- 54 games were made for the old-school click wheel iPod
- Those games have been impossible to play in recent years
- A new project aims to make the games available for any iPod fans to play
These days, the iPhone is one of the most popular gaming platforms on the planet. But before all that, there was a brief period when the iPod had its moment to shine as a gaming destination. With the death of the iPod and Apple’s draconian DRM keeping old-school iPod games trapped on ancient devices, though, those days are long gone … or are they?
Not if a determined group of iPod enthusiasts has anything to say about it. A combination of nostalgia for the long-lost games and the unique gameplay mechanics of the click wheel has led to the creation of an iPod games preservation project that aims to make these titles available for anyone with a compatible device (via Ars Technica).
For a few years, Apple partnered with firms like Sega and EA to launch iPod games specifically for clickwheel models at $7.49 a pop. But when Apple gave up on the idea in 2011 and removed the titles from the iTunes store, fans of the games started backing up the compressed IPG files to various online archives. However, the problem is that the DRM on each IPG file ties it to both the iTunes account that it was registered to and the identifier of the machine that ran that instance of iTunes.
While those games will work fine with the devices they were originally synced with, the DRM means it’s very difficult to get them working on newer hardware (or a newer iTunes installation). To get it to work, you’ll need the original IPG file and the iTunes account that made the original purchase. If your IPG file wasn’t backed up, you’ll struggle to get the game working again.
Making them click
However, a bunch of iPod enthusiasts have managed to find a workaround of sorts. If you have a clickwheel iPod loaded up with games, you can reauthorize your account through Apple’s servers, even with a secondary installation of iTunes. But if several iPod owners reauthorize their accounts to the same iTunes installation, that iTunes instance becomes a “master library” containing verified copies of the games from every account that is connected to it.
Once that’s done, the iTunes account in question can be used to distribute those games to any number of iPods. Better yet, this method doesn’t require any kind of online check with Apple’s servers, meaning people with working click wheel iPods can access the games without the painful hurdles.
Now, Reddit user Olsro has set up the iPod Clickwheel Games Preservation Project. The idea is to create a virtual machine that anyone can connect to and sync games to their iPod. Once you’ve set up the virtual machine on your computer, you should be able to access Olsro’s library of games and download them to your iPod.
It’s not without risk, though. Apple could disable its servers for reauthorizing clickwheel iPods – something that might happen at any time. While Olsro has 47 iPod games in their library, they’re a few short of the full 54 titles that Apple released. That means the clock is potentially ticking on their efforts to complete the library for other iPod gamers.
It’s a world away from the modern M4 MacBook Pro and Apple’s renewed focus on bringing games to its platforms. But if you’re interested in a curious chapter in the history of Apple’s gaming efforts – or you just want to relive the days of playing on your iPod – it’s a fascinating story.
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