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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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finally played 7 cities. I like unlocking weapons, alot of stages, and structured maps. I don't like is the map is too zoomed out and u don't see the details on the units.
I like Fieldrunner, but I can't say much about 7 cities I just played the 1st stage.
 
bathala said:
finally played 7 cities. I like unlocking weapons, alot of stages, and structured maps. I don't like is the map is too zoomed out and u don't see the details on the units.
I like Fieldrunner, but I can't say much about 7 cities I just played the 1st stage.
Click to expand...

You know you can zoom in, right?
 
bathala said:
finally played 7 cities. I like unlocking weapons, alot of stages, and structured maps. I don't like is the map is too zoomed out and u don't see the details on the units.
I like Fieldrunner, but I can't say much about 7 cities I just played the 1st stage.
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just get a lot of red gems and get some obelisk towers
 
Any Baseball Superstars 09 impressions? I have been craving a decent baseball game for my iphone. I might just buy it as it is price at $4.99...

original.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0D2dS3KrFY
 
I bought a load of apps today.

Rolando: For detailed impressions go to the official thread. I love it. A few control issues, but a very fun puzzle-platformer, My favorite iPhone game. $10 price tag is well worth it.

Dr. Awesome: Great for $.99. A very basic Trauma Center clone. Imports your contact list, and you must save people on there.

7 Cities: A lot more complicated than Fieldrunners. I feel like it is more for the RTS fan than your casual TD fan. There is a lot of depth, and I like that, but the menu system is shit, and that makes it hard to get into. Building a tower is overly complicated compared to Fieldrunners. Visual style is kind of dull too. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who love it, and people like me who just don't get it. I'll give it a few more tries, and hopefully it'll grab me.

Warfare Incorporated: Best RTS on the iPhone. A lot like Command and Conquer. Can't wait till they patch in multiplayer. Well worth $5.

I have a few more that I still have to dig into, but that will have to wait for tomorrow.
 
For those of you still wondering about X-Plane, it's incredible. X-Plane Helicopter, not so much. But you should know that it's a flight sim, not an arcade game. So there's not much to do except fly your plane around and try and land it. That's more than likely boring to the average person, but if you're into that kinda shit, it's awesome.
 
eznark said:
I'm sure there are some things that are in the works or being talked about that would be worth a higher price point, but at this point nothing on the iPhone would see for $20 or $30 on a console.
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Yeah, because, as I said, $20 or $30 games won't sell on the iPhone, so developers won't spend the same amount of money they'd spend on a DS or PSP game to develop it. I mean, think about it - if you spend $600,000 developing a game (and that's really low even for DS games), and it sells for $10, you have to sell more than 85,000 copies on the App Store just to break even. But $10 games don't sell that many - there are just so many cheaper games available (there are over 600 *free games*!), to sell at $10 the game has to be a part of a big franchise, get a LOT of press, be one of only one or two of its genre, or just get really damn lucky.

But I'd say SimCity is worth that - people have paid $50 for SimCity on PC and Super NES, $35 on DS (average carts cost less than $10 to manufacture nowadays)...you can't compare directly to the old Amiga price unless you consider inflation, which would bring a $15 item (from 1988) up to $30.

And Bejewelled/Bejewelled 2 costs $20 everywhere except on the iPhone, and people have always paid it. Then there's Super Monkeyball - the only things really making it not as good as the $50 original version are the controls, the fact that the monkey is a 2D object, and the three minigames. And if Hero of Sparta had music and sound, it would be a good $35 DS or PSP game. Unfortunately, those are the exception, not the rule, particularly when you consider there are more than 1800 games on the App Store.
 
Dreamwriter said:
Yeah, because, as I said, $20 or $30 games won't sell on the iPhone, so developers won't spend the same amount of money they'd spend on a DS or PSP game to develop it. I mean, think about it - if you spend $600,000 developing a game (and that's really low even for DS games), and it sells for $10, you have to sell more than 85,000 copies on the App Store just to break even. But $10 games don't sell that many - there are just so many cheaper games available (there are over 600 *free games*!), to sell at $10 the game has to be a part of a big franchise, get a LOT of press, be one of only one or two of its genre, or just get really damn lucky.
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I wouldn't put it down to luck, but you certainly need connections and good PR.

But I'd say SimCity is worth that - people have paid $50 for SimCity on PC and Super NES, $35 on DS (average carts cost less than $10 to manufacture nowadays)...you can't compare directly to the old Amiga price unless you consider inflation, which would bring a $15 item (from 1988) up to $30.
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No way is inflation as bad as you make out. How have CD prices fared in the last 20 years?

And Bejewelled/Bejewelled 2 costs $20 everywhere except on the iPhone, and people have always paid it.
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Nonsense. It's $10 on XBLA.

Then there's Super Monkeyball - the only things really making it not as good as the $50 original version are the controls, the fact that the monkey is a 2D object, and the three minigames.
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The game is shit, and a lot of things make it shit. Don't belittle these problems by talking about the price as an excuse. You can buy the GC version for a budget price now.

And if Hero of Sparta had music and sound, it would be a good $35 DS or PSP game. Unfortunately, those are the exception, not the rule, particularly when you consider there are more than 1800 games on the App Store.
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These suppositions mean nothing. You can buy a puzzle game for DS that has had less effort put into it than the vast majority of iPhone apps and costs 4x the price? Why? Because they can, and it still sells. Is it right? Consumers are the judge. Don't bitch about how much your games should sell for, based on how much effort you put into them. The industry's not just going to bend over backwards to make you a profit. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but it's a hell of a cut throat world out there. If you can't make a profit on iPhone, try putting your game in another distribution channel.

One thing I forgot to add. Most of these games are ports of existing games/ideas. Very little thought goes into the game system itself in a lot of cases. The development environment is also refined to a point where it is now much easier to create these games than when they were made originally - case in point: Sim City was made in 68000 assembler language on the ST / Amiga, and had much more restrictions in terms of colour palette and file size. You think someone should be able to knock out a quick port and get 2x the money for it?
 
Flunkie, how's Rolando?
 
Flunkie said:
I saw that, and in spite of my loving Crazy Penguin Catapult, I don't really like Chocolate Shop Frenzy. I don't normally lite Diner Dash type games, and this is no different.
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Ok, thanks for the feedback. :)
 
Dreamwriter, I agree it's sort of a chicken/egg type thing. People won't dump the money into creating a compelling game worth the $20-30 because nothing is selling for that much, but games won't sell for that much because it isn't a compelling experience...

Having said that, it's not the fault of the platform or anything else that is keeping games from selling for a higher price point. It's the unwillingness of the consumer to buy SimCity for the 8th time unless it is super cheap. They already own Bejeweled six ways from Sunday. You can't blame the consumer for not buying your product, you necessarily have to blame your product for not appealing to the consumer. If you create games and you want a game to sell for $20 it's your job to make a game that the market sees as worth it.

Personally, right now it is the implementation of the interface that is keeping me from buying a ton of games. I'm not going to spend money on Rolando because I don't like the control scheme. The action games look poorly implemented as well (although I am going to pick up Heroes of Sparta right now to check it out). If someone can make a great game that uses the platform well I would spend real money on it, but that hasn't happened.
 
Dacvak said:
For those of you still wondering about X-Plane, it's incredible. X-Plane Helicopter, not so much. But you should know that it's a flight sim, not an arcade game. So there's not much to do except fly your plane around and try and land it. That's more than likely boring to the average person, but if you're into that kinda shit, it's awesome.
Click to expand...

X-Plane for iPhone / iPod Touch is what sold me on buying one, I agree wholeheartedly.. I think they need to put in at least view panning or those circuits are going to be much harder than it's in real life.

In 9.04 they have put in a better flight model (speed bleeds much more now, the planes don't feel like they're all jets), I like it a lot. It's exactly like the real thing, only on a 3" screen. I am now using it to practice quick landings, it's scary how it feels real.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a third x-plane program out there, it's "x-plane airliner", only contains heavy metal stuff like 737, airbuses etc.
 
Flunkie said:
:D What game is that?
Click to expand...

The Price Is Right. :)

Also, I have a bit of a weird request! :)

I used to work at EA Mobile, and one of my old designer buddies who worked there with me did the mobile version of SimCity Societies - can anyone look at the credits for SimCity on the iPhone and tell me if the names in the credits sound french?
 
maxmars said:
X-Plane for iPhone / iPod Touch is what sold me on buying one, I agree wholeheartedly.. I think they need to put in at least view panning or those circuits are going to be much harder than it's in real life.

In 9.04 they have put in a better flight model (speed bleeds much more now, the planes don't feel like they're all jets), I like it a lot. It's exactly like the real thing, only on a 3" screen. I am now using it to practice quick landings, it's scary how it feels real.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a third x-plane program out there, it's "x-plane airliner", only contains heavy metal stuff like 737, airbuses etc.
Click to expand...


"We are also spinning off airliner and helicopter versions, with more spinoffs planned as well! As we update the graphics, flight, and interface technology, we will be periodically updating ALL the various little 'flavors' of X-Plane for iPhone with that new technology, so much much more is still in the wings!"

Holy crap, we'll soon have, piece-by-piece, the 'whole package' of X-plane on iPhone. I can't believe this stuff, I had planned to buy an ipod touch in january, and now I'm getting more impatient than ever. Flight Sims are, hands down, my favorite game-y thing to do and I never even fantasized about a handheld version being decent. So glad that impressions are good, I'm deffo getting the regular one and the Airliner one (which seems to have a LOT more geography to cover..

"With X-Plane-Airliner, you get 42 NAVAIDs, 98 airports"

Is that really true, 98 airports? REALLY?
 
maxmars said:
X-Plane for iPhone / iPod Touch is what sold me on buying one, I agree wholeheartedly.. I think they need to put in at least view panning or those circuits are going to be much harder than it's in real life.

In 9.04 they have put in a better flight model (speed bleeds much more now, the planes don't feel like they're all jets), I like it a lot. It's exactly like the real thing, only on a 3" screen. I am now using it to practice quick landings, it's scary how it feels real.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a third x-plane program out there, it's "x-plane airliner", only contains heavy metal stuff like 737, airbuses etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I saw that as I booted up Helicopter, but I disliked Helicopter so much I didn't really want to buy Airliner.

...But I will. =/
 
Tobor said:
The biggest problem with the App Store is not the initial pricing, it's the constant fire sales. No one will buy anything at full price if they think it will be half off or more a week later.
Click to expand...

Very true. It's nuts. One day a game is $5, the next it's 99 cents and the next it's free. It's confusing as hell.
 
RadarScope1 said:
Very true. It's nuts. One day a game is $5, the next it's 99 cents and the next it's free. It's confusing as hell.
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I talked to someone at ngmoco who pointed this out specifically as a real problem on the App Store, and that they try not to do it because it sends a signal that their games aren't valuable. But, then they go and undercut Dr. Awesome and Dropship when Rolando comes out, and I go and buy them then. I dunno. It's a weird scene.
 
The reality is that the App-Store is much more akin to Xbox Live Arcade or PSN than a true DS or PSP market. The cell phone casual demographic pulls it down even a bit more.
 
I just bought an Ipod Touch. Is there a mobile web version of neogaf for safari?

Since I only have wifi at home. Is there an easy way to download a few threads/pages on gaf to read on the train?
 
Not A Fur said:
I talked to someone at ngmoco who pointed this out specifically as a real problem on the App Store, and that they try not to do it because it sends a signal that their games aren't valuable. But, then they go and undercut Dr. Awesome and Dropship when Rolando comes out, and I go and buy them then. I dunno. It's a weird scene.
Click to expand...

SO much hypocrisy.

I think it was the developers for Frenzic, who claimed that it was blasphemy or something to slap a 'sale' sign on the icons, but then their publisher goes and does that very thing.
 
Price drop are really a problem in the appstore... I think biggest game need to stick to their price no matter what...

For 1112 for exemple we had a long 6 month work for production, so we sell it 7.99$ we plan to release all other episode at 4.99 (now we have the tech it's only a matter of making graphics and texts) But we will stick to to it no matter what.

Even if the games go to the bottom of the appstore...
It's possible we offer some short timed promo for one week to boost sales, but we won't have a real price drop..
It seems like all major companies tries to stick to this plan as well..
for bigger games, we need credibility... even at the risks of killing the volume of sales.
 
I'm sure pricing will settle into more standardized grooves at some point. In the meantime, enjoy the frontier. So what if pubs are trying to figure what pricing model works best in optimizing their profit? That shouldn't stop you from you buying the game at what you think it's worth.
 
Kalten said:
Price drop are really a problem in the appstore... I think biggest game need to stick to their price no matter what...

For 1112 for exemple we had a long 6 month work for production, so we sell it 7.99$ we plan to release all other episode at 4.99 (now we have the tech it's only a matter of making graphics and texts) But we will stick to to it no matter what.

Even if the games go to the bottom of the appstore...
It's possible we offer some short timed promo for one week to boost sales, but we won't have a real price drop..
It seems like all major companies tries to stick to this plan as well..
for bigger games, we need credibility... even at the risks of killing the volume of sales.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's obvious why they do it of course. To get a free headline on the blogs. If you're a small developer, do you pay money for real advertising up front, and potentially lose it, or take a hit on the price and get advertising for free? This way if the game still doesn't sell, you're not out the up front money. It's a short sighted view, though, like you stated.
 
TimeKillr said:
Also, I have a bit of a weird request! :)

I used to work at EA Mobile, and one of my old designer buddies who worked there with me did the mobile version of SimCity Societies - can anyone look at the credits for SimCity on the iPhone and tell me if the names in the credits sound french?
Click to expand...

All it says in the About section is that it was developed by Method Solutions.
 
Peru said:
Holy crap, we'll soon have, piece-by-piece, the 'whole package' of X-plane on iPhone. I can't believe this stuff, I had planned to buy an ipod touch in january, and now I'm getting more impatient than ever. Flight Sims are, hands down, my favorite game-y thing to do and I never even fantasized about a handheld version being decent. So glad that impressions are good, I'm deffo getting the regular one and the Airliner one (which seems to have a LOT more geography to cover..

"With X-Plane-Airliner, you get 42 NAVAIDs, 98 airports"

Is that really true, 98 airports? REALLY?
Click to expand...

The iPhone isn't much weaker than a eight years old PC and eight years ago the full-blown version of X-Plane was already awesome. So yes, I am not surprised they could do that; they probably ported a not-so-recent Mac version, which is cool by me.

What I mean is that probably the scenery for the airliner version is not as densely populated as the helicopter version (or at least should have worse textures, because going faster means loading textures more hastingly).

dacvak said:
Yeah, I saw that as I booted up Helicopter, but I disliked Helicopter so much I didn't really want to buy Airliner.

...But I will. =/
Click to expand...

I'm a pilot myself, love x-plane, but didn't buy all three version anyway. They are three very different beasts and probably you only want one of them depending on what you like to do.

The helos version is for rotorheads. If you are not one, you'll probably only get headache from it.

The airliner is for people who like to look at a fancy cockpit. You probably will play mainly instrumental flights / approaches, which means you want this version if you think dial-filled cockpits are the sexiest sight on Earth.

The standard version is a jack of all trades but has variety: a jet, a couple of slow movers, the Piaggio Avanti (which is SEX). The scenery is quite nice to look at (mountains.. Are those the Alps?). I use it as a tool to keep proficient at landings.
 
Does anyone get this devastating bug in SimCity?

Sometimes when zoning or building, the ENTIRE MAP gets covered in whatever I'm building. Not being able to undo, all I can do is revert to the latest save. Makes the game inexplicably frustrating.
 
Gowans007 said:
picked up SimCity tonight after loving Rolando which I need to put more time into.

Still so close to buying Monopoly & Uno
Click to expand...

Definitely buy Monopoly. Hold off on Uno until more people grab it... The online servers are always empty. (Unless of course you want to play with just me. =|)

I got X-Plane Airliner. It's good, but far more intricate than the original. Honestly, I don't like it as much. At least not yet. It's very overwhelming.

I'm about to buy Rolando... The only problem is that I've already spent almost 80 bucks on the AppStore this month. =/
 
I just got X-Plane Airliner. I like it so far. It's not the most exciting app, but that's not what it's supposed to be. It's a challenge to land, though. :p

I want to buy the original X-Plane now. :)
 
D-Back said:
A Katamari update is out, didn't fix the framerate issues though :(
Click to expand...

So like... what is the deal with framerate on the iPhone? Some games have pretty decent framerates, some are horrible. Some don't even seem to be doing anything that special and are still spotty (e.g. Tap Tap Dance).
 
7 cities is very fun but I'm new to the tower defense genre and I see quite quickly I suck at it. :lol

I've always struggled a bit with RTS games because I tend to turtle so I like this because I can play more aggressively but I need to develop some better strategies because I'm definitely not good.
 
Haven't played simcity since I was pretty young, and now that I can actually understand it, I'm having a blast.

Only complaint is the lack of the "challenge" scenarios. Maybe in an update? Can't really complain for $10.
 
Bought Rolando. Incredibly polished and a lot of fun. Glad I got it.
 
Dacvak said:
Bought Rolando. Incredibly polished and a lot of fun. Glad I got it.
Click to expand...
Told you.


Okay, I'm trying to find a game that was mentioned a couple pages back. I looked, but can't find it and can't remember the name. I know it had a "7" in the name.. it was something like 7Step or Drop7 or something. It was a free online game for a TV show and it was said to be super addicting. Help?

Edit: Okay, found it. Snap7 It isn't up for the US App Store yet. :(
 
Well, I've got time to kill this weekend and week, so I decided to pony up for the app update and picked up Price is Right on sale, Zen Inferno pinball, and Katamari.

Price is right is pretty good - great for 10 minute gaming when you've got some time to kill waiting for an appointment. Touching the screen for pinball feels weird and unatural, and Katamari's controls sound good on paper, but dont work as well as I expected them to.

Is there some kind of universal way to adjust the volume on games? I noticed the sound was loud on Katamari and there were no volume controls. Does it just use you volume from when you listen to music?
 
D-Back said:
A Katamari update is out, didn't fix the framerate issues though :(
Click to expand...

Don't know what you're smoking maaan! The update for me at least fixes some of the framerate issues, it's not smooth as silk but it's definitely better than before. They reduced how long the game spends in that blur/grow stage when you roll up enough which helps a ton. Good update imo, controls feel better and gameplay is smoother.
 
2DMention said:
Is there some kind of universal way to adjust the volume on games? I noticed the sound was loud on Katamari and there were no volume controls. Does it just use you volume from when you listen to music?
Click to expand...

When you're actually playing the game and there's sound, you can use the phone's volume rocker to turn it down. If you try to turn it down before the game loads, or in a main menu sometimes, it'll just turn down the ringer.

Unless of course you have an iPod Touch. In that case, I have no idea.
 
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