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The Official iPhone/iPod Touch Gaming Thread

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Apple's inconsistent and annoying approval policy involving apps in full effect again.


Nine Inch Nails app update blocked by Apple
'Questionable content' chestnut rolled out once again

by Spanner Spencer

It's that time of the week where Apple's App Store approval system's inconsistency rears its head, this time incurring the wrath of Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor.

An update to the band's nin: access application was rejected using the old 'questionable content' chestnut Apple repeatedly falls back on when it wimps out on more mature App Store content.

Reznor published Apple's rejection letter on the band's forum, which states references to The Downward Spiral as being unacceptable. The developer states that references were removed where possible, though the app's inherent internet access naturally prohibits full self-censorship.

"Apple is not allowing us to make the current app more stable because there is 'objectionable content' online (yes on the internet)," the Null Corporation developer says. "So we are essentially not allowed to fix bugs unrelated to the issue. We removed the song The Downward Spiral from the server, hoping to appease apple and get this bug fix through. However I have yet to receive a reply."

The Nine Inch Nail's official forum also saw Reznor respond to his app's rejection far more directly (asterisks deployed to protect delicate sensibilities).

"You can buy The Downward F*cking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it," Reznor says. "Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says F*CK or C*NT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about f*cking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal s*x right there in Safari! On my iPhone!

"Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together."

Harsh, but he does make a good point.
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http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Nine+Inch+Nails+Revenge/news.asp?c=13076


Trent's Full response.

Below is the complete text of the email sent to our developer regarding the rejection of the service update to our iPhone application.


From: iPhone Developer Program <XXXXXXXX@apple.com>
Date: April 27, 2009 11:44:12 AM PDT
To: help@store.nin.com
Subject: nin: access 1.0.3: Application Submission Feedback

Please include the line below in follow-up emails for this request.

Follow-up: XXXXXXXXXX

Dear Craig,

Thank you for submitting nin: access to the App Store. We've reviewed nin: access and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store at this time because it contains objectionable content which is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

The objectionable content referenced in this email is "The Downward Spiral". Since the app is live on the App store, please make the necessary changes to the application as soon as possible, and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect. Thank you


Regards,

iPhone Developer Program
****************************


Now, "The Downward Spiral" the album is not available anywhere in the iPhone app. The song "The Downward Spiral" I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app.
Thanks Apple for the clear description of the problem - as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid fucking standards?
And while we're at it, I'll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and "clean" versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any "indecent" material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film "Scarface" completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?
You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material. Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!
Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together.
Click to expand...


http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?9,651569,651569#msg-651569



And not to pick on some dev but here is an app below that was released recently and is almost certainly illegal which I would think violates some aspect of their approval policy but that gets through and an actual real update for a legal game doesn't for highly questionable reasons. C'mon apple get your shit together.

picture_4709.png
 
TheOneGuy said:
I'm sure a jailbroken iPhone/iPod Touch could run it with ScummVM no problem.

...I don't even know if they've ported ScummVM yet, but it's on basically every other platform these days I don't see why not.
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Speaking of ScummVM here is a title based on that engine. It was free for awhile but I missed it. (On the PC it is actually freeware at this stage) Not the greatest title but hopefully this means somebody brings some of the other titles over.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=310406639&mt=8
 
Just thought I'd add to the NiN controversy. Hopefully we won't have to deal with all this app store rejection stuff after 3.0. Or at least that is what Apple emailed someone. It will come with new parental controls and cover everything Apple offers through iTunes.

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-rejects-newspaper-reading-app-over-content/

Apple has rejected Makayama’s iPhone application Newspaper(s) due to objectionable content. Newspaper is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that will let users to read 50 national and international newspapers, including the New York Times, Frankfurter Algemeine and El Pais. The application was rejected due to content found in the Page 3 section of UK-based tabloid The Sun, which contains images of topless women. In the rejection message, Apple noted that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone Os 3.0, adding that it “would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.” Makayama has since removed The Sun from the application’s database of papers and resubmitted the application; Newspaper(s) is now available for $1.
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Just wanted to say that this portable version of Myst is fucking awesome. Surprisingly well suited to the control scheme, it's damn near perfect. If you like this style of game this is a no-brainer. It's been so long since I played Myst it feels totally fresh again.
 
Wallach said:
Just wanted to say that this portable version of Myst is fucking awesome. Surprisingly well suited to the control scheme, it's damn near perfect. If you like this style of game this is a no-brainer. It's been so long since I played Myst it feels totally fresh again.
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It's selling quite well at the moment which was a bit of a surprise to me. It's #4 on the top selling games list in the US at the moment.
 
Sucks about that NIN thing. We had a quip about Obama (a neutral joke, nothing even close to offense) and they asked us to take it our pre-release.

Seems they're turning super sensitive post-baby shaker.
 
Stoney Mason said:
Apple's inconsistent and annoying approval policy involving apps in full effect again.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Nine+Inch+Nails+Revenge/news.asp?c=13076

Trent's Full response.

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?9,651569,651569#msg-651569

And not to pick on some dev but here is an app below that was released recently and is almost certainly illegal which I would think violates some aspect of their approval policy but that gets through and an actual real update for a legal game doesn't for highly questionable reasons. C'mon apple get your shit together.
Click to expand...

Maybe they would have more success if they acted like grown ups. Just because they got around a loop hole by picking apart what "contains" literally means, that doesn't mean Apple has to interpret the rule in the same way they do. If that was the case then Apple should approve every app that connects to an xml feed with no regard for what content is in that feed. Building an app in spite of the publishing rules and then swearing and pouting when it gets rejected isn't a good way to conduct yourself.
 
Car Jack Streets (the GTA clone) is on sale for $2.99. I grabbed it and played it for about 20 minutes and it seems okay. The physics and driving controls are a bit wonky, but it seems like a pretty competent GTA knockoff otherwise.

Anyone try NFS yet?
 
Hopefully most of the censorship/sensitivity issues are mitigated with 3.0. It supposedly has parental ratings associated.

Anyway, any impressions for NFS? I was curious if the background tilts the opposite direction to turning to maintain horizon horizontality.
 
PhlivoSong said:
Maybe they would have more success if they acted like grown ups. Just because they got around a loop hole by picking apart what "contains" literally means, that doesn't mean Apple has to interpret the rule in the same way they do. If that was the case then Apple should approve every app that connects to an xml feed with no regard for what content is in that feed. Building an app in spite of the publishing rules and then swearing and pouting when it gets rejected isn't a good way to conduct yourself.
Click to expand...

They didn't get around any "loophole". There's no way for them to censor the content Apple is taking issue with - it's the internet. The same internet you can access from your built-in Safari app without issue. Even more asinine is the fact that the app itself has been on the store for a while, they are just blocking an update that mainly addresses shit like stability and performance. I don't blame them for publishing this rejection letter, it's based on fucking nonsense.
 
mrkgoo said:
Hopefully most of the censorship/sensitivity issues are mitigated with 3.0. It supposedly has parental ratings associated.
Click to expand...

Agreed and while I'm sure they will still be fairly draconian in what they allow through perhaps they will at least move into the latter part of the 20th century if not the 21st. ;)
 
I bought NFS but haven't got a chance to actually play it yet in a real way. Interestingly enough though there is an "other games" section in the menu and it lists Wolfenstein RPG so that should be coming really soon which is kind of cool. We knew it was coming I mean but if they put it in the menu it must be coming relatively soon.

I'll post impressions a little later.
 
Stoney Mason said:
I bought NFS but haven't got a chance to actually play it yet in a real way. Interestingly enough though there is an "other games" section in the menu and it lists Wolfenstein RPG so that should be coming really soon which is kind of cool. We knew it was coming I mean but if they put it in the menu it must be coming relatively soon.

I'll post impressions a little later.
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Wolfenstein RPG???

Whoa, do want. Are there any shots/description? That's the first I've heard of it.
 
Wallach said:
Damn, 30 games? Wonder what else they have in store for us...
Click to expand...

Well they already announced these in the past so it would have to be "others".


Tiger Woods PGA Tour (out now)
Madden NFL 10
NBA Live 10
American Idol
Command & Conquer
Connect 4
Risk
Battleship
Monopoly
Clue
Sims 3
FIFA
Mystery Mania
Wolfenstein RPG
Trivial Pursuit (out now)
 
I'm so going broke today...

Underworlds (the Diablo clone that seems to be getting pretty good reviews) is on sale for $2.99!
 
Stoney Mason said:
lol. I was just going to post that. I'm annoyed. I knew a title like that would go on sale relatively soon. I should have waited. :(

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312421230&mt=8
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I don't know about everyone else, but I know I'm not as careful with $1 or $2 extra in most things in my life (I should be), but I get a kick out of how most people (myself included) are rather thrifty with their app purchases. It's been discussed ad nauseum, but it always entertains me on some level.

With that said, I'll probably bite at Underworlds at that price.
 
Captain N said:
The Sims 3 looks really good! i can't wait to see what they do with C&C
Click to expand...


I have a bad feeling Sims 3 will be one of those story based console style sims games they always bring to consoles instead of embracing the free form nature of what makes the Sims enjoyable on the PC. Oh well. It's to be expected I guess.

LaneDS said:
I don't know about everyone else, but I know I'm not as careful with $1 or $2 extra in most things in my life (I should be), but I get a kick out of how most people (myself included) are rather thrifty with their app purchases. It's been discussed ad nauseum, but it always entertains me on some level.

With that said, I'll probably bite at Underworlds at that price.
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In this specific case I'm more annoyed with my self because I knew I wouldn't play it until it got some updates and I knew it would need to go on sale because it wasn't a known quantity. I'm not upset though. I bought it partially because I wanted to spend the money to help spur hopefully getingt the updates in the future anyway.
 
Stoney Mason said:
In this specific case I'm more annoyed with my self because I knew I wouldn't play it until it got some updates and I knew it would need to go on sale because it wasn't a known quantity. I'm not upset though. I bought it partially because I wanted to spend the money to help spur hopefully getingt the updates in the future anyway.
Click to expand...

Hah, yeah I know. I read the thread and realized you were lamenting the purchase a bit (as most would), but I still think the GAF collective's app buying trends are pretty humorous in a sense.

Just tried MGS Touch Lite, and I'm pretty glad I didn't bite on that one. For such a big name franchise from a well respected developer, that's a pretty damn disappointing title at that price. MGS: Pop-up Shooting Gallery, powered by the Donkey Kong Country engine, no thanks. Hearing music from MGS4 is pretty cool for an iPhone game though.
 
LaneDS said:
Hah, yeah I know. I read the thread and realized you were lamenting the purchase a bit (as most would), but I still think the GAF collective's app buying trends are pretty humorous in a sense.
Click to expand...

The App Store economy is definitely strange. I won't think twice about dropping $60 on a console game but I find myself agonizing over apps that cost a mere $4.99 sometimes.
 
Okay I can give some very early impressions on Need for Speed now but its sort of hard to say if this will be for you or not.


The major thing about any racing game is the driving model. That's all that really matters. The rest of the stuff is kind of gravy. If you're looking for a racing sim in any sense of that word pass. Even in the vein of some of the prior need for speeds I would say this isn't for you. If you are looking for a fun sort of game that involves cars and sort of simulating the experiencing of driving fast and how that feels without slamming into corners and slowing down and concentrating on the small adjustments as you weave between traffic this may be for you.


The control is handled by tilting the iphone left or right. I haven't overly been a fan of that method in other racing games ( I prefer tapping on the screen on the left or right side to streer to that side) on the iphone but they've tuned it here where at least on the early tracks its not twitchy like on the other games that use this control method. By comparison in Need for Speed it's almost hard to go off the road and the adjustments you make by tilting left or right feel pretty good. In a weird way its feels like how driving a real car feels (I'm not saying it's realistic, it just isn't hard and neither is it when you are in a real car at least driving on the highway). Tilting left or right isn't this massively tricky or twitchy thing so you can sort of concentrate on dodging traffic rather than just battling to stay on the road. It feels a bit almost like the car is on autopilot in that sense and you are making small corrections rather than driving all over the place and that's the major design call of the game that will decide whether you like it or not. You feel nimble and agile and not necessarily trying to master a perfect line. Really it mostly comes down to that. I imagine Real Racing will feel nothing like this. Fastlane feels nothing like this and indeed most of the racing games so far feel nothing like this on the iphone. They are more traditional and feel closer to each other. Need for Speed feels completely different.

You constantly accelerate so you tap the screen to apply brakes although so far I've gone entire laps without braking because I haven't felt fear of losing control of my car. But I'm really early so who is to say how later tracks will be. You drift by tilting hard left or right. You can use cars to draft which they call slipstream or something. You swipe up on the screen for a nitro boost and down to do a slow down time thing which seems cool.

The graphics are good in many ways although honestly I think Fastlane still gives this one a run for its money and exceeds it in some ways. Need for Speed is doing more graphical tricks but Fastlane looks "cleaner" and brighter to me. Obviously part of this is because you're racing at night in Need for Speed but it still has an effect on the tone of the graphics to me. It's mostly solid frame rate wise but there is some slowdown on my first generation phone. I've become more tolerant of frame rate loss on the iphone but if that really bothers you it does occur in Need for Speed.

It follows the traditional path of getting new cars and upgrading them performance wise and looks wise. You play through the game in a story based mode to complete the story and earn money. It has little short FMV videos to introduce these segments. Seems like there is some depth here obviously with the upgrading mechanic and buying news cars although I'm not sure how long the story mode is. Some of the missions are race missions so far and some involve slamming into cop cars to damage them and take them down Burnout style. Not sure how many mission types there are yet or if that's it as I'm still early.

So so far i like it but that's without being able to comment on the depth fully and with full acknowledgment that the driving model isn't like the traditional driving model you may have expected. I'll post some more later when I get a chance to play it some more.
 
LaneDS said:
Just tried MGS Touch Lite, and I'm pretty glad I didn't bite on that one. For such a big name franchise from a well respected developer, that's a pretty damn disappointing title at that price. MGS: Pop-up Shooting Gallery, powered by the Donkey Kong Country engine, no thanks. Hearing music from MGS4 is pretty cool for an iPhone game though.
Click to expand...
Funny enough after actually playing the lite version of MSG Touch I like it. This is after coming down on the game very hard when it originally came out.

Price Wise I still have those same issues. It's still a rip off imo at $7.99. Especially compared to the recent wave of $9.99 games that actually have a lot of depth and content not to mention cheaper games that excel in the same catgeories.

For $2.99 or $1.99 I would quite like the game though. The base mechanic of zooming in and shooting is quite fun. I could see it being a fun game. But not for anywhere close to $7.99.

Here is to hoping we get a Metal Gear game worthy of that price one day.
 
Costanza said:
I still can't believe they actually allowed the fmylife app onto the store. The posts seem to be fully uncensored, too.
Click to expand...

i didn't even realise it was out in the appstore, mine was from cydia
 
Stoney Mason said:
I have a bad feeling Sims 3 will be one of those story based console style sims games they always bring to consoles instead of embracing the free form nature of what makes the Sims enjoyable on the PC. Oh well. It's to be expected I guess.
Click to expand...

Didn't EA announce that this game will have DLC? I can picture it having DLC with new stories.
 
thanks for the NFS impressions, Stoney.

I'm thinking I might pick up Tiger Woods at 10 bucks and wait for a sale on NFS.


Oh, I haven't seen it mentioned the last couple pages so I want to pimp out Strategery. A Risk-like game that short, sweet and very slick.

I actually prefer this to Galcon since it's turn based and not real time. It's the same concept, tho. attack neighbouring countries with armies smaller than yours, crush your enemies.

there's a lite version and a 2 dollar full version that adds bigger maps, more difficulty levels and some customization options.

very fun. I've been going back and forth between this, Baseball Superstars and Let's Golf the last couple days.

http://strategerygame.com/

iTunes link

Lite version
 
Wallach said:
They didn't get around any "loophole". There's no way for them to censor the content Apple is taking issue with - it's the internet. The same internet you can access from your built-in Safari app without issue. Even more asinine is the fact that the app itself has been on the store for a while, they are just blocking an update that mainly addresses shit like stability and performance. I don't blame them for publishing this rejection letter, it's based on fucking nonsense.
Click to expand...

Did I understand correctly when they said the song wasn't in the game, but linked into the game through an RSS feed? If that's how they did it then I'm not sure how you can call that "the internet." If that's the case then porn apps will takeover the app store anyday now, because all of their content will be from "the internet" as well. Did they use an RSS feed to make it easier to add new songs to the game without having to do a full update of the app, or did they use an RSS feed to circumvent the rules of the app store?
 
Wallach said:
Just wanted to say that this portable version of Myst is fucking awesome. Surprisingly well suited to the control scheme, it's damn near perfect. If you like this style of game this is a no-brainer. It's been so long since I played Myst it feels totally fresh again.
Click to expand...

Good to hear. My friend and I beat this when we were about 10 years old. It should be fun replaying the game again since I barely remember most of it

Btw, We really need more Graphic adventure games for the Iphone. It's just a perfect platform for them. I can't believe Lucasarts hasn't released anything or announced anything. Then again, they didn't do anything with the Wii or DS.
 
PhlivoSong said:
Did I understand correctly when they said the song wasn't in the game, but linked into the game through an RSS feed? If that's how they did it then I'm not sure how you can call that "the internet." If that's the case then porn apps will takeover the app store anyday now, because all of their content will be from "the internet" as well. Did they use an RSS feed to make it easier to add new songs to the game without having to do a full update of the app, or did they use an RSS feed to circumvent the rules of the app store?
Click to expand...

Their app isn't really a game, it's basically an internet app that gives you a portal to a NiN-centric site/forum. This isn't abnormal; there are other apps that are basically just forum reading applications - things you could point to any forum on the internet (and there are certainly all kinds of "questionable" internet forums out there).

They rejected what's essentially a bug-fix update to this program (which they already approved) because the site/portal the program links to has an RSS feed built into it that contained a link to "The Downward Spiral" - a song that you can buy off iTunes directly. How is it even remotely consistent that this update gets blocked because it may link to a song with "bad words" when I can download other apps that give me the ability to access all kinds of pornographic content due to being similarly linked to the 'net?
 
Flunkie said:
Yeah, I'm not too thrilled with NFS. Controls and handling are pretty disappointing. :(
Click to expand...

I cleared the first island. I enjoy the game but it definitely isn't an automatic recommendation. So far it's a bit too easy and I fear there may not be enough depth in the driving model to really distinguish between cars like there should be. It's a fun arcade racer but I'm not sure there is enough here to recommend over some of the other racing games outside of high production values. I'll post some more tomorrow on the game.
 
Come on EA when is Command & Conquer coming out? I sure hope it's the first title in the series virtually untouched but remapped for controls. I'd love EA to bits if they released that.
 
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