Topic: iPhone/iPod Touch game thread?

[gbuell]

Yeah, my surprise is at the idea that he thought he could get away with it.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm more surprised Apple let it on the store. Given their history of being pretty strict in that regard, I'm amazed such a clearcut case of copyright infringement got past them.

[KDR_11k]

I'm more surprised Apple let it on the store. Given their history of being pretty strict in that regard, I'm amazed such a clearcut case of copyright infringement got past them.

I suspect they're like the USPTO, not even bothering to check some of the stuff before signing it off. Or maybe they're outsourcing the testing to Chinese sweatshops where the people have no idea what a Nintendo is.

[gbuell]

I just think they care way more about when someone infringes on one of their copyrights than when someone infringes on someone else's. After all, Apple is seeing a cut of this app's sales too.

[TJ Spyke]

I'm more surprised Apple let it on the store. Given their history of being pretty strict in that regard, I'm amazed such a clearcut case of copyright infringement got past them.

I suspect they're like the USPTO, not even bothering to check some of the stuff before signing it off. Or maybe they're outsourcing the testing to Chinese sweatshops where the people have no idea what a Nintendo is.

Maybe, but it took me less than 1 minute to go to the USPTO website and find out that Nintendo still owns the trademark. I would think that one of Apple's hundreds (or maybe thousands) of lawyers would have discovered this.

Apple should care because they would get sued to if the copyright owner tells them to remove the illegal content and they refuse. Everyone knows how terrible the App Store process is though.

[gbuell]

Apple should care because they would get sued to if the copyright owner tells them to remove the illegal content and they refuse.

They would never refuse.

[KDR_11k]

I believe they can get sued as-is, the DMCA's "follow takedowns and you're safe" rule only applies to services which don't check the material they upload. Apple checks manually so they're not protected by that.

I don't think the trademark is the worst part, they're clearly using ripped sprites and that's copyright infringement.

[gbuell]

iOS 4.1 with Game Center has been released, update your iDevices and add me, nickname gbuell.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'll add you as soon as the 4.1 jailbreak is released.

[greybrick]

I am under the username Greybrick

Here is a shameless plug for the iPhone/iPad gaming website I write for: Touchgen. I figured people on this thread would be interested.

We also have a pretty popular podcast if I may say so!
 

[NWR_insanolord]

I am under the username Greybrick

Here is a shameless plug for the iPhone/iPad gaming website I write for: Touchgen. I figured people on this thread would be interested.

We also have a podcast

Does that site of yours have an RSS feed? I've been clicking around but I can't find it. I buy way too many iOS games, and I can always use another site to get recommendations from.

[greybrick]

I am under the username Greybrick

Here is a shameless plug for the iPhone/iPad gaming website I write for: Touchgen. I figured people on this thread would be interested.

We also have a podcast

Does that site of yours have an RSS feed? I've been clicking around but I can't find it. I buy way too many iOS games, and I can always use another site to get recommendations from.

Well, you could follow us on Twitter. We're almost at two thousand followers!
I think that all wordpress sites have an RSS feed, I will look into that.  http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/19512831.rss

I should have my review of Hybrid 2 up tomorrow in time for its release, if you were looking forward to that.

[NWR_insanolord]

Twitter's good, I'll definitely follow you, but RSS makes it easier to go back and catch things I missed or don't have time for immediately without the extra step of saving it to Evernote.

EDIT: Okay, I can't seem to find your Twitter on your page either.

[greybrick]

Twitter's good, I'll definitely follow you, but RSS makes it easier to go back and catch things I missed or don't have time for immediately without the extra step of saving it to Evernote.

EDIT: Okay, I can't seem to find your Twitter on your page either.

http://twitter.com/touchgen

and this is the RSS for said twitter: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/19512831.rss

[NWR_insanolord]

I found the feed through a Google Reader search, it's touchgen.com/feed. Seems pretty obvious now.

[greybrick]

I found the feed through a Google Reader search, it's touchgen.com/feed. Seems pretty obvious now.

...and yet the dude that actually writes for the site has no idea!

Hopefully you enjoy our coverage, just look out for some reviews that seem a bit ......... rushed.

[KDR_11k]

I should have my review of Hybrid 2 up tomorrow in time for its release, if you were looking forward to that.

I think I'll spoil the most important point right away: "shitty framerate"
The framerate is shitty on a magnitude that would have embarrassed a 286.

[greybrick]

I should have my review of Hybrid 2 up tomorrow in time for its release, if you were looking forward to that.

I think I'll spoil the most important point right away: "shitty framerate"
The framerate is shitty on a magnitude that would have embarrassed a 286.

What hardware are you using KDR? I found the framerate to be abysmal on the 3g, but okay when I threw it on the iPad. Of course, having it run terribly for a large portion of your audience is a big problem.

[KDR_11k]

iPod Touch 3rd gen. It looks like cellphone port syndrome. Feels better if I lower the game speed, maybe it's just too fast with too few frames for each action so it looks like it's skipping frames.

[greybrick]

I think the animations have really low frame counts, this game is definitely a drag for me.

[KDR_11k]

Anyway, for actual game recommendations:

Solomon's Keep is awesome. Think Diablo implemented as a twin stick shooter where you're a wizard and use some basic spells as your main weapon.

Drop Zap is my current go-to tile based puzzle game but then again I'm not big on those so who knows if I'm judging that right.

Mr. Space is that one microgame from Wario Ware where you have to hide in the gap between two walls made into a pretty fun diversion.

Plus there's FASTAR: Fighting Angry Squares: The Action RPG which is a nice diversion as well.

[greybrick]

I recommend Frogatto, this is a fun SNES style platformer.

Also, GTA Chinatown Wars on the iPad is my favorite version of the game.

[vudu]

I just got a hand-me-down 2nd gen iPod Touch.  I'll review this thread later to see what games I should get but I have a couple general questions.

First, are there any games or programs that either won't work or will run poorly on a 2nd gen unit?  I remember hearing about problems with newer games running on old iPhone units but I'm not sure if iPod Touch systems have that same problem.  If there are compatibility issues how does one find out about them?

Second, any general advice on how to shop apps, organize the system, work iTunes, etc?  Are games & apps always going on sale (like Steam) so I should never buy anything at full price?  Do apps regularly drop in price after they've been out a while or is it like WiiWare/VC where the price never changes?

[gbuell]

vudu, the 2nd gen iPod Touch is roughly equal to the iPhone 3G in terms of hardware, so any game that the iPhone 3G has trouble running will also perform poorly on your touch. This should be limited to games with a lot of 3D graphics or on-screen characters. I had a 1st gen Touch and it had trouble running a few games, but nothing "wouldn't run" at all. If you're not sure how a game will perform, check the reviews of the game to see if anyone is having issues with their hardware running it, or see if the game has a website that gives details on performance with different hardware.

Yes, games and apps are often on sale - in fact, right now a great many good games are on sale for some reason. Usually sales are for a limited time, and they go back up to original price, but not always. I usually find out about sales through blogs that I subscribe to in my RSS reader. There are some apps and websites that are dedicated to tracking sales. Here's one such site: http://www.iphoneappsales.com/

Here are a couple current blog posts that point out some good game sales. I bought 7 games because of these posts:

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/09/30/developers-drop-prices-on-super-popular-app-store-apps/

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/09/29/final-fantasy-i-and-ii-on-sale-espn-app-free-real-racing-on-sa/

[NWR_insanolord]

There are games that won't run at all on a 2nd gen Touch, but it'll specify that in iTunes. Just don't buy anything that says it requires a 3GS or 4. I'd also advise you to jailbreak it, especially since it can only run the gimped version of iOS 4.