Tuesday Morning App HQ?
It's a fairly big week in the app store for game releases. Maybe the developers and Apple are teaming up to scare us reviewers (get it, Halloween... I thought it was clever) into working overtime to get all these reviews done. Just to name a few of them, we now have Doom Classic, Command and Conquer, Eliminate, NBA Live (last week), Asphalt 5, and Alice in Bomberland running wild in the app store, most of which are just dying for a review.
Productivity, Lost
I must say that working for an app review website is just about the best thing ever, but there is a major drawback. The reason half of the apps were made was to completely wipe out productivity. Some of the apps that are self proclaimed 'master time wasters' are in fact master time wasters. Every once in a while I'll download something, you know, for work, and it'll just decimate my productivity. This time, the culprit is 'Words With Friends', a Scrabble-like game that takes me back to my days of playing Scrabulous on Facebook. The game is paced however fast you and your opponent choose to play, and you get a handy push notification when it's your turn.
If you ever want to play, my SN is chris148apps. Let's make a pact though that if you beat me, you won't tell too many people... I have a reputation to maintain!
Words With Friends Pro
$4.99
There will be a new iPhone... shocker
I love reading Apple rumors, and today I found one that blew me away (brace for it). There may be a new iPhone sometime in 2010. Over at Gizmodo, they have pictures, from a seemingly reputable source, of what they are calling the 'iPhone 4 Generation Midboard'.
Does anyone else see that Verizon logo in the bottom of the left panel? No? Am I just trying to start something?
My US pride is hurt
ngmoco:), the only company happy enough to put a smiley face in their name, made me quite sad last week. While waiting for Eliminate to grace my iPhone, I discovered that the Canadians... CANADIANS!!!(????)... got the game first. What, first the Winter Olympics, now Eliminate? What's next... more new games, the iPhone, the next Taco Bell taco?
[caption id="attachment_19844" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="They can\'t have it!"]
Worried about the devs
I've talked to quite a few developers in my time, and they all seem to have a similar concern. They are just not sure how they are going to make any money in the app store without breaking into the top 100 apps, and even then are worried that the 99 cent pricing structure ruins their chance to make any money at all. After taking a look at the top grossing apps in the App Store, I can see why they are concerned. Only one app in the top 20 is made by an 'indie' dev, and the game, Pocket Devil, is just a knock off of Pocket God. Maybe EA's $9.99 price scheme is really the way to go, as they have 9 of the 20 top grossing games out there.
This weeks sign of the apocolypse
There are so many fantastic apps in the App Store, but while digging through the list of top grossing apps, I found that the 28th app on the list is 'Truth or Dare - 18+'. This makes me sad.
Truth or Dare - 18+
$1.99