According to reliable sources, Apple has reportedly struck a deal with multiple big-name gaming industry giants including EA (who it is already working very hard with to deliver virtually every new PC game via the Cider engine to OS X in a simultaneous release with the Windows & Linux versions) to share Cupertino’s expertise and manpower in order to bring many new games to both the Mac and iDevice platforms.

In fact, we are now expecting an announcement right around the same time as the iPhone SDK is released in February (quite possibly at an Apple Event where both will be announced simultaneously), promoting the gaming initiative and the first wave of games from big-name franchises — we have heard that a “Ratchet and Clank” game may also be in the works along with a number of games originally developed for Playstation 2/PSP, in cooperation with Sony and its many partners!

If true, this latter tidbit could mean the long-rumored partnership between Apple and Sony to promote a Playstation family crossover of games being available for the Mac and certain iDevices (probably iPhone and iPod Touch) that can crosstalk in online play with PS2/PS3/PSP users….but that’s another rumor for another day.

Stay tuned for more details on that rumor and many others stemming from the new Apple Gaming Initiative in the days ahead!