Be Excellent To Each Other

So, I want to play any number of emulated games on iOS*. Without jailbreaking, can I?

Most of the iOS software I'd want to buy if I had such a device I wouldn't be allowed to buy, so where's the attraction?

STRAY ASTERISK

No. But I didn't buy it for that. I bought it for work. Demoing videos for example (something the Samsung is fundamentally broken out of the box to do if I want to use an external display). Or autocue software (the available Android software was so woeful I kept using my Macbook under Bootcamp for this task instead).

Of course I played with the Samsung and saw emulators were available. However few worked in anycase. From memory:

Amiga - Repeatedly crashed.
C64 - Major control issues with the in software keyboard.
Spectrum - Nasty controls confounded by a similar keyboard issue to the C64 emulator. Another emulator wouldn't even start.
Mame - Don't get me started.

I do have the Elite Speccy compilation for the iPhone and I quickly learnt that the kind of games I love are horrid on a touch screen. So quickly forgot about playing old games to pass the time.

Like you, I've found the majority of emulators to be pretty horrible on the iPad (although, naturally, rather good if you've an iCade knocking about). That said, I've found in recent years that when I end up playing emulators, it's because the host platform has run out of things to offer me. This happened with my Dreamcast, Xbox, GBA and DS, to name but four platforms. By contrast, I don't get bored on iOS, but I do also play a lot of retro-oriented games that are designed specifically for touch: Bit Pilot, Forget Me Not, Gridrunner, Space Junk, AirAttack, ElectroMaster, FiveADay, Minotron, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, and so on. You'll see a handful of such first-rate titles on Android, but the selection is much greater on iOS, making it a great platform for retro-heads, if you can get excited by new 'versions' of old games, rather than having access to the actual old games in illegal-o-fashion.

+ iOS has the Pickford Brothers. And frankly we should be carving their images out of stone and worshiping them as minor deities.

Anyone who doesn't have Magnetic Billiards on their iThing should be banned from the forum for life. It's superb. Really excellent. And as I said before, the prototype game available to skeleton key owners has this old Zub fan squealing with girlish glee.

Yeah, it was to point out that I don't really actually want to*, more that it was an example of the 'benefits' of having someone vetting what was allowed - having entire areas off limits (Emulators such as these being only a subset of data interpreters, after all I don't see unofficial translations of games (or other software for that matter) being at all likely.).


* - aha, a stray asterisk. Except not: It's not that surprising as my thoughts on games on mobile phones aren't exactly unknown, mainly that I don't find them particularly diverting and I have extraordinarily little time for them after being subjected to such award winning shite as the "endlessly twat birds at plankathon" suitably lucky bounce game Angry birds, the "less exciting than watching paint dry 'Better than Magnetic Billiards'" Tiny Tower, One of the best games of all time tedious waste of time that is Fruit Ninja and the challengeless grind that was Game Dev Story.

Indeed, mainly challengeless or luck based would pretty much sum up most (not all) of the mobile games I've played. I can see why that's the case, but it doesn't appeal to me.

Although by far the most fun I had with it was a gba emulator + Fire Emblem 封印の剣. Go figure.

Heh! I've just searched for some of these on Android and I'm yoinking them. Any that aren't there, I'll bang on my iPhone.

Could I have dev names for these please? Some, like Space Junk and AirAttack I think are duplicated. Ta!

You've listed some pretty shite games, to be fair!

Bit Pilot: Zach Gage
Forget Me Not: Nyarlu Labs,
Gridrunner, FiveADay, Minotron: Llamasoft (Jeff's converting some games for Android at the moment)
Space Junk: Upside Down Games
AirAttack: Art In Games (Android link)
ElectroMaster: xionchannel
Space Invaders Infinity Gene: Taito (Android link)

Probably worth noting that those were just the games lurking in my favourites on the iPad. There are dozens of other fantastic retro-style games I've played on iOS. chinnyhill10 also happens to be spot-on about Magnetic Billiards. (Naked War's also on the way for iOS.)

(Also, it's not like I only play retro fare on the device. Recent games I've enjoyed include Super Hexagon, Letterpress, Ticket to Ride, The Room, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, MicroMiners, Shardlands, getting reacquainted with Osmos HD… such a great gaming platform.)

I know! They are shite, but as noted, they appear quite frequently in the top 10 iOS game lists in the thread I linked to - which to my mind doesn't bode well for the others.

I think it would be very tough indeed to claim that Android was a better mobile gaming platform than iOS right now, unless emulators are all you're looking for.

Still, having just made the leap from iOS to Android, I'm pleased to hear that Minter is porting some of his games over - I absolutely love Minotaur Rescue and Minotron!

He's not, though, he's saying that phone games are mostly a bit shit.

Indeed. Or rather most of the ones Ive plsyed on recomendation have been less fun than not playing them.
That and expressing dislike for putting limitations on a genersl purpose device in a way that would certainly affect me and which makes me sad for the future.

My default response to that is that people making that claim are playing the 'wrong games'. There are shortcomings on mobile, not least if you're totally wedded to very specific games that don't translate well to touch (such as complex FPS games or Mario-style twitch platformers). However, some conversations make more sense on the touchscreen (Osmos and World of Goo being two examples that spring immediately to mind), and after years of relative tedium in gaming occasionally punctuated by Nintendo innovation, iOS feels much more like the Wild West of gaming that existed in the 1980s. You do get professional productions, but also tons of indie hits, made by one- or two-people entities, without having to deal with focus groups and the like, and having to think differently for new input mechanisms.

When the iPhone App Store first arrived, I happily dismissed it as an also-ran. I simply couldn't see how it in any way threatened the DS or even the PSP. Today, I wouldn't be without iOS when it comes to gaming—there are simply too many varied and exciting games to play.

I don't think handheld gaming is 'great'. It is a distraction, at best, but ultimately lacks the depth of 'proper' gaming. but for 69p a pop so be it.

Define "proper" gaming? Presumably this requires a PC, a World Of Warcraft account, fear of washing and a massive inferiority complex.

I'd point out that Magnetic Billiards has consumed over 60 hours of my time in the iPhone alone? I've played video games with no depth and trust me, they don't last the hour.

<Generally speaking>

It's quite a hard one, hence my putting it in inverted commas. The mobile games I have played (on my phone at the moment there is Pocket League Story which has had the most playtime, on the iPod Touch, I think it was probably Game Dev Story, or Dungeon Raid) most seem to be very shallow. And one seems to just grind towards the next thing, rather than have much of a headscratching challenge (Plants vs Zombies, Game Dev Story, Tiny Tower).

'Proper' gaming I suppose would have a series of structured challenges that you can't romp through in one go. Mobile gaming seems to me to be even more of a skinner box than WoW (to use your example) with the model more geared toward additional payments to get shinier, quicker. The skill level of the games are toned down so people buy more or pay to get a different colored suit (Jetpack Joyride)

I think that as a dsitraction they are fine, as a gmaing experience, I think not so much, as they lack the longevity of other formats. That, and 99% of them are shit.

Aside from the games themselves I just don't think the experience is even remotely comparable, hunched over, prodding away at a shitty little screen vs sitting back on the sofa in front of the telly. It's just not something I'd ever want to spend much time doing. I dunno perhaps if I had to spend half my life trapped on some awful bus or train carriage it might seem like a more worthwhile distraction.

A game for a mobile device is exactly the same as the games you used to buy for £1.99 and £2.99 from Mastertronic or Codemasters. I mean when we had genuine budget games not constant re-releases or formulaic re-cycled tat from the Codies that came later. The golden era of '86 to '88 before re-releases killed the original content.

Small compact games that can be picked up and played easily. Some may be simple and disposable, others may be far better than the crowd of just average games.

Which is why the Pickfords "get it". They were knocking out games in the mid eighties for a couple of quid that I still play today. No they aren't "deep", but they are fun and enjoyable. I love 180 and Zub as much as I did the day I first played them. I may well feel the same way about Magnetic Billiards in 25 years time.

And I don't think many of the good iOS games do try and fleece you for cash. Yes Magnetic Billiards does have a pricing structure but as I have often said on Twitter, allowing for inflation the price of the Skeleton Key is LESS than Zub or 180 cost in 1986.

You do have to search around for games that suit though. The Chinny list of games that I play is short but I was more than happy to pay for all of them and all of them have enough "depth" to ensure you can't romp though them in one go. Namely:

Magnetic Billiards
Qwak
Retro Racing

I also have 3 of the Minter games but, Hover Bover aside, I've always found his stuff a bit meh. His goat/sheep/llama obsession is a bit tedious these days.

It's a portable games console in your pocket not a primary gaming device. You can use it anywhere. My Atari Lynx was never my primary gaming device, just something to lug around if I had the money for a fuckton of batteries.

+ the iPad is a hell of alot nicer to use as well. But it depends on the controls. Magnetic Billiards gets it so right. Qwak really needs a joystick but still works well enough.

Much obliged!

I grabbed Space Invaders there and then. Eerie and Kraftwerkian! I approve.

I got *a* Space Junk, but it's by Tuko games. No idea.

The people bemoaning the overall quality of mobile phone games are playing the equivalent of shite run of the mill pop music. That's why, as seasoned gaming veterans, you're not impressed. Stop playing games that shitmunchers buy in their droves. Since when were they ever right?!

For example, GameDevStory. That was nothing more than an amusing, very shallow distraction. The people who talked it up on here were already playing the genuinely good games and accepted that as given, so as when a pop song happens to be great, they shouted about this incredibly addictive (basically shit) game from the rooftops, so amazed were they that something so simple could be so addictive. For a bit.

So when someone comes along who is relatively new to iOS gaming or has only dipped their toe in, they play something like that based on countless recommendations and think "what a load of shite, why all the fuss?" when the reality is, there is no fuss and everyone else has fucked off back to playing, er, Minotaur Rescue.

What the fuck am I on about?

Which is why I have so few games. But the ones I do have are good (well the ones I pay for are, obv I'll take a chance on a freebie and delete it pronto if its crap).

Incidentally, that means, for example, the following don't count as 'proper' gaming: Robotron, Defender, Pac-Man, Tetris, Battlezone, Missile Command, Wizard of Wor, Joust, etc.


Depends on the game. MicroMiners nearly caused me to throw my iPhone at the wall a number of times while playing it. Tough little bugger.


99% of anything is shit.

As for mobile games in general, the best of them remind me of those old classics. Like chinnyhill10, I've found dozens of mobile games that have taken dozens of hours of my time. They might not have some linear quest that is designed to last precisely 87 hours, but they are hugely repeatable and skill-based offerings. In the same way you could play Defender for a decade and still get better, the same's true of the likes of Magnetic Billiards. (On Game Dev Story, I've no idea why everyone went nuts over it either. It's basically Software Star for the modern age. I had fun playing it precisely once. I tried it again, because I was reviewing it, and then I never had a third go. But then some reviewers are mental when it comes to iOS, hence CSR Racing getting any reviews at all that rated it above 2/10.)

No, I'm playing the stuff that all you jazzy bummers keep wittering on about.

Poor Jazzy!

I like mobile gaming. It's excellent for puzzle games (like Puzzle Quest, Dungeon Raid, Bravesmart), board/card game conversions (Dominion, Nightfall, Neuroshima Hex, etc), logic games (Sudoku, Str8s, Logic Square) and the odd short-lived 'pop' arcade craze of cheap, disposable, simple games that are fun for a short while (Jetpack Joyride, Aaaaaaaaaa! etc).

I probably spend more time playing iOS games than on my 360 or PC (though that's more a reflection of when and where I get my free time, tbf).

Money = where mouth is. Thanks, friends!

I've only played Magnetic Billiards thus far. So addictive!

If you have the skeleton key, go to prototypes and play I Sent My Monkey To The Moon. It's Zub meets Bugaboo/Roland In The Caves.

There's something wrong with my iPhone/iTunes.

For the last few days, when I've tried installing apps via iTunes (as opposed to downloading through the phone), it's told me I need to authorise my computer. Odd, as it's the one I've been syncing to since July 2009.

So I have now authorised two PCs. No idea.

Now, I'm trying to add the paid unlockables in Billiards, and it's telling me I need to try it with the Apple ID i used to buy the app. I am!

If anyone knows why this is happening, please enlighten me.

Email iTunes support. They are usually really good at handling these things.

I had a code for the app store a while back which refused to work. They sorted it out quite quickly.

Magnetic Billiards is really good. Thanks for the tip off.

Where were you when the game's creators turned up to tell us about it?

so the wife has bought an iPad mini, neither of us have had an Apple device before, what are the "must get" applications?

Met Office Weather
Google Earth
Ebay
All the games listed earlier specifically MB.
Twitter
Facebook
Distant Suns
iPlayer
Rain Alarm
The Trainline

Tvcatchup
The room
Sky+ app
Kindle

Cheers. Let's see what they say.

To add to the game list, I recommend awesome dungeon crawling RPG Solomon's Keep. Once you've drained that, get Solomon's Boneyard.
There's a new one coming this year, too (whoo)!

Fleetwood or Preston probably.

I also had a pretty shit android phone at the time.

Fair enough. Now ignore the bouncing balls and get yourself some hot wizard action.

Already bummed Solomons Keep o/

Didn't know they'd done another though.

\o

Boneyard is a survival game, but still plenty fun.

As someone who has also taken CG's tips (and thankyou), I have spotted a mistake in the list above. Anyone else?

Edit: hmm, actually not! Not the icon I expected 5 a day to have, it looks like one of the "help you get your five a day" apps that also came up in a search. As you were!

Yep! No llama avi for that one.

Think my iMac has turned up!

You usually get an email when it has been signed for.

You only think?

Try looking at it from the front, you're probably looking at it from the side, which is why you can't tell for sure.

My information is from Mrs Z.

I shan't believe it until it's in my den.