Am I the only one who doesn't give a crap about games?

[TheSpaz]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

Is the iPhone a play-device? Why are there 100 games released each day? Every day, I look for something useful and it's the same crap over and over again. I think a lot of developers are just developing stupid little apps that they can try to make a quick buck off of instead of delivering something truly nice.

What do you all think? Am I the only one who could care less about games? I think the ONLY reason I have any games on my iPhone is so I can show off the iPhone's graphics capabilities... hah.

Before yesterday with "Briefcase", I haven't purchased any Apps for a month because there's nothing worth buying... even most of the free stuff isn't even worth TRYING.

 

[detz]

Well, the reason the App store is flooded with cheap games is because it follows the way life works. You find something that the majority of the people want, produce it quick and cheap and make money. If I tell you you're going to spend a couple months on a project that 10 people will buy or you will spend two weeks on a project that 1000 people will buy which one would you choose? That's the way things work...sad as it is it's what we call Life.

I have tons of useful apps on my phone...but they are all for personal use and I'm not willing to spend the time to make them iTunes store ready because I know I wont sell enough to make up for the time spent to do so.

I have two games, both I've created.

 

[canadacow]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

Is the iPhone a play-device? Why are there 100 games released each day? Every day, I look for something useful and it's the same crap over and over again. I think a lot of developers are just developing stupid little apps that they can try to make a quick buck off of instead of delivering something truly nice.

I hear you. I think the difficulty is in the risk of investing a good deal of time and possibly money into an app that may not even get accepted by Apple. If it gets accepted, then there's still the problem of being seen and more signficantly, being seen appart from the similiar apps in the store. Once seen, there's the hurdle of being reviewed highly. Following that, there's the quest to actually have one's hard effort pay off.

At the very beginning when I had an idea for a App Store it was just a simple matter of whether or not it did it or did it not violate the SDK. Now it comes down to whether or not a similar app already exists, is there a market and whether or not I can in some way recoup the blood, sweat, tears and money invested into producing a quality app.

What do you all think? Am I the only one who could care less about games? I think the ONLY reason I have any games on my iPhone is so I can show off the iPhone's graphics capabilities... hah.

I must be a real stiff as I don't have any games at all on my iPhone. All politics, utility or remote control type stuff.

Before yesterday with "Briefcase", I haven't purchased any Apps for a month because there's nothing worth buying... even most of the free stuff isn't even worth TRYING.

How is briefcase? I see it uses SSH/SFTP as it's mode of transport. Is it any better than the other numerous "thumbdrive" type apps out there?

 

[Luap]

There is a lot of crap on there, granted. But it doesn't mean everything, least of all, all games are crap. You just have to dig around a little to find something worthwhile.

Im not hughly into games, but I have 2 or 3 on my phone anyway to help pass time during the odd boring moment when waiting around or whatever.
Just because you don't like it, don't assume everyone else must dislike it too.

 

[WishIWasHere]

God, PUZZLE games in particular, I'm so tired of seeing new puzzle games pop up. Don't know if I'd say I don't 'give a crap' about games, but it's not a really big deal to me. I have games, but generally only play them for a week or so before I get tired of them. I think the most important thing to remember is that the App Store is still in it's infancy. I'll be interested to see what's available in a year, and in two years. There will always be tons of games, but there will be plenty of useful apps also.

 

[canadacow]

Well, the reason the App store is flooded with cheap games is because it follows the way life works. You find something that the majority of the people want, produce it quick and cheap and make money.

It may have been that way at the beginning but looking at the top paid apps for games and it appears nearly all of them now have corporate backing and have come out of development shops. Either the perception of the "get rich quick" mentality of iPhone games is still there, or there's just plenty of people with nothing better to do than write games.

 

[shinji]

I think a lot of developers are just developing stupid little apps that they can try to make a quick buck off of instead of delivering something truly nice.

+1

but it's still young. I'm sure there will be more productivity apps and more useful utilities in the future.

 

[aluren]

well it's not just games that are crap... how about the 100+ tip calculators and lighters out there?

 

[EmptyPockets]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

What kind of apps do you feel are missing from the store? I guarantee if you can come up with a list of apps that you would like they would be created.

 

[NT1440]

First people complained when they thought apple would place blocks on what could be released and the phrase "anyone that wants to develop should be allowed to release their product".

Now that the app store is up and running people complain theres too much of the same, or alot of apps arent great.

All I continuously hear is waaa waaa waaa.

 

[littlewaywelt]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

...I think a lot of developers are just developing stupid little apps that they can try to make a quick buck off of instead of delivering something truly nice...

This is yet another fundamental difference with windows mobile. In the WM world these simple apps are generally free and written and shared by enthusiasts free of charge. The high quality apps are generally much more expensive and they are worth it. Compare a $30 program like Pocket Informant to any of the lame stuff that's out for iPhone. iTunes provides a central repository for a developers so they can price cheaply, deliver little and make money off gross sales. In the WM world there is no single funnel point for all applications' sales.

I keep a few games on my phone for odd times when I need to distract my kids and don't have an alternative like a book or paper & crayons, like waiting for a reservation, sitting in a waiting room.

In my opinion, 95% of the stuff on app store is worthless.

 

[jaseone]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

To an extent I agree with you on this, however there are plenty of useful applications such as:

Toodledo - Task management that optionally syncs with Toodledo.com (free account gives you all basic functionality)

Appigo's Notebook - Note book with folders that syncs with Toodledo (would probably hold off on this now Toodledo has an official app as they will eventually introduce that functionality I'm sure)

BeejiveIM - self explanatory

Byline - Keep up with your RSS feeds on the go and sync with Google Reader

iSSH - Remotely manage your *nix servers or any other server running SSH

WinAdmin - Remotely manage your Windows servers

Twittelator - Twitter client

Mobile Fotos - Flickr client, which would be a LOT better if Flickr's API wasn't so damn slow!

Sportacular - quickly check and monitor sports scores

AOL Radio - Listen to a large variety of streaming radio stations including 97.1 in LA for the Adam Carola show (what else do you need?)

Jaadu VNC - Best for remotely managing any Macs but personally I find the VNC support in Leopard to suck big time as it doesn't support compression, custom colors or custom resolution so is slow as anything when not on the same local network

eReader - Good for casual reading, however I can't get into it to properly read a book, I'm not sure if this is due to the size of the screen, it being an ebook not a regular book or just that I don't have time to read full stop.

Collins Pro English Dictionary - For proper (British) English this is the dictionary to get, additionally features linked word definitions and verb conjugation

American Heritage Dictionary - For American English this is the dictionary to get, additionally features spoken pronunciations and illustrations.

Brightkite - Remains to be seen if I will regularly use the native app or not, I did use the web app and iphone optimized site for a while previously and then stopped so I may get tired of it again.

Then apart from that I'm trying to decide on a good relaxation app currently between Ambiance and Nature SDS, I prefer the interface and functionality of the former but I like my customized ocean sounds best on the latter.

I also have some games I feel are worthy additions such as iCopter and Fieldrunners that are easy to pick up and play, Thesus is a recent addition that seems like it is going to fall into the same category as well.

I think the above demonstrates that there is a decent amount of quality apps available it is just that there is a vast number of crapware apps out there clouding the way.

 

[liptonlover]

I'd say the gaming side of the iphone is pretty decent... and it can only get better as more of the big companies port their stuff onto it. Civ and advance wars would be great on it, and I have no doubt that they or clones of them will make their way on soon. As for right now, there's already a list of great games, both for sale and free.

(In no particular order, from what I've played)

enigmo
asphalt4
galcon
mote-m(not the best, but certainly worth playing)
topple
lux touch
xplane
Aurora Feint
cro-mag
tap tap revenge
cube run 1 or 2
toy bot
knots
puzzloopfree
solitaire
sodoku
blackjack
poker
crossword
scramboni
iball3D
sb2 lite
pool
pinball
shuffleboard
jellycar
scoops
mancala+
aquaforest
billy frontier
fs5 hockey



That's most of the games that I have on my touch, I've deleted quite a few but those I play regularly. There's also a bunch of entertainment apps that are great, like band or amy ai.

 

[EmptyPockets]

There are websites devoted to reviewing app store games (http://www.toucharcade.com is on i know)

Are there any that are specifically dedicated to rating apps?

 

[iblastoff]

Seriously. I thought the AppStore was going to be great. Full of high quality Apps, but it's pretty much exactly the opposite.

Is the iPhone a play-device? Why are there 100 games released each day? Every day, I look for something useful and it's the same crap over and over again. I think a lot of developers are just developing stupid little apps that they can try to make a quick buck off of instead of delivering something truly nice.

What do you all think? Am I the only one who could care less about games? I think the ONLY reason I have any games on my iPhone is so I can show off the iPhone's graphics capabilities... hah.

Before yesterday with "Briefcase", I haven't purchased any Apps for a month because there's nothing worth buying... even most of the free stuff isn't even worth TRYING.

agreed. i could care less about pretty much all the games available for the iphone. they're all just basically crappy flash games you could play online on your desktop.

i can't even browse the app store anymore because theres just SO MUCH CRAP and theres no way i'm going to waddle through it all now.

the last app i got was beejive. other than that i haven't seen anything even remotely useful for the past while now.

 

[BergerFan]

There's a lot of games I've deleted, but there's one that I've been loving for a while now, and it's Virtual Pool. If there's one game you need to have on your iPhone, it's this.

 

[PatrickRS]

I agree about the deluge of games, which I also don't care all that much about. However, I'm certainly not blaming the devs. They're doing what they want -- it's a free country for producers as well as consumers.

You want to send a message to devs, you do so with your wallet. If you don't buy games, then they either move on to other efforts or go broke. Frankly, the fact that the app store is so overflowing with games tells me there's money being spent, but we're still in early days, so we'll see how it pans out after a year or so.

For me, the situation is even worse on Cydia. Seems 9 out of 10 offerings there are winterboard themes. Geez, enough with the mindless bling already... <sigh>

 

[TheSpaz]

I agree about the deluge of games, which I also don't care all that much about. However, I'm certainly not blaming the devs. They're doing what they want -- it's a free country for producers as well as consumers.

You want to send a message to devs, you do so with your wallet. If you don't buy games, then they either move on to other efforts or go broke. Frankly, the fact that the app store is so overflowing with games tells me there's money being spent, but we're still in early days, so we'll see how it pans out after a year or so.

For me, the situation is even worse on Cydia. Seems 9 out of 10 offerings there are winterboard themes. Geez, enough with the mindless bling already... <sigh>

Hah! I know what you mean. 99% of the Winterboard/SummerBoard themes SUCK too! I tried out a WinterBoard theme for a while and I tried keeping up with trying to make all of my icons look like the same theme and it's just too hard. The default Apple theme is easy to maintain.

I'm sad that the AppStore is too huge. If there are REALLY nice Apps, I figured they'd be on the front page on one of Apples sweet looking banners... also, I just wait until TUAW finds one that is interesting enough to post a review about it.

 

[wackymacky]

My main gripe with the app store is the lay-out of the the catorgires.

Proper healthcare apps for health professionals need to be sepperated from the 100 apps on following menstural cycles and 100 apps recordign your pulse.

Same for business Apps.

Apple are trying to promote the iPhone as sutiable for the professional workforce and they need to improve service to reflect this!.

 

[gospel9]

I rarely play games but here are some reasons for a large gaming market:

1) largest audience group vs any other category, by far.
2) multi touch and accelerometer : perfect for easy games and puzzel games.
3) People that develop cheap free flash online games supported by ads can now make some $$$.


Of course you also have Apple rejection control on top of this (games would not need to worry about this).

 

[kas23]

I don't care that much for the games either. I have downloaded only one paid game (Hamster House) and loved it. However, 95% of the games on the App Store look to be pure garbage and look like they took 30 minutes to make. The other games that actually look good I really don't want to spend that much money on because I just don't think the iPhone is a good platform for games. The games that use an on-screen controller are just clunky and the ones that use an accelerometer are very hard to control. IMO, for the proper game experience, you really need physical buttons.

 

[Michael CM1]

The new Monopoly game is pretty fun, as is The Price is Right. Games that don't require instant timing/reaction can work fairly well.

I'll agree that games like Super Monkey Ball, Cro Mag Rally, etc. aren't really the best without buttons. SMB makes me crazy with the oh-so-touchy sensitivity of the acceleromter, and it's not totally natural steering while looking AT the steering device. The similar driving style works well on a Wii, but that's because the screen isn't 'tween your palms.

I'm still hoping that some third-party company will come out with a standardized button add-on so we can get some games that need button controls.

 

[MacToddB]

My main gripe with the app store is the lay-out of the the catorgires.

Exactly. When you go to a record store, they don't have all albums listed under "Entertainment". They have Rap, R&B, Soul, Pop, Country, Broadway, Movie Soundtracks, Jazz, Spoken Word, etc. When you go to a bookstore, they don't have just "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction"... they have Sci-Fi, Humor, Business, Poetry, etc. Game stores (like GameStop) don't just have "Games", they have Simulators, First Person Shooters, Strategy, Puzzle, Card Games, Pet Games, etc.

We must recognize that a year ago, the AppStore didn't exist. Users demanded it, Apple agreed, and now they stand to make $1 billion in profit from it. Good ideas don't just come from Cupertino. To their credit, they listen to users... they don't always follow but they listen.

I have confidence that Apple will figure this out and add more categories to the AppStore to make browsing more practical, and this will help developers stand out in the category they belong in.

 

[kas23]

We must recognize that a year ago, the AppStore didn't exist. Users demanded it, Apple agreed, and now they stand to make $1 billion in profit from it. Good ideas don't just come from Cupertino. To their credit, they listen to users... they don't follow but they listen.

Am I missing something here? People were demanding an App Store or Apps on the iPhone, so apple implemented them? I'm pretty sure Apple planned on Apps and the App Store years before the original iPhone came out. Why produce such a large touch screen with small widgetty things on it - the whole UI was screaming for apps. Apple had this planned all along, but as always, took their good old time implementing it (while people were screaming away). As for the store itself, Apple is all knowing that they can sell all sorts of stuff through iTunes (it's their cash cow).

But, I at least fixed your last sentence.

 

[MacToddB]

Am I missing something here? People were demanding an App Store or Apps on the iPhone, so apple implemented them? I'm pretty sure Apple planned on Apps and the App Store years before the original iPhone came out. Why produce such a large touch screen with small widgetty things on it - the whole UI was screaming for apps. Apple had this planned all along, but as always, took their good old time implementing it (while people were screaming away). As for the store itself, Apple is all knowing that they can sell all sorts of stuff through iTunes (it's their cash cow).

As far as Apple was concerned, native apps could only come from them and web apps were sufficient for everyone else. As an iPhone developer, I lived through that time. Implementation time is one thing, but Apple didn't even acknowledge an intent to deliver an SDK until it was clear that jailbroken apps were putting them to shame.

They also followed user complaints when the iPhone's price drop caused an uproar. I'm not saying Apple is 100% customer-driven, but when enough people raise a concern, they listen, and SOMETIMES change course. I'm hoping they will do the same with more sub-categories for the AppStore.

But, I at least fixed your last sentence.

If you're going to quote someone, I don't think it's good form to change their quote. You can comment on it, but it's no longer a quote when you change it.