Apple has today moved closer to taking on Sony and Nintendo in the handheld market by placing a strong focus on games at its unveiling of the software developers kit for the iPhone.

At the town hall event at the company's headquarters, Apple announced support for OpenGL, OpenAL, and 3dimensional sound, all standards that gamers currently develop in.

In a move to overcome the limitations of no joystick, Apple has given developers access to the mobile phone's accelerometer, a technology that allows the phone to sense were it is on three axes and respond accordingly.

The move will allow gamers to move the iPhone to move a character or vehicle on screen.

Apple demoed a game called Touch Fighter where gamers can control a spacecraft around the screen by tilting the phone.

Hoping to prove its credentials, Apple has approached a number of games companies including EA giving them two weeks to develop a game for the device to show that it was possible.

EA demoed Spore working on a similar basis offering controls via the motion sensing accelerometer while Sega demoed Supermonkey Ball again with the accelerometer.

Earlier this month Pocket-lint reported that a patent has been published which describes a method that would automatically determine which games on the iTunes Store are compatible with iPods or iPhones tied to a customer's iTunes software.