Had to turn some of my settings down on my aging machine to minimize chug near the carrier, but it’s still looking pretty good (this is me ignoring the instructor, FYI):
2 Likes
1 Like
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is coming to iOS as a full $10 premium game.
I haven’t played it yet, but it is (or was) on my Switch wishlist. It’s a turn-based RPG but I don’t know much more about it.
I’m always happy to hear about console/PC titles making it to mobile.
1 Like
I am about half way through it on Steam (Battle Chasers:Nightwar). It’s interesting at first, but the combat gets really repetitive I think. More so than most JRPG style games. That said, I do intend to go back to it at some point, as the story was interesting and the writing was fun.
1 Like
Crypt of the Necrodancer is a great game. It is a classic rogue like RPG but it is set to a great soundtrack and you need to move in rhythm.
Not it has a prequel on iOS called Amplified. Amplified is $5 and has the base game plus al of the Amplified content and has full iPhone X resolution support. Definitely a great game!
1 Like
Ahh, so no reason to still keep the original installed, good to know.
1 Like
Final expansion for Sentinels lands tomorrow.
1 Like
I don’t go back to this game as much as I should, but I do love playing it when I do.
I’m just not very good at the weekly challenges.
2 Likes
I feel the same way. They have made the game so much easier to play than in real life, but it takes me forever to finish a game. And I suck at the weekly challenges too. I completed a few, but some I cannot make any progress.
It is truly amazing how long they have been updating this game. Kudos to Handelabra!
2 Likes
Nimblebit and LEGO are teaming up to bring us LEGO Tower sometime this summer. It’s pretty much Timy Tower, but with LEGO aesthetics and LEGO people, which sounds like a win/win to me!
1 Like
Apple has announced that its new gaming service will be launching in the fall. For a subscription fee, you will be able to play “100s of games” or something like that. I don’t know all the details, but I have nothing but concerns.
-
The App Store is a cesspool with some diamonds in the rough. Who is curating the games on Apple’s new service because they’ve not shown the ability to do so in their own store.
-
Will big titles be locked behind a subscription paywall or will we still be able to purchase them individual?
-
Is Apple competing against the smaller publishers, now? Some good games are nearly impossible to find right now; how is it going to be when Apple has a vested interest in their service selling rather the games selling?
Apple makes me sad.
6 Likes
Apple launched their “Apple News +, a $10 a month subscription service” with the comment that “Quality journalism matters”. I guess quality journalism doesn’t matter if it impacts their search ad business, and they can put quality journalism out of business and eliminate resources for informed customers. 
I do like the idea of a $10 a month news subscription service for quality journalism, but evidently the journalists were not impressed with the revenue stream from Apple actually helping keep our free press in business, and helping hold government accountable,
What Apple didn’t talk about in its presentation is that it had largely failed to convince some of the largest newspapers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, to participate in the service.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/03/25/apple-march-event-streaming-news-subscription
(FWIW, I do have a digital subscription to The Washington Post, I do agree with their tagline/slogan that “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.)
3 Likes
I did see Overland in one of the Apple Arcade’s trailers. I remember hearing about that game a long time ago. But I have very little confidence in an Apple-curated game subscription model. They have never seemed to embrace it as a serious gaming platform.
That’s my biggest question. If I can’t buy the games I want without subscribing to this service, that’s going to present a serious problem for me.
1 Like
I feel similarly. What I guess will happen is that some games will be subscription-exclusives for a certain period of time and then released into the wider app store. Most games will probably be available in the app store from day-one. I would think that most devs would not be excited about their games not being available in the app store.
This is just a guess. Apple is very prone to making stupid decisions about their app store, so who knows.
Other issues this raises for me is whether the games you want to play within the subscription service will be downloaded to your device or played via streaming via some over-arching Apple Arcade app. If the later, then you will need 24/7 internet connectivity to play them. If the former, then will Apple run a check on your device every time you turn it on, force updates, and delete games (and saves) if you accidentally forget to pay your subscription?
From the dev side, will devs be paid based on how many subscribers download/access their game? Or will each get a flat fee for participating? Apple would not be doing this if it didn’t equate to more money for Apple, I’m just not sure how the system will be rigged so that their math works out.
1 Like
I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns into a “Spotify for games” service, effectively. And everything I’ve heard about Spotify or other music streaming services indicates that the artists get screwed money-wise.
Music artists have the option of touring, selling merchandise, etc. to make money if the albums aren’t making them anything. I would guess that the developers’ equivalent would be focusing more heavily on other platforms–PC, consoles, Switch, etc. I’d hate to see games move away from mobile because I love the convenience of gaming on a device I carry with me all the time anyway, but the devs gotta eat somehow.
1 Like
Well, here you go as one example anyway…
🎉 We’re excited to share the news: our new game, Kings of the Castle, will be available exclusively on Apple Arcade later this year! #AppleEvent @AppStoreGames pic.twitter.com/vgSkdN0VaW
— Frosty Pop (@frostypopgames) March 25, 2019
I can’t see why a dev would agree to limiting their game’s reach to the subscription service, unless Apple is paying them big bucks up-front, enough to negate a lack of overall sales.
2 Likes
I must have missed this part of the news.
They’re calling it “Apple Arcade?”
Will any developer who’s doing a serious game even want to be part of that?
3 Likes
Yes, that’s what they’re calling it. Because nothing says serious gaming like “arcade”.
As to your second question, that’s why I can only imagine there must be armored cars full of money being backed up to devs’ offices right now. I don’t know what other incentive there would be, really.
The more I think about this, the more I think it’s just going to drive people away from the platform to PC or Switch. The app store will sink even further into the FTP morass it’s mired in, while the better devs pander to apple arcade or go to other platforms.
Apple is trying to exert even tighter control on how, when, and which games get presented to its device buyers. Greed is not pretty.
2 Likes