By MacRumors Staff on March 6, 2019
'TouchArcade' Articles
GameClub Plans to Resurrect iOS Games Abandoned in the Wake of Apple's Hardware and Software Advances
Wednesday March 6, 2019 7:48 am PST by Mitchel Broussard
Last month, the editor-in-chief of MacRumors sister site TouchArcade, Eli Hodapp, announced that he planned to step down from overseeing the iOS gaming site to focus on a new venture. This week, Hodapp has provided more detail about his move to GameClub, a startup that plans to preserve premium mobile games in the wake of Apple's ongoing updates to the iPhone and iPad, which leave many classic games unplayable on modern devices. As Hodapp explained on TouchArcade, Apple's frequent updates to the ‌iPhone‌ have caused ongoing problems for iOS developers on older App Store games. The first of these major issues hit during the release of the ‌iPhone‌ 4 in 2010 and its introduction of an increased resolution, which meant all developers needed to update their games with higher resolution textures. While some developers decided to do this, others couldn't justify spending time and money to modernize their games. Of course, this issue grew exponentially worse with the introduction of iOS 11 in 2017, bringing with it the removal of all 32-bit apps from the iOS ‌App Store‌. TouchArcade kept an ongoing list of every 32-bit app that was no longer supported with iOS 11, including the TouchArcade app itself. Throughout this process, I started to realize that, entirely by accident, TouchArcade had become this weird museum of the glory days of iOS gaming. Loads of games that passionate developers were excited to release to a hungry customer base now only exist in TouchArcade reviews, or TA Plays videos. We've grumped about this a bunch, in multiple editorials, too many
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TouchArcade Goes Hands-On With Devolver Digital's Upcoming iOS Game 'Reigns: Game of Thrones'
Thursday August 23, 2018 11:24 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Our sister site TouchArcade this week went hands-on with the just-announced iOS game "Reigns: Game of Thrones." For those unaware, "Reigns" is a series of games created by Devolver Digital that tasks players with making important monarchical decisions using a simple left swipe and right swipe mechanic. The first two games in the series [Direct Links: Reigns and Reigns: Her Majesty] focused on generic characters in medieval and renaissance eras. Now the developer has partnered with HBO to meld the "Reigns" gameplay mechanics with characters, events, and locations from "Game of Thrones" and George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series as a whole. In "Reigns: Game of Thrones," players take the viewpoint of a character gazing into the flames of the Red Priestess Melisandre, witnessing the potential outcome of events without those events specifically tying into plot points from the books and HBO series. As TouchArcade points out, this enhances "Reigns: Game of Thrones," since it gives fans of the fantasy series numerous "what if" scenarios to watch play out: This allows them to utilize the Game of Thrones universe and its associated characters while having plot lines in the game that are best described as "zany," in a good way- With many "what if" scenarios, like exploring what would happen if Sansa Stark married Jamie Lannister. Unlike previous "Reigns" titles, the Game of Thrones spinoff tasks you with controlling numerous point-of-view characters instead of just one king or one queen. These include well-known Game of Thrones characters like Daenerys,
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Valve Removes Game Purchasing Option From Steam Link in Hopes of App Store Approval
Thursday June 14, 2018 10:44 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
A few weeks after Apple rejected Valve's planned Steam Link app due to App Store review guideline violations related to in-app purchases, among other things, the company has made a key change to the app in hopes of getting it approved. Namely, in the latest beta version of Steam Link on TestFlight, Valve has removed the option to purchase games within the app. Instead, the app now informs users that games are available to purchase on a PC, or Mac, according to Eli Hodapp, editor-in-chief of MacRumors sister website TouchArcade.Moments ago, Valve pushed out an updated version of the Steam Link app to TestFlight testers which […] removed the ability to buy anything through the actual app itself. When you connect to your PC via the Steam Link app and browse the store, the button you used to be able to push to buy things has been changed to say "Available to purchase from your PC."Shortly after Steam Link was rejected, Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller explained that it had "discussed these issues with Valve" and would "continue to work with them to help bring the Steam experience to iOS and Apple TV in a way that complies with the store's guidelines," in an email shared by MacStories. Steam Link app now says games are available to purchase on PC Steam Link, unveiled early last month, will allow users to stream Steam games to an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV from a Mac or PC via a 5GHz Wi-Fi network or a wired Ethernet connection. The app, originally set to launch May 21, will include support for both the Steam Controller and Made for iPhone controllers. In his hand
'Assassin's Creed Identity' Released on iOS Worldwide
Thursday February 25, 2016 3:12 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Ubisoft yesterday released Assassin's Creed Identity for iPhone and iPad worldwide, following news of its highly anticipated official launch earlier this month. The popular action role-playing game lets you create, customize, and play as Assassins during the Italian Renaissance, with story missions and quests set in the Coliseum, Florence, and other key locations of the era. The game features three classes of assassin, open sandbox levels, and various customization options. And in a first for the franchise on iOS, Identity also allows full freedom of movement, which means players can run, jump and climb their way around the game world as they take on quests and explore various locations. While the Assassin's Creed brand has been on mobile in several iterations before, Identity is the first "true" Assassin's Creed mobile game to mimic the play style of the popular console and PC games. However, it has had something of a stuttered release until now, initially appearing in the New Zealand and Australian App Stores in September 2014 before disappearing last month. MacRumors' sister site TouchArcade explains: The saga began when Identity soft-launched in select countries way back in September of 2014. The game was built around quick missions that felt conducive to mobile play but it was the first Assassin's Creed game on iOS to be built around the more traiditional open-world mechanics of the long-running console and PC game series. It was also a very free to play game with all the trappings that comes with, which just didn't jive well with the type of game
App Store's Emphasis on Chart Positioning Squeezing Out Developers and Media Publications
Wednesday June 24, 2015 1:45 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
When the App Store launched in 2008, it provided an exciting new way for developers to distribute third-party apps and games on the iPhone. With the release of iPhone OS 2.0, developers were no longer constrained to web apps and could take advantage of the possibilities afforded through fully native apps. At the time, it was an exciting and opportunistic new chapter for iPhone users, developers and mobile gaming websites. As the App Store continues to grow in size, however, the landscape has begun to change. While the App Store was once a relatively even playing field, with a balanced mix of indie developers, mid-size studios and large publishers, the storefront now suffers from increasing disparity, a problem that is suffocating for many developers, enthusiast media publications and the broader ecosystem. Clash of Clans, Game of War and Candy Crush Saga are top grossing iPhone apps The shift away from paid apps towards free apps monetized with in-app purchases or mobile ads has driven the popularity of addictive games such as Clash of Clans, Game of War, Candy Crush Saga and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, and the deep-pocketed developers behind each title will go to extreme measures to ensure their continued success, even including unthinkably expensive Super Bowl ads. Eli Hodapp, Editor-in-Chief at our sister website TouchArcade:"iOS gaming has since been pushed to two extremes: The giant, multi-million dollar studios of the world, and supremely tiny indie developers hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a surprise viral hit they built in their spare time. The
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