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Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

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Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#281

Post by millstone »

whatshisface wrote: post #247
millstone wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point and thank you for the clarification. By "iOS exclusive" I should have said "not on Android." I honestly considered it common knowledge that these games are available on Windows, Switch, etc. but maybe not all readers know that. To refine my point, many successful games come to iOS because it is a controlled environment, with negligible piracy. The games come to Android later or not at all, because it is mo…

> many successful games come to iOS because it is a controlled environment, with negligible piracy. How does that make sense when all of those games were originally developed for the PC platform, which has rampant piracy, even above that of Android?

Every PC game developer sweats piracy. Windows is targeted first (or only) because it is the vastly dominant gaming platform. But the piracy aspect is real, and important, and it hurts Windows gaming.

If you are developing a Nintendo Switch game, you can focus on building a better game, instead of anti-piracy techniques, or futzing with hardware incompatibilities. That's iOS too.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#282

Post by dwaite »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #237
enos_feedler wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't understand what enabling multiple browsers, from an engine standpoint, would achieve. Is it competition? Don't all browsers just implement the same set of standards? What is the lack of competition holding back?

They don’t all implement the same set of standards equally. The one that comes immediately to mind is one that comes up frequently as “hey do you know your website is broken on iOS” on HN is when someone is demoing some really interesting web-tech that requires SharedArrayBuffer (since it enables thread-like behavior in JavaScript and is super useful also for performant interaction with the GPU). Browsers can of cour…

A bit of an aside, but SharedArrayBuffer is likely not the best example It was disabled by default in Chrome and Firefox until recently due to Spectre. Chrome is still working on improving their security around this feature, and does not yet enable the feature for Chrome on Android.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#283

Post by ThatPlayer »

zinekeller wrote: post #150
ThatPlayer wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What regulations are those? Netflix has Minecraft Story Mode now https://www.netflix.com/title/80227995 . What regulations are being applied, and how are those incompatible with video games? Also aren't movie rating systems like the MPA self-regulated? Not required by law. There's already equivalent systems for video games with PEGI and ESRB.

The American MPA is self-regulated (probably simply to put it into legal territory, since legislating it would probably prevent freedom of expression and translates to censorship, especially if the authority is directly government-controlled) but some other systems are legislated (not just in countries you think as opressive, mind you: Britain has an independent organization that rates movies but are approved by the…

Yeah. I don't think there's been any authority that Netflix has submitted all their films to, to be on Apple's devices. Why should Microsoft's Game Pass be any different.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#284

Post by engineer_22 »

mulmen wrote: post #256
ravenstine wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ain't gonna happen. This is how they want it. If they didn't, Big Tech would have been better regulated long ago. Having top down control over communication through private multinationals that all politically act in unison is exactly what the state desires.

The state desires what the voters demand. Apathy will be the death of liberty.

That's right!

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#285

Post by simion314 »

bilbo0s wrote: post #38
simion314 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what if somehow you implement the gaming service to work inside a browser? What is your opinion?

The owner of the gaming service is still curating the content available through that service. It's not like simply running the service through the browser allows any and every game to be on the service. Game devs for instance, would still need to negotiate with the owners of the game service in order to have their game available on the service. Might even need to pay the game service?

So why should Apple allow a web browser based service but block the same one (XBOX) if it uses a native application?

let's be honest, Apple dopes it for money not for users, blocking XBOX will not protect anyone , Apple wants a big cut or even better they want to sell their own gaming service in future.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#286

Post by millstone »

echelon wrote: post #278
millstone wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I demand open computing. I have it, it's cheaper than ever, like RPis are given away in cereal boxes. I also have an iPad. I know I lose some software access (e.g. Facebook streaming games) but I also gain software, like Slay the Spire and FTL and Bastion. These games are iOS exclusive in part because iOS effectively prevents piracy, which is another way of saying that users cannot run whatever software they want. I'…

Your educated choice here, together with the uninformed choices of millions of Americans, support an economic system that disenfranchises device owners, software engineers, and small businesses. It's okay, have your iDevice. But that choice supports a company that makes the world less equitable for others. To deny that is to deny economics and the power of monopoly. We need to educate our lawmakers about this situati…

Well I strongly disagree with all of that. You're talking about "uninformed choices of Americans" that are "unequipped to understand," but I was there in 2007 when the iPhone was introduced, and there's a reason that EVERY phone is essentially an iPhone and not a Blackberry. This did not "disenfranchise" anyone, it radically empowered us all (in the same way that google.com did).

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#287

Post by Aeolun »

treve wrote: post #133
Aeolun wrote: post #71

This is silly. They’re not seperately approving every app on my VNC server either.

If you break any concept/law down far enough, it becomes kinda meaningless. Terms of use, or laws don't have to be written in perfect logical consistency. The important thing is intent. The intent is not to block things that resemble running an application remotely. The intent here is controlling everything that could possibly be sold/distributed as something resembling an application or game. I see these kinds of co…

> Generally laws are not enforced exactly by how they are written

I think that’s pretty much untrue. Laws are enforced exactly as written. Where the judges come in is the interpretation of what was written. If that’s in line with the intent then that’s great, but I very much doubt that’s always the case.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#288

Post by Aeolun »

tacotime wrote: post #242
bigbubba wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you break any concept/law down far enough, it becomes kinda meaningless. I call bullshit, I think it's mostly just bad laws that become ridiculous when 'broken down'. If you want to convince me otherwise, demonstrate your claim using laws against murder (unambiguously good laws.)

If I was in incredible pain and wanted to end my own life but was not capable on my own I might ask a close friend to help me with that. If that friend had enough empathy to help me fulfil my hypothetical wish then they would be a murderer, but a kind and helpful one. edit: maybe we want to define murder as killing someone who does not want to be killed. I would ask what you have to say about the "trolley problem". h…

The trolley problem is a bit silly.

If you just boil it down to the actual question

You can pick one of:

1 random person dies, or

5 random people die.

Which one do you choose?

The correct answer is obvious. The question is more interesting with more context.

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#289

Post by fakedang »

xnyan wrote: post #90
sp332 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite - what's the difference between a movie-streaming app and a game-streaming app?

Netflix is bigger than the nascent game streaming market and more apple users (including me) expect to be able to use it. If they told netflix "we have to approve each movie and tv show on your service, and possibly take revenue from you on a per-video basis", then netflix would walk and would be smart to do so because it's pretty likely apple would come up the loser in that fight. Again, huge number of users, existi…

So if an entirely new Netflix were to be created, with its own content and all, it shouldn't be allowed to be hosted on the Appstore..... because it isn't Netflix?

Sometimes I wonder how an industry that relies on logical thought ends up with folks who think the extreme opposite.

This isn't normal behavior for powerful organizations. Microsoft isn't stiffing me now, is it? Heck, even Google hasn't gone full retard. Would you like it if your car only allowed you to use gasoline from Shell and no other company, simply because Shell is "big"?

Re: Apple blocks game streaming services unless individual games are approved

#290

Post by [deleted] »

zepto wrote: post #143
627467 wrote: post #11

Seems odd (to be charitable and say the least)... Do they vet music/movie streaming services content too?

Streaming apps arrives are a way to bypass the App Store. That’s why they are banned unless the individual apps or games are submitted individually. It’s not really surprising they don’t want other companies running storefronts on iOS. The ‘consistency’ argument is just not valid.

[deleted]
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