Apple has released their official guided tour of the 3GS. If you're curious to learn a little bit more about the device be sure and check out their video.

Apple unveiled the new iPhone 3GS this morning at it's annual WWDC keynote. Prior to the unveiling rumors ran rampant about new hardware. There were claims of front mounted cameras, heat-seaking missiles and eternal salvation upon contact. None of those came true...unfortunately. But the new hardware does boast some noteworthy incremental changes. None of which include a new case.

The first of which is a performance boost. Apple claims it will be significantly faster than the current 3G offering. SimCity apparently loads 2.4 times faster and text messages launch about twice as fast than the current 3G. Speaking of performance boost the 3GS also has a (much needed) improved battery life. For comparison, the 3GS allows up to 30 hours of battery life for music playback versus 24 hours on the 3G. Definitely a step in the right direction. I can't tell you how many times I've had to rely on my car charger for juice when I'm out and about.

One of the changes that I found the most exciting is it's new camera features. The new 3GS sports a brand new 3 megapixel camera which also allows you to record video at 30 frames per second. The camera software includes auto exposure, focus, white balancing, in-phone video editing and the ability email your clips.

The iPhone 3GS will become available in North America on June 19th for $199 (16 GB) and $299 (32GB). Perhaps most impressive of all: The current iPhone 3G has dropped down to the consumer friendly sweet spot of $99 (8GB). For that price Apple is going to unload a ton of these things, which is great for aspiring developers, their stockholders and people who are trying to run an iPhone gaming site =)

(Photo: Engadget )

WWDC 2009 kicked off from San Francisco this morning with Apple's annual keynote. Topics in focus this morning ranged from new Macbook Pros, Snow Leopard and iPhone 3.0. While there's newsworthy information at every bend let's see what the keynote had in store for us, the iPhone gaming public. 

- 3.0 Release Date: June 17th, Free for iPhone, $9.95 for Touch users

- Peer-to-Peer: This new 3.0 feature has been highlighted before in Apple's previous keynote. Peer-to-peer allows bluetooth connectivity between iPhones, local multiplayer will be a breeze to set up. Several titles included a local wifi option to play multiplayer games, but it was a severely underutilized feature. This is a great convenient addition, I can't wait to give a shot.

- In App Purhcase: A new 3.0 feature that allows purchases to be made in app. It will be possible to download an extra chapter, levels, costumes or characters (or anything else you can think of) for a game within the app itself. While this is a great feature, I hope developers keep the prices reasonable and the content useful.

- Push Notifications: While primarily looked at as a non-gaming feature it's feasible that games will take advantage of this feature sometime down the road. Imagine a friend beats your all time high score, it's possible that you can be notified as soon as it's submitted.

- Accessories: After the 3.0 update developers will have the ability have connectivity between third party accesories. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before an EA or Activision comes out with a peripheral for an iPhone title.