iPhone games (also Ipod Tooch/iPad games too)

new temple run

the gameplay of punchquest is slighly improved if anything. They just screwed up the prices of upgrades to encourage people to spend money. the one thing it took me some time to get used to is the slowdown when hit.

thanks nhex Fairway Solitaire ON IPHONE is terrific, just the kind of crowded-bus-ride-pastime I was looking for

*hi-five*

ok Candy Crush Saga is actually pretty...fun? I think? it's really really difficult!

but I write because it's the first game I've played where the "freemium" elements have felt...crafted to the difficulty, like the game is just too hard for you to fly through it without buying a 99 cent booster of some sort. & it's good because it elicits reflection on what "progressing" through a game is worth to me. like, I can keep flailing at the same board again & again FOR FREE. & if I spend 99 cents I can beat it! oooh oooh I'm so frustrated I just want to beat it beat it beat. BUT WAIT: the next board will be the same: match threes of pretty colors, clear the jelly in a just-a-little-unreasonable number of moves, or score XYZ points in just-too-few seconds, etc. & I will flail at it too. so why bother paying 99 cents? if I "beat it" & thus "progress", my game-playing experience is nearly identical. the only difference is that I won't have "progressed" from level 33 to level 34...& really, what's that worth to me?

yeah fuck pay for play imo
charge me five bucks after ten levels to play the rest of the game, don't chisel cash out of me as we go

ya paying to make the game easier is the absolute worst, extra levels or whatever is one thing, but that is inexcusable imho

That's horrible yep. But actually I find it even worse to play something like jetpack joyride or temple run, where cash doesn't (necessarily) come into it, but the more games I play, the more it nudges up my stats and makes it a little easier to get a little further. It's not "the more I play the more skilled I become" - if I started a new game with a lot of skill, I'd still need to put that time in first to build the attributes before I could really get anywhere. The end result is that a highscore just means "I played this a lot" rather than "I'm good at this".

And yet I also feel uneasy about the fact I'm uneasy with it. Because really, how different is that to something like Skyrim? And I love Skyrim. So I end up feeling weirdly conflicted.

yeah another thing Candy Crush Saga does is limit the # of times you can play unless you pay or wait for your "lives" to regen. the game can't demand much time *unless* you're also putting in real money.

grinding RPGs are different in that they drain time rather than money in order to get to the "fun" play.

the "dangerous" line for me is when the grinding isn't "fun", but I do it anyway. I don't think it's an oxymoron to talk about fun grinding.

gaming as busywork : something something Nietzsche but it makes me feel bad about myself

That's horrible yep. But actually I find it even worse to play something like jetpack joyride or temple run, where cash doesn't (necessarily) come into it, but the more games I play, the more it nudges up my stats and makes it a little easier to get a little further. It's not "the more I play the more skilled I become" - if I started a new game with a lot of skill, I'd still need to put that time in first to build the attributes before I could really get anywhere. The end result is that a highscore just means "I played this a lot" rather than "I'm good at this".

And yet I also feel uneasy about the fact I'm uneasy with it. Because really, how different is that to something like Skyrim? And I love Skyrim. So I end up feeling weirdly conflicted.

― JimD, Monday, January 28, 2013 12:32 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a good point. this kind of play is mildly satisfying and addicting but does feel super fucking hollow after a bit

I think what something like Skyrim brings to the table is a sense of escape to and immersion in a different world, just like you get from a film or a novel. Maybe in that sense, for me at least, graphics *do* make a better game.

ff1 & ff2 us$5

for like a week

Yeah I guess that's true for Skyrim-style character progression games, but then there are things like Geometry Wars or Pacman CE where a highscore still really just means "I played this a lot", and ok in those cases it's "I played a lot and became skilled" but surely to some extent playing anything a lot will make you skilled? So why do I get irritated by the endless runners? They're basically not that different.

Except I guess that I can play them a lot, do better and better, but never feel like I'm actually getting better, even if in truth I am gradually increasing my skill. Because the rate at which the difficulty falls exceeds the rate at which my skill improves.

FFs are iphone only, right?

there's a distinction i made while talking about this stuff a while ago between games that make YOU get better at playing them as opposed to games that get EASIER as you play them. the first one is much more honourable imho

FFs are iphone only, right?

yep

i'd love to get those, but i don't have nearly enough free memory on my phone. that's true with a bunch of other games that i would have loved to have played, too. does anyone else have issues with it, or do you just delete half of your music to make space?

phone for apps, ipod classic for music and shitty solitaire ime

otm

worst article ever: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/hundreds-is-the-haute-couture-of-video-games/272600/

lol

i'm finding it difficult to avoiding succumbing to the urge to buy an ipad

:(

but if i did it would basically be games/ipad, music/iphone for me

that's how I do it, except for a few good quick time-passers as documented upthread

I bought a gphone
Enormous sadface

selllllllout

i'm finding it difficult to avoiding succumbing to the urge to buy an ipad

:(

but if i did it would basically be games/ipad, music/iphone for me

― Z S, Tuesday, January 29, 2013 3:16 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hold out 6-18 months for a retina iPad mini, it will be the best iPad to buy.

Fairway Solitaire is hella addictive.

^ otm

also, if youre into MAME, grab the game Gridlee before apple yanks it: it has a fully functional MAME system hidden away

I got an ipad last week.. anything essential I should know about? I have swords and sorcery and thats about it..

If you are a nerd, Prompt is essential for remote shells to your servers.

Oh this is the games thread.

lots of essentials! i loaded up my phone based on last years coint and plick among other things.

if you don't mind a bit of gore, the walking dead is the best game I've played on the ipad (and I'm not even a fan of the comic/series tbh)

infinity blade is another that takes advantage of the real estate

I don't care about zombies, don't mind gore but don't seek it out, have never seen the comic or the tv show & can't imagine that I ever will

for a jerk like me, then, what's so good about the walking dead game?

(I want to be sold on it!)

very well written, consequences feel significant + permanent

ok, recycling this tl;dr from one of my posts on the dedicated WD thread, but suffice it to say it is the most moving video game I've ever played:

not a fan of the show at all but fell in love with this game. rented it for xbox on a whim, expected some FPS zombie hunt cheap jollies. then when this point-and-click style adventure game started up I was like wtf? but the characters and story and ethical choices became really engaging. having a limited amount of time to choose how your character will respond verbally causes the thrills to come from decision-making rather than from battle. first person heated argument! the conflicting loyalties, moral dilemmas, self-worth issues, caretaking focus, and self-preservation cruxes are emotionally involving. good uses of ambient quiet moments, and real suspense.

got halfway through eps 2, then bought the rest of the series for the ipad. it's the best ipad video game I've played. since the controls are so limited the gameplay actually works better on a tablet. you don't have to scan the environment looking for objects - they're highlighted whether you're looking at them or not, which is good since half of them are usually garbage ("hmm what an interesting EMPTY BOX"). the puzzle-solving stuff was the most frustrating aspect on xbox, I scanned every inch of that goddamned drugstore twice before noticing the brick laying just outside the gate.

oops shoulda deleted that spoiler in the middle para

sorry dudes

also you can play the first eps for free (there are 5) so if you dl it and play it and can then restrain yrself from buying the rest I dare ya

I just played half-life 2 for the first time yesterday, and after hearing for years how great the plot on that is, it was like playing space invaders compared to the walking dead

going to be a lot of great recs in the new coint and plick results too. but my essential games right now would be Punch Quest, Subway Surfers, 1000000, any one kairosoft game, jetpack joyride, eyelord, wargames, tiny wings. lots of people rep for ticket to ride, and monsters ate my condo too, even though i don't really tend to play them. for deeper gameplay, waking mars is awesome.

this list is way tilted to 5 minute puzzler/matcher/runner stuff though. for ipad you can also get remakes of lots of videogame classics, plus things like all the gtas. depends what you're into.

new star soccer
stickman golf
king cashing

Drop 7
Dungeon Raid
SpellTower
Yaniv
Trainyard

¡ASSAF!

Rayman Run is pretty great too, kicking myself for forgetting to include it in my C&P list.

momonga pinball is really good, btw.

jet set radio is like 99c at the moment -- just grabbed it.

Is it playable at all on iPhone? I LOVED that on my Dreamcast.

it's touchscreen-fiddly but not terrible

mutherfuck I am playing a lot of Cook, Serve, Delicious! why because it is fun to make food. cut the fish! grill the steak! pound the chicken! lol. nachos! & you can get improvements to your restaurant! it is fun fun fun

Seems apple have let a game into the App Store which I guess is essentially malware, it's sending out game centre challenges without user permission and propagating itself that way. So if you're on my friend list and get a request from something called Hold 50 Sec then a) sorry and b) ignore it.