We’re pretty sure that this hasn’t been addressed by the mass media just yet, so we thought we’d fill you in. OpenFeint and Plus+ have some hope for prolonged existence: Apple’s latest release notes explain that Game Center is not coming to iPhone OS 4 when it’s released. The software is merely there for developers to try it, test it and critique it. It specifically says in the release notes to play with it, but don’t submit any apps that support it on iPhone OS 4.0. There’s even a little blip about it in the publicly available support notes.

We’ll start the rumors here: It’s entirely possible that Apple will scratch the Game Center idea completely before they even release it. The initial idea was met with opposition, questions and anything but user support. Sure, some developers like the idea of social integration within their games, but that exists already with OpenFeint and Plus+… so it begs the question: why would Apple even care to step in as a player? We can’t think of a single good reason to put time and effort into Game Center… maybe some sort of combination with iAds? OpenFeint and Plus+ have been around for a while, they know what works and what doesn’t. Apple has no clue about social gaming. If anything, Apple should do what they do best: buy someone out. Better yet, get out of the social gaming industry. It’s definitely not their area of expertise.

Either way, we shouldn’t expect to see anything until “later this year.” We’re guessing a back-to-school release with new iPods.

If you haven’t heard by now, iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 4 came out late in the day on Tuesday. We still have spots available for our Beta test program. We’ll let you know about our experience with Beta 4 in the next couple days.