Monday Morning App HQ

Random musings of the App Store.

Apple now allows in-app purchases in free apps

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard that Apple is now allowing in-app purchases in free apps. Yes, this creates many possibilities including the extinction of lite versions and new app store charts, but I think that none of these possibilities will come to fruition, for one simple reason: DLC simply won’t be widely implemented. One reason, and the reason I think developers have been loathe to implement DLC so far, is the public perception of DLC. The average app consumer is wary – perhaps rightfully so – of DLC, and automatically assumes DLC is there to rip off the customer. I think developers will even be aware of this when making free apps with DLC, as the fear of being nickeled and dimed could lead poor public perception, starting with bad iTunes reviews, which will be open to anyone who clicks the “Get App” button. In addition, I think consumers simply purchase less through in-app purchasing. Once you already have an app, that app can become boring quickly in this ADD app store, so instead of purchasing more content for that app, you are likely to impulsively buy a completely different and new one.

Rock Band released

Last night, EA mobile’s Rock Band was released onto the App Store. Sure, it’s got that EA polish, but is it really worth 10 times more than Tap Tap Revenge 3, its $.99 competitor. Early indication may be no. While Rock Band features four different instruments, they are all similarly tap-based. The gameplay is fairly unchallenging but fun, and the background graphics are very repetitive and there are no special backgrounds for songs as in TTR3. In addition, the game comes with an anemic set list of only 20 songs, compared to over 100 free songs for TTR3. DLC packs for Rock Band are scarce so far and come packaged as two songs for $.99, the same as TTR3. I think the Rock Band game itself is better than TTR3, just not ten times better.

ROCK BAND

Our Rating: :: GARY CHERONE-ESQUE :: Read Our Full Review >>

Category: Games / Music
Released: 2009-10-19
Price: $6.99

Free ngmoco:) games!

Largely as a promotion for their Plus+ network, ngmoco:) has made three of their older games free. These are the full versions of the games, now including the excellend Plus+, and they’re all worth checking out:

WordFu Plus+

Category: Games / Word
Released: 2009-10-17
Price: FREE

Dr. Awesome Plus+

Category: Games / Action
Released: 2009-10-07
Price: FREE

Topple 2 Plus+

Category: Games / Puzzle
Released: 2009-10-01
Price: FREE

This week’s upcoming app that looks freakin’ sweet:

There are a few good turn based strategy games on the iPhone, but the Battle for Wesnoth could just blow them all away. Here are a few features:

Over 200 unit types in six major factions, all with distinctive abilities, weapons and spells
Experienced units gain powerful new abilities as they advance.
Bring your battle-hardened troops with you as you fight through campaigns
Hundreds of campaign scenarios available, easily download user-made content
Day/night cycles, fog of war, racial traits
Cross-platform multiplayer

This week’s sign of the apocalypse:

Ngmoco:) has recently been tweeting about, and advertising in their games, Epic Pet Wars, another dumb code-sharing text-based MMO. I thought you had high standards ngmoco:)…

App of the Week

Shrek Kart

Last week, I disappointedly reviewed Cocoto Kart Online, which simply wasn’t up to snuff. Happily, Gameloft’s Shrek Kart has provided a great karting experience. While the controls could still use some additional tuning, they aren’t nearly as awful as those found in Cocoto. Though there is no online multiplayer, the single player mode has enough content. The graphics are unbelievably crisp, the track design is good, and the Shrek license is actually used pretty well. At $4.99, it’s the best Mario Kart-esque game on the App Store.

Shrek Kart™

Category: Games / Racing
Released: 2009-10-12
Price: $4.99

Rock Band on the iPhone is exactly what you’d expect it to be… pretty and polished but somewhat lacking in fun. There’s only so much delight you can get out of a rhythm game on the iPhone.

Rock Band Coming To Your iDevice!

Rock Band, the granddaddy of all band games (I’m assuming that Guitar Hero is the graddaddy of only the guitar games) is finally coming to your iDevice. After seeing Tap Tap Revolution and multiple other apps not only appear, but do well in the app store, it was only a matter of time before EA jumped into the fray. My only concern was whether or not EA’s game would add to the genre, or just use the name to push to the top of the pile. After seeing some of the early screenshots, it looks quite amazing.

There are three things that stand out to me about the new iPhone version of Rock Band. First off, my favorite addition to the game is the ability to play all of the instruments that are available on the console version. Guitar, bass, and drums will all turn out to use the same standard tapping that all the other tap games use, but Rock Band is also including the vocal portion. I’m not quite sure how I feel about singing into my iPhone, but I’m sure it’ll be a blast.

My second favorite addition to the game is the live bluetooth multiplayer. I can just imagine being back in high school, riding the bus, playing Rock Band over bluetooth. I was of the generation that was plenty happy to play Tetris against each other on our TI-83’s, so this, to me is quite exciting.

On top of some of the features, the overall polish and depth of the game seems to be a bit better than most of the others in the genre. The graphics look quite amazing, the song list is superb (and can be added to through the in-game music store), and the sound is sure to be killer. Word is that Rock Band has already been submitted to the app store, and if all goes well, should be out sometime real soon.

Check after the break for the whole song list along with more screen shots.
Continue reading Rock Band Coming To Your iDevice! »

BeatRider is a groovy rhythm game similar to Tap Tap Revenge, but with a killer feature: the ability to upload your own tracks. While the process is a minor headache, the actual game is top-notch.

Best Guitar Hero type game for the iPhone!