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Five Years of the App Store: How the App Store Changed Carter's Life

Posted by Carter Dotson on July 12th, 2013

How has the App Store impacted my life? Well, if you give a mouse a cookie...

It started when I first decided to give the iPod touch a whirl: I had heard about the App Store launching, and I picked up a discounted first-generation model of the iPod touch as the second-generation launched. I figured, hey, this might be the future, I'm gonna get onboard now. The store was exactly what I expected it to be: a collection of interesting and occasionally odd games from a wide variety of developers. It was, and still is, an endlessly-fascinating world.

Still one of my favorites from the early days of the App Store.

The App Store was also indirectly to blame for me getting hooked on Twitter. Apps like Tweetie from Loren Brichter helped me on my way to become the Twitter addict that I am today, especially once I got an iPhone proper. I've met many great friends from Twitter, and most importantly, it's why I'm here on 148Apps today.

It was through following someone on Twitter who recommended following The Portable Gamer that led me deeper down the rabbit hole. One day, they posted that they were looking for new people to record iCasual segments for them. I took them up on their offer, as I figured, "hey, why not - might be fun to do on the side while getting some free games to play."

Soon, scripting and recording those audio reviews turned into written reviews. It turned out writing about games was pretty fun, plus, I was halfway-decent at it! I was made managing editor of the site a couple months after I joined, and for the next year, it was a regular part of my life. I got to feel important in helping to arrange and post new content on the site, and even got printed in iPhone Life magazine at one point. That was pretty cool.

A little over a year after joining The Portable Gamer, that was when 148Apps advertised that they were looking for a new paid writer. I decided to go for it. For a while, it was just a hobby, albeit a really cool one.

Eventually, I decided: why not try to make writing my career? I love doing it, it was giving me more of a sense of purpose than my college studies were giving me, and hey: I was already getting paid for it. So I ramped up my game. I spent more time writing for 148Apps. I started looking for other writing gigs, which came through connections and just reaching out for other opportunities, with my work here at 148Apps playing a significant role in proving I could be a good and trustworthy writer.

And a year ago, it finally happened. I was able to support myself on my writing work and I moved to Chicago. It was all thanks to the App Store. Sure, there were a lot of steps in between, but I honestly don't know what my life would be like if it didn't exist.

It's been a pretty sweet ride so far, one that I hope continues on for a long time.

Monday Morning App HQ

Posted by Will on August 17th, 2009

Random Musings of the App Store

More stupidity from Sony

An interesting article over at PocketGamer this week reveals some measures Sony has been taking to combat Apple's wildly successful (but far from perfect) App Store and to make their virtual download service, the PSN, more appealing for both consumers and developers. Sony might be doing fine with consumers, as the reported top limit of 5 euros is less than the App Store imaginary limit of $9.99, so if consumers managed to stomach the outrageous price of $250 for the PSPgo, they should be pleasantly surprised with the game pricing. The question is, however, will there be any games worth buying. The upper limit of 5 euros is simply awful for developers. For any quality games that are worth buying to a consumer, the volume of sales just needed to break even is immense. This is one of the biggest problems of the App Store, but it has managed to get away with it - for now - because of the huge reach of the store - there are simply a massive amount of consumers who are willing to buy a lot of games. I can't imagine the PSPgo will sell as many units as the iPhone and iPod Touch combined, so I can't imagine how hard it will be for developers to turn a worthwhile profit. Just ask the Google Android - the entire Android store probably has seen less downloads than any of about 500 iPhone apps. To make matters worse though, Sony is taking huge control over the games, requiring a two week QA test and regulating release dates, further discouraging indie development. Sure, most people don't see the iPhone in the same light for gaming as the PSP (though I could recommend you a couple of titles that might change your mind), but with the new insanely powerful iPhone 3GS and help like this from Sony, Apple might just eat away at Sony's share of the portable gaming world.

Snood arrives in the App Store


Last night, Snood, a classic PC/Mac Bust-a-Move clone, was released by EA into the App Store. Despite some strange Facebook requirements, a quirky landscape interface (the game is played entirely in portrait view), and the fact that it's an EA port, Snood has made it to the iPhone in all its highly addictive goodness... with online multiplayer nonetheless! Best of all, there's not even a stupid cross-over promotional Pocket God pygmy in sight! A friendly warning: I lost many hours of productivity on this game back in the day. I've not spent enough time with the game (ok, basically none) to give it a recommendation, but we'll try to have an official 148apps patent-pending review up soon (or not...I didn't get that checked out with our editor, Chris. He might have some sort of strange anti-Snood bias).

App Store Fire Sale

It seems that in the App Store lately, everything must go! Developers have been slashing their prices to new lows, some even making their games free for a limited time. Rather than typing more, I thought I'd let our fancy boxes do the talking, so here are some notable price drops:


(Full disclaimer: I really don't like NFL 2010)

This week's sign of the apocalypse
[caption id="attachment_15880" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hmm, why does this look so familiar?"]

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The game Ricky is currently sitting at the number 33 spot in the App Store. The description tells me that if I like Super Mario Bros, then "surely I will like Ricky." Well Ricky, the only thing I'm surly about is your game. Ricky is a blatant Mario rip-off (ported horribly I might add). The hills have eyes, the main character is an italian plumber, and oh yeah, the icon is the 1up mushroom. Really Apple, you saw no possible copyright infringement going on. It just makes you wonder how apps like this get through while quality games like iMech and A.D.D. are held up in the approval purgatory for months.

Apps of the Week

This week was a great game week, and while I was hoping Duke Nukem 3D would hold a spot on this list, unfortunately the controls are among the worst I've seen for a big title on the iPhone. Nevertheless, a duo of great games, one new, one old, made my list for the apps of the week.

Spider: the Secret of Bryce Manor
[caption id="attachment_15881" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spider, a beautiful, elegant game"]

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Spider is simply a work of art. The main gameplay, spinning webs to catch and eat bugs, is very compelling, especially with fantastic touch controls, but what makes Spider truly great is the multi-faceted story. The story is a human one that rivals many novels, but it is told through subtle clues found throughout levels. Items of seemingly little consequence can fill in a crucial missing piece. To top things off, Spider comes with many secret area to levels plus a secret room that it will take a true adventurer to unlock.

Civilization Revolution
Earlier in this article, I mentioned the addictive nature of Snood, but that is nowhere as addictive as the classic turn-based empire building game Civilization. Once I start a game of Civilization, I literally am not capable of doing anything else until I've finished the game. The iPhone version is slightly watered down, making it more accessible to newcomers, and it does have some interface/control issues (no performance issues over here on my iPhone 3G), but it's still Civilization, and it's still awesome.

That's it for this edition of MMAHQ. Next week, I hope to have some super secret exclusive content for you all that I've been working (or should I say waiting) on. Enjoy your week!

ngmoco Announces Rolando Release Date - Celebrates With Massive Game Sale

Posted by Jeff Scott on December 15th, 2008

ngmoco has confirmed that Rolando will be released this Thursday of this week, on December 18th. To celebrate the week of the release of Rolando they have put all of their previously released games on sale. They have reduced the prices by $1 across the board.

Hit the jump for details and links.