GameLoop Review

Despite the presence of Game Center, social gaming hasn't really taken off for iOS in the way that it has for other formats. Facebook and Twitter integration fills the gaps but wouldn't it be cool to have an app where one can meet new friends to play games with? That's the thinking behind GameLoop, an interesting new social networking app focused on gamers.

Starting out, it pools together various resources. One can import Xbox Live, Steam, and PSN, as well as iOS details to gain more insight into a player's interests. I found I had a few issues with importing such details, as well as finding how to do so after signing up, but the basic principle is a good idea. After importing such data it immediately lists all the games that one has played, with it then easy enough to add some further information about each title.

As a library, GameLoop works reasonably well (once the import issues have been dealt with), but its strength is through the social features. It's possible to tag a game and post something about it, such as a recommendation or discouragement to other players. The main feed, or Loop as the app calls it, is great for some simple conversation about games. Potentially, it could end up being pretty big, though the basic filtering options don't really help. Being able to divide content by genre or system would have been immensely useful here, rather than being solely reliant on searching for a specific game.

That's the issue with GameLoop: it's a neat idea but one that needs some expansion. Having trouble importing games is a noticeable problem. For instance, while importing Xbox 360 games was easily done I couldn't view my PSN titles or iOS games, with no explanation as to why that's the case. Limitations to filtering and searching are also an issue. It's early days for this social network so filtering isn't such a big deal when the community is small, but in order for it to grow, such infrastructure would be very useful.