Jimquisition: Steve Jobs and iOS -- Videogame Related

[Triality]

Let's not forget that Steve Jobs worked for Atari in his and the company's freshman years, so excluding all mention of Apple and it's casual market explosion of popularity, Steve Jobs has still contributed to the videogame legacy by being apart of its beginnings.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I find Jims videos are awesome when you hit stop when he gets to the "thank god for me" bullshit. Bus as for these phone games, they maybe be fun games, but they are made as time killers. Its why they are short and fun - doesnt mean to say they are not great games. I could play them on a bus but sitting at home? Nah. Rather play my 360.

I dont think Apple will try for the game making and console making business. They are making a fortune as it is and making and selling a new console from scratch can cost a fortune.

 

[floobie]

Having just procured an iPhone, I'm interested to see how this develops. I immediately downloaded Final Fantasy and Sonic 4 for it, and the experience is actually pretty good. While the vast majority of iOS games are more casual, just for killing time on the bus or something, these are pretty damn fun and engaging. Amazingly enough, the touchscreen doesn't even make it feel like a compromised experience. The pricing is also quite attractive.

Writing iOS (and Android) off completely seems foolish. As smartphones become ubiquitous, there's no reason these platforms can't become viable mobile gaming solutions. It's really up to the developers.

 

[SoopaSte123]

Sorry Jim, only Colbert can ask for Apple products and have them magically sent to him.

Maybe I should finally get an iphone so I can play some fun little games.

 

[keideki]

Thank you Jim, Now if only people would stop posting this like 'iFuneral' thinking they are funny or original.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I love ya Jim, but I have a few disagreements with your points.

1) Yes, Apple is involved in games and is a legitimate venue. However, they are not nearly as involved in gaming as The Big Three. Apple has Iphone and Ipad games. Microsoft has the majority of PC gaming, a console AND cellphone games and you can make similar arguments about Sony and Nintendo.

*raises old-school flameshield*

2) I really wish you would stop using the oldies such as Pacman and the like to defend Iphone games. Those games are classics in the same way that Flash Gordan is a "classic". They were great in their day, but are by NO MEANS timeless. Some of you may want to dispute this, but can you honestly claim to have played one of those "classic" games in the last decade as anything but a quick time waster?

3) Yes Jim, these ARE good games, but my main problem is that very few of these Iphone games can't be found on the internet on Armor games and such for FREE. And in many cases, the online flash version is actually better.

Other than that, great episode. I like how you crusade for lesser known things and bring them to light.

 

[Epona]

I don't play games on a phone, never have and hopefully I never will. I downloaded a game called Zenonia on my DSi but it didn't take long to grow tired of it, with it's Atari 2600 control scheme. Even the NES had more than one button. On my PSP I downloaded Angry Birds just to see what all the hype was about, I will agree it wasn't a time waster as I quit playing out of boredom within 15 minutes. I handed it off to my GF and she played it for about an hour before getting bored with it too.

It's fine if everyone else wants to play these games, more power to them but there will always be an audience that prefers buttons (that's plural). As awful as the 3DS is, I would certainly get one before I would an iDevice.

One more thing, if the best examples he can come up with is Pac Man and Galaga....we moved past those games over 20 years ago.

 

[Magikarp]

Good episode Jim. I thought your style might seem distastful when talking about Steve Jobs' death, but you pulled it off.

 

[Doom972]

Like with everything else that is apple related, I have to ask this question:
What did apple bring to gaming that wasn't already there?

Nothing really. All those games could have been made for other platforms.
Most iOS games can barely be called games. Releasing a game with a level of complexity as Pac-Man or the original Donkey-Kong is inexcusable, since games have advanced since then.
Games like Infinity Blade are good for an iPhone game, but can't really be compared to other modern games.
As I see it - Apple simply gave some people who didn't know any better some low level quality of games. If by having a large part of the future of gaming he meant making money off of gaming, I can agree. Apple knows how to make money period.

 

[leviadragon99]

Mmm, I guess I can accept that.

Oh, one other thing though. Not to be childish, and I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this, but the reflections of the studio lights in your sunglasses is hilariously distracting, reminiscent of a pair of pupils zipping around a massive buglike pair of eyes.

 

[Something Amyss]

Gamers are, seemingly by their very nature, exclusive. They like to cut off anyone who doesn't play like them. It's no surprise nobody thinks of the iOS as gaming related.

Even if not, however, without Steve Jobs, we would not have gaming in its modern form. I'm sure something would have come up, but who knows what it would look like? Jobs contributed a lot to PCs over the years, even when it was through competition. PC gaming, though it has been constantly considered "dying" for three decades, is still a large part of gaming past (even if you discard its present).

I wasn't a big fan of the man, ever. But certainly, he is "on topic."

 

[AJey]

great, another stupid episode with ridiculous points. So if a phone OS can run games it suddenly becomes a force to reckon with? What a bunch of BS! Its nowhere near xbox or PS3. Granted, they are also called games, but they each take up their own niche. Its like saying that movie industry should fear all the TV series coming out as a rival in the medium. TV series will never be movies. Just like phone games will never be considered full-fledged games. Look at them technically: phone games are always technically simple, using gaming elements on a basic level, like simple stories, mechanics or physics. They are never sophisticated or complex, just like they carry no impact on the medium itself. Its not like phone games changed the industry, its games that changed the phones. While professional games is what drives the industry forward; where great stories are created, new mechanics developed and envelope constantly pushed. So saying phone games are on par with PS3 is one of the stupidest things you could have said!

 

[MB202]

I've never owned and Apple products except the years-old iPod Nano that I still use... Although, my family owned an original Macintosh computer which I used all the time. But I know what Steve Jobs has done and how he's helped shape an entire generation of not only gamers, but people in general.

 

[Aureliano]

A bit more humor next time please, Jim. iPhones and iPod touches are legitimate gaming platforms takes maybe 8 seconds to say, making the rest of the four minutes or so pretty much filler. This is the same thing that happens every 'issue' show and without some wacky humor to go along with it it gets real boring real fast.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

I don't buy apple products, i object to their business practices, their media choke-holding of negative press, their pricing and most of all their intolerable fanbase BUT i do recogise mobile OS's as the biggest sector of gaming growth.

do you own an ipod ?

 

[mjc0961]

Sorry, but those two promotional clips of people playing iPod Touch games says everything about why I can't take those platforms seriously. Where are my buttons? I have to do everything by pressing against a screen with no tactile feedback or tilting the iPod around? No thanks. The worst DS games are the ones that try to be traditional gaming experiences but forego all use of buttons to try and do everything on the touch screen, leaving the game a sloppy mess (both DS Zelda titles come to mind). Also, those screens are small and my thumbs are big, so now that 1/3-1/2 of the screen is blocked, I don't have much left to see at all. I suppose the iPad would help solve this seeing as it's bigger, but that also kills the portability aspect and now it would instead be compared to home consoles which is even more of a laugh than comparing iPod Touches to PSP or 3DS.

Plus, the price. $250 was too much for people to spend to buy a 3DS which has a full backlog of great DS titles and many great games of its own coming soon. It had to drop to $170 to get people's attention. But I'm supposed to pay $200 for an iPod touch that doesn't have room for much else or $300 for one with a reasonable storage capacity just to play stuff like Angry Birds that are also available on browsers? Top it off with Apple's nearly yearly device upgrades that you eventually need to keep playing the latest games ($170 for a 3DS that will last you a good number of years, or $200 for an iPod touch that will be obsolete in a year or two tops while Apple asks you to shell out $300 minimum for the latest and greatest?), and all I see is a fad just waiting to implode on itself while Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony sit back and laugh at it. Mobile gaming pretty much killed facebook gaming (I'm sure people still do it, but when was the last time anyone heard about it) and sooner or later, something will come along and make everyone forget about mobile gaming.

If in 10 years or so, maybe 5, people are still lining up to buy the expensive as hell iPad 20 and the iPod Touch 50 or iPhone 4SJKQWHYCANTWEJUSTHAVEIPHONE5 to play the latest $5 apps, I'll happily admit I was wrong. I really can't see that happening though.

 

[Epona]

How can people stand using their fingers on touch screen phones? It drives me nuts to see fingerprints on my DS or PSP screens.

 

[Nurb]

PLUS, as bigger game experiences start to decline on consoles because of focus on smaller platforms, it would allow the PC devs to get more creative and have more freedom

That's not an insult to consoles, just saying what could happen for the only platform I currently play on, so don't freak out.