrate that Apple's app store is big enough to not only launch successful games, but successful brands. Which will make it an even more powerful force in the franchise-obsessed videogame biz.

As part of its presentation to analysts today, Take-Two Interactive presented a few "potential untapped opprtunities" in markets it hasn't yet entered, including MMO's and mobile, as well as licensing to "traditional" media or, I assume, producing itself.

On a slide that was part of its presentation, which I copied above, it even named some potential names, noting that "Bioshock" and "Civilization" could both make great MMOs and that "Bioshock" and "Carnival Games" could work as mobile games.

These are only possiblities, of course, and not reason for fanboys to start clearing space on their hard drives or buying a powerful new phone. Given the way analyst presentations work, I take it as more Take-Two demonstrating to those in attendance that it can move into these markets if/when it is ready, because it has properties that would translate well. It's not a hint that the "Bioshock" MMO is actually in development.

As for the "Bioshock" movie, that should be a big "duh" to Cut Scene readers. As I wrote last month, "Take-Two has been bombarded with  requests from producers and studios interested in obtaining the rights, agents interested in representing them, etc." The only question is which big name is going to get the rights. And whether Take-Two will try to get commercially/creatively involved itself, possibly investing its own money.

Also of note: Executive Chairman Strauss Zelnick said that online play is becoming increasingly important. "Not all of our games have been multi-player," he noted. "Going forward, the bulk of them will be."

My immediate thought? I can't wait to play "Bioshock 2" online multi-player next year. I want to be the Big Daddy.

With its DS-like touch screen and PSP-like high res wide screen, the iPhone has screamed "games" to me every time I pick it up.

Which is why it's very cool, it not surprising, that today's demo of the new applications possible on the iPhone included several videogames. And not just little casual games like we see on mobile phones. Major titles from big publishers.

EA for instance, is releasing a version of its long-in-development "Spore" for the device. Sega demo's a version of "Super Monkey Ball." While using the touch-screen to design a creature could be fun in "Spore," you obviously could only play a very scaled down version. "Super Monkey Ball," on the other hand, which will take full advantage of the device's tilt sensors, would arguably work as well or better on the iPhone than any other device (memory concerns aside).

EA has already confirmed that it has "other games in early stages of development" for the device. Indie developer Freeverse also said it has numerous casual games like bowling and racing in the works.

For me, however, the iPhone isn't too interesting as a place to play casual games. Sure it's occasionally fun, but I already do that lots of other places. My iPhone, after all, is primarily an extension of my life. It's a way to access my e-mail, surf the web, etc. while I'm on the go. In other words, the same things I do at home, but in a scaled-down, mobile way.

That why I think it would be really cool if the iPhone were an extension of my gaming experiences. Like what if I could design creatures on my iPhone that show up in my PC game of "Spore?" Or finish a level of "Super Monkey Ball" and get credit for it on my Wii? You get the idea. I've heard lots of talk from developers and publishers about extending the gaming experience and it seems to me that the iPhone, easily the most powerful mobile connected device we've seen that's completely open (i.e. not the DS or PSP) could truly make that happen.

Wired also has a good round-up of the iPhone's gaming potential