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Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

theguardian.com

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Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#201

Post by alanfalcon »

jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

I've lost over 100 hours to Crashlands. The mobile app is only $5 with no iAP (and syncs with the PC/Steam save, though that's another $15) and is a very fun, complete game full of humor that's hard to describe. Adventure, action, crafting (with infinite auto-organizing inventory), secrets, and did I mention the humor? Between this, Punch Club, and You Must Build A Boat I've come close to swearing off non-premium gaming on iOS.

As a side note, I actually did throw my phone because of a F2P game. Expensive bad decision.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#202

Post by paler »

bluedino wrote: post #164
mikestew wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly you do not know who is Nolan Bushnell I would argue that he knows who Bushnell is better than you do. What you posted in no way invalidates what you quoted from the parent post. Yes, Bushnell started Atari. Since he sold, he's done...golly, I'd have to go look it up because all I remember is a string of forgettable (duh) games that he put his name on because "founder of Atari".

Atari wasn't even a 'good' company. The original Atari basically invented arcade games and the home console (2600 or VCS) but everything they did afterwards was a complete disaster. Including causing the video game crash, some home computers that never really competed, a bunch more flopped consoles, not to mention they drove incredible talent away that went on to create companies like Activision, and in the process o…

Some of their home computers competed pretty well.

The Atari 8-bit series (400/800) had a significant chunk of market share in the early 80's. Not among the top three, but there were so many incompatible platforms in those days, and Atari 400/800 was one of the more common and well-supported ones for sure. http://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/4/

Then, the ST didn't do so hot in the US, but here in Europe it was a well-known platform, nearly as popular as the Amiga. Roughly 75% of sold Atari ST's were sold in Europe.

Most famously, nearly every recording studio you'd care to name would have ST's in the control room well into the 90's and in some cases early 00's, due to their built-in MIDI capabilities.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#203

Post by kagamine »

paler wrote: post #202
bluedino wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atari wasn't even a 'good' company. The original Atari basically invented arcade games and the home console (2600 or VCS) but everything they did afterwards was a complete disaster. Including causing the video game crash, some home computers that never really competed, a bunch more flopped consoles, not to mention they drove incredible talent away that went on to create companies like Activision, and in the process o…

Some of their home computers competed pretty well. The Atari 8-bit series (400/800) had a significant chunk of market share in the early 80's. Not among the top three, but there were so many incompatible platforms in those days, and Atari 400/800 was one of the more common and well-supported ones for sure. http://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/4/ Then, the ST didn't do so hot in the US, but here in Euro…

My first gaming was done on my C64 and my bestie had an Atari 800 which we loved because cartridges meant fast load times, my C64 only had cassette tape. He then got an Atari ST which we also thought was a really good computer. This is in the UK. I was so jealous of that 800 back then, it was an impressive machine.

Edit: hey Ross, if you're out there, it's been 20 years, I still remember the good times!

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#205

Post by hornetblack »

> I have been so pissed off with some mobile games I’ve wanted to throw my phone, even if I’m only going to hurt my phone there, and not the game."

> some mobile games

Cutting a sentence in half is pretty silly.

His actual point is there are a lot of Games with poor game design. This is probably related to the barrier of entry of Mobile games. It costs very little to put together a App and launch it on Google Play or Apple's Store. Compared with building actual arcade machines (or paying someone else to build them) and shipping them to Arcades.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#206

Post by retromario »

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #48
jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

If anybody's looking for a side project, I think there's a curation opportunity here. I'd subscribe to a newsletter focused on great, non-IAP-driven iOS games. It could be weekly or monthly, with a mix of new games and classic gems that maybe aren't so well known. I'd tolerate a fair amount of advertising or sponsored content in the newsletter as long as it was clearly labeled. The key thing for me is quality . I thi…

Quality is also a key requirement for me. We developed our game Ellipsis for iOS with quality as the main driving factor. It's a minimalist action game of survival and dexterity, with zero text, no ads and no IAP. We've put a lot of effort crafting a polished experience that respects the player.

Please check it out, you're precisely the type of audience we are aiming for: http://playellipsis.com

Regarding curation, aside from places like TouchArcade, there are occasionally nicely curated video lists of best new premium games like these from Gameranx:

- January: https://youtu.be/Nuaj_ti5MtA

- February: https://youtu.be/aTQO0_bhuUI (disclaimer: we're in this list)

- March: https://youtu.be/oreE8YX5jQI

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#207

Post by paulnewmanseyes »

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #48
jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

If anybody's looking for a side project, I think there's a curation opportunity here. I'd subscribe to a newsletter focused on great, non-IAP-driven iOS games. It could be weekly or monthly, with a mix of new games and classic gems that maybe aren't so well known. I'd tolerate a fair amount of advertising or sponsored content in the newsletter as long as it was clearly labeled. The key thing for me is quality . I thi…

It's on hiatus right now, but I really recommend the @games_we_care twitter feed for this. The 1,041 recommendations in its archive are pretty great, and if/when it comes back, I'm sure the future will be good too.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#208

Post by clentaminator »

jwcooper wrote: post #14

If you can get past maybe the top 50 or 100 grossing games there are a lot of really good games out there that aren't looking to leech money from you. I have plenty of games that have been worth every penny I spent with a lot of depth and strategy required in order to master them. Letterpress, Spelltower, Hearthstone, Tiny Wings, Ticket to Ride, Strategery, GD Swarm, Ridiculous Fishing, Monument Valley...I could go o…

I'd emphatically recommend Zen Bound and Zen Bound 2.

More than most other mobile games with good touch controls, the Zen Bound games really took advantage of the tactile nature of current mobile devices and their touch interfaces.

Aside from the mechanics, they were also pretty relaxing, while some of the levels managed to be simultaneously challenging while remaining completely passive. A very gentle and non-frustrating form of challenging that not many games manage to achieve.

I don't think Zen Bound gets enough praise as a game that is unique both from a gameplay perspective and how well it relies on the interface of the underlying device.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#209

Post by azazqadir »

rush340 wrote: post #127
Goronmon wrote: post #19

Honestly, the lack of dedicated controls will never allow for mobile gaming to be anything more than a time diversion for most people. A touchscreen just isn't something that's comfortable to use for extended lengths of time, in my opinion at least.

Time diversion versus what? The lack of dedicated controls is only a negative for games that require precise inputs (like classic arcade games). There are so many fantastic games that don't require that at all. Strategy, turn-based RPGs, puzzles, adventure games, etc. For certain games, a touchscreen can blow dedicated controls out of the water if the interface is designed well.

Exactly. Some games are perfect for touchscreen, like Temple Run, Candy Crush and Subway Surfer. I don't think that's the real problem with mobile gaming.

Re: Atari co-founder: mobile games make me want to throw my phone

#210

Post by azazqadir »

greenspot wrote: post #129

MUST-WATCH in this context: South Park S18 E6, it's about Freemium, Mobile, Addiction, Dopamine in very educative AND funny way Here full episode in HD (you can switch to English): http://www.southpark.de/alle-episoden/s18e06-freemium-gibts-...

"Freemium"...that's the real problem with mobile gaming. These games are purposely made annoying so people will pay to win the game.
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