The famous apple brand had developed a clone of Tetris, designed specifically for the iPod, but it never saw the light of day. Here is a little piece of the little-known history of Stacker .
The iPod literally revolutionized the way we listen to music when it was released in 2001. An elegant, very compact design, an intuitive interface and sound quality much superior to that of the players of the time, the small portable music player digital had it all. It then evolved into many different versions, always more advanced and powerful. Its career will have lasted more than 20 years, since Apple decided to end its production in 2022.
This little device still conceals secrets, since we discovered a game called Stackera true and non-commercial copy of Tetrison a prototype of the third generation of the iPod.
A simple and effective prototype
It is thanks to AppleDemoYT, a user passionate about Apple prototypes, that the existence of Stacker was revealed. This game, previously unknown to the general public, was discovered on a pre-production iPod used only for design testing (DVT). This prototype ran under an experimental version of iPodOS 2.0.
The gameplay of the game was strictly similar to Tetris : stack cubes by moving them sideways using the iPod’s scroll wheel and lowering them using the central button (see video below).
In addition to this, the prototype contained other games, Stacker was not alone! It also included Block0 (probably an early version of Brig) And Klondike (also an early version of Lonely).
An aborted project
Stacker certainly had potential, but it never made it to market. ony Fadell, a former vice president of Apple, explained to AppleDemoYT that the games were in no way planned to appear in the first versions of the iPod. Indeed, it will be the later iterations of the player which will officially integrate games like Lonely And Brig.
It was not until September 2006 and the release of the iPod Classic that very popular titles were implemented by Apple. We think in particular of the classico-classical Pac-Manhas Cubis 2, Mini golf, Mahjong, Zuma or Bejeweled.
Additions which already demonstrated that Apple had sensed the potential of mobile gaming on its devices, well before the appearance of the App Store. Stackerthis forgotten game, reminds us of one thing: behind each marketed product there is a multitude of ideas, concepts and prototypes that have never seen the light of day.
Source : Engadget
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