Forget all those 3G iPhone rumors. Apple’s known to never announce something that’s lame in itself anyway. There’s always something in Apple announcements, keynotes, and launches that adds something new. And if the only thing the iPhone is getting by June this year (or September, at the very latest) is 3G network support, then that would ruin Apple’s track record of innovation. Don’t you think something else is more important than that the iPhone is finally going to become 3G-enabled?

WWDC, after all, is an event for developers. “DC” at the end of it doesn’t mean “Developers Conference” for nothing. And taking that into consideration, it’s unlikely that an announcement of 3G network support would get punters, and especially the developers themselves, as excited as if Apple had announced the launching of a new handheld gaming console instead.

If you’ve ever held hands on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The multi-touch UI set up on the iPhone or iPod Touch seems like the perfect input and manipulation system for games. Except maybe for the lack of tactile feedback with each key press and the glare produced by the shiny, glass screen, multi-touch could possibly be the next best thing in gaming.

And as shown by Nintendo’s popular DS (dual-screen) gaming console, there is huge potential to be had from games applying the physics of multi-touch.

In any case, the possibility that Apple might announce the launch of a new handheld gaming system in the next-gen iPhone or iPod Touch (iPlay?) would fall pretty nicely into all the fuss that’s been happening lately. Other than getting developers to start on their engines, this would also mark Apple’s foray into the handheld gaming console market, which Sony and Nintendo currently rule. iPlay or not, it’s a logical next step, given the power of Mobile OS X as showcased on Apple’s last keynote where sample games were demoed.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for this and come back with more answers, or questions, to ponder upon. But for now, I say aye to a dedicated Apple handheld gaming console.

Read Reg Hardware