Replace the Gear Club Stradale icon with Solitaire City* and this screenshot accurately captures gaming on my phone.
*which still receives updates after something like 15 years(!) with no additional monetization
Apple and Gaming
- Thread starter jeanlain
- Start date
- Status
Replace the Gear Club Stradale icon with Solitaire City* and this screenshot accurately captures gaming on my phone.
*which still receives updates after something like 15 years(!) with no additional monetization
The conclusion makes sense in a way. It’s amazing that an iPhone can play a current AAA console game,* but how many people actually want that? Playing anything with modern graphics on an iPhone feels like playing Genesis games on a Sega Nomad: “Wow it’s amazing that I can play a console game on this, but it burns through battery so fast that it needs to be plugged in, anyway.” And that’s before you get into how poor the experience can be trying to play something designed for a controller on a touch screen.
If Apple is doing it for the press, that kind of makes sense, since bringing in a handful of expensive AAA games doesn’t address the real problem with games on iOS, which is that almost no one outside of IAP meme game makers is bothering with iOS as a platform.**
It kind of seemed like Apple was going to try and address that with Arcade, but then they abandoned any pretensions of that in the last year or two and now they mostly just add IAP meme games without the IAP.
*With the caveat that I tried the free trial of AC and had about 5 crashes on my 15P. I’m sure they’ll fix those eventually, but that doesn’t exactly make people want to pony up $50.
**Feral and a handful of Steam devs being the exception.
If Apple is doing it for the press, that kind of makes sense, since bringing in a handful of expensive AAA games doesn’t address the real problem with games on iOS, which is that almost no one outside of IAP meme game makers is bothering with iOS as a platform.**
It kind of seemed like Apple was going to try and address that with Arcade, but then they abandoned any pretensions of that in the last year or two and now they mostly just add IAP meme games without the IAP.
*With the caveat that I tried the free trial of AC and had about 5 crashes on my 15P. I’m sure they’ll fix those eventually, but that doesn’t exactly make people want to pony up $50.
**Feral and a handful of Steam devs being the exception.
Case in point: there are two different COD games ranked 14 and 25 on the games top chart. As far as I can tell, RE: Village isn’t ranked (even on the genre charts) and AC: Mirage is #183 on the roleplaying chart.
I’d say it’s possible. Hitman: Blood Money is a masterclass in this. It’s genuinely impressive how well Feral handled porting the controls.
Part of it has to be the Mac AppStore, too. I can’t imagine buying a game through the AppStore if it’s also available through Steam or GOG.
This article (via MacRumors) has some brutal developer complaints about working with Apple on Apple Arcade.
I think this faintly positive comment from the article basically sums it up:
Which is pretty damning in and of itself. I don’t think anyone would fault Apple for going the casual family-friendly route like Nintendo, but Nintendo consistently puts out casual and family-friendly games that are also acclaimed and innovative. A lot of games in Apple Arcade’s catalogue seem like they were designed to test sea sponges for sentience.
Which is pretty damning in and of itself. I don’t think anyone would fault Apple for going the casual family-friendly route like Nintendo, but Nintendo consistently puts out casual and family-friendly games that are also acclaimed and innovative. A lot of games in Apple Arcade’s catalogue seem like they were designed to test sea sponges for sentience.
AAA gaming on a mobile device where a fully charged battery will get burned through in an hour just seems like the wrong benchmark to be chasing.
I just want the selection on the AppStore to be a little less shit and with some effort to surface developers who aren’t predatory sociopaths.
On the nicer side of things, Solitaire City just received another update 16 years after launching on the AppStore, adding two more solitaire variations (bringing the total to over 70). It still costs the same $4.99 that it cost in 2008, has never had ads or in-app purchases, and the developer hasn’t even added a much deserved tip-jar. I assume it’s my most used app (apparently I’ve played 25,909 hands of solitaire in it).
I was chuffed to see that the update somehow helped it get to #2 on the paid “Casino” charts. It doesn’t rank at all on the overall top-200 games charts.
In terms of solitaire games that do rank in the top-200 of the overall charts, there are two gambling apps (sigh) and a solitaire game from (Apple Arcade partner) MobilityWare that offers a $2/month “premium” subscription that removes ads and offers access to “four exclusive themes.”
Frankly, I’d be really pleased if Apple stopped trotting people like Kojima and Miyamoto out at WWDC and instead made it even remotely easier to discover quality apps. In the case of Solitaire City, the only reason I ever found it was because it was released at a time when the AppStore had a reverse chronological list of the entire store catalogue.
I just want the selection on the AppStore to be a little less shit and with some effort to surface developers who aren’t predatory sociopaths.
On the nicer side of things, Solitaire City just received another update 16 years after launching on the AppStore, adding two more solitaire variations (bringing the total to over 70). It still costs the same $4.99 that it cost in 2008, has never had ads or in-app purchases, and the developer hasn’t even added a much deserved tip-jar. I assume it’s my most used app (apparently I’ve played 25,909 hands of solitaire in it).
I was chuffed to see that the update somehow helped it get to #2 on the paid “Casino” charts. It doesn’t rank at all on the overall top-200 games charts.
In terms of solitaire games that do rank in the top-200 of the overall charts, there are two gambling apps (sigh) and a solitaire game from (Apple Arcade partner) MobilityWare that offers a $2/month “premium” subscription that removes ads and offers access to “four exclusive themes.”
Frankly, I’d be really pleased if Apple stopped trotting people like Kojima and Miyamoto out at WWDC and instead made it even remotely easier to discover quality apps. In the case of Solitaire City, the only reason I ever found it was because it was released at a time when the AppStore had a reverse chronological list of the entire store catalogue.
Put me down in the “I don’t get it” camp. I’ve played Balatro a few times, but I can already tell I’ve got a handful plays left before I get bored with the randomness and starting over from scratch and uninstall it.
I’ve apparently played 26,001 games of solitaire on my phone, so I’m pretty confident I’d like this game way more if it was just poker dice* without all of the roguelike silliness bolted on.
*Actually, I’m positive I’d still be playing MotionX Poker if it didn’t die in the 32 bit purge.
I’ve apparently played 26,001 games of solitaire on my phone, so I’m pretty confident I’d like this game way more if it was just poker dice* without all of the roguelike silliness bolted on.
*Actually, I’m positive I’d still be playing MotionX Poker if it didn’t die in the 32 bit purge.
Not Apple Arcade, but my favorite time waster is The Long Dark. If you’re playing with wildlife set to peaceful, it’s perfect for a trackpad, runs great on an M1, and is surprisingly light on battery use.
I was going to make a post about it anyway, since it just had what’s probably its last big update, after 10(?) years. Supposedly, the developer is moving on to their next game, but I’m not going to hold my breath for future Mac support. It seems like a lot of developers who released things on Mac around the early 2010s gave up on Mac ports once it came time to roll out a new game.
At least Ping didn’t constantly nag you to add your colleagues as friend and you could turn it off and it wouldn’t constantly nag you to log in.
- Status