5541

MONEY

5542

While true, if they don’t balance the teams, not as many people will buy the teams. Those that do buy the teams will likely not have anyone to play with (if they use the overpowered teams).

Also, if the devs are planning on making other games, they aren’t going to want to ruin their reputation.

5543

Agreed.

5544

Of course, they are also wanting you to pay for jersey color changes and the ability to taunt your opponent additional times. :)

5545

Damned clever of them. :)

5546

Yeah, my kneejerk reaction is of distaste for the freemium model, and that I’d much rather pay $5 for a complete package. But on the other hand, since all I really care to pay for is the new gameplay content, it means the people who buy the cosmetic stuff basically subsidize the game for the rest of us, so I can’t complain too much. It would be nice to be able to unlock some of that stuff through play, but it’s not worth paying for to me.

5547

I have reluctantly come to the point where I think things are going this way and that there are good ways to do it where everyone wins. As long is there no competitive edge given, they can have at it.

Funny aside, as I was typing this, in the back of my head I was hazily wondering if I had enough Action Points to type the whole thing out. I need to get to work.

5548

I just posted this under Android games, but I figure few people own both and wanted both sides opinions, so:

Hello all,

I am about to replace an aging windows mobile phone that is choking itself to death. I am teetering between getting an Android Bionic and getting an iphone 4S. The bionic is a lot cheaper/ 4g/ has lots of nifty phone only features, but it seems like iOS gets a lot a gaming apps. I will probably get an ipad at some point, but I don’t have one yet. I am presently leaning towards getting the cheaper Bionic driod now, then an ipad as my first tablet in the next 6 to 12 months, then getting whatever the inevitable 4g iphone is as my next phone.

I know the usual blanket statement that iOS is fairly entrenched, but less flexible (or powerful), but I mostly care about the gradual change to smart phones being the new mobile gaming platform and the performance of the camera (to snap pictures/ video of those unexpected kid doing something silly moments).

I will probably get a biased view here, but I thought I would give it a go. If you were in my shoes, which direction would you go (iphone or driod)?

Games that have my interest now:
Hero Academy
Ascension
Majesty
Elder Sign
Uni-war
Defender Chronicles (thanks Tom) the 2D fantasy tower defense game that I forget the name that Tom really loved awhile ago (and still) for ipod touch

I know a lot of these are iOS, but I am hoping that if I went droid they would either see droid versions later, or that I could just play them on my “someday soon” ipad. Also I really don’t know what is out there for android games as it seems most buzz is around iOS games.

Thanks for the advice

5549

I’d say it comes down to how positive you are that you’ll be getting an iPad, and then how “mobile” you mean by “mobile gaming platform.”

For me, the iPad has all-but-completely replaced the iPhone for “mobile” games. I almost always play the iPad version, and I’ve even gotten more-or-less used to pixel-doubling iPhone games. I love Ascension on the iPad but even knowing the cards, I still feel like I’m missing something with the iPhone’s limited screen space. But then, I work from home, so I rarely leave the apartment. And I’ve never gotten comfortable with the idea of taking the iPad out on public transportation or in public in general. (Flights and airports are the only exception).

So if you’re really looking for super-portable stuff that you can play anywhere, I’d say go with the iPhone. But if you’re not interested in playing during commutes and the like, I’d say there’s absolutely no risk in getting whichever phone you like and using the iPad for iOS games.

Edited to Add: Maybe it’s obvious, but keep in mind that once you’ve built up a library of iOS games of any size, you’re going to feel locked into the platform. I’m at the point where I don’t think I could switch to an Android or Windows Phone 7 phone even if I wanted to. (And Windows Phone 7 looks pretty nice!)

5550

Defender Chronicles! I just recently booted it up again, and it holds up wonderfully. I maintain it’s one of the best tower defense games you can play on any platform.

But I’m too much of an iPhone neophyte to address your larger iPhone vs. Android question, so that’s all I’ve got…

-Tom
5551

iOS now has enough good games that it’s absolutely worth getting access to in some form. If you were just choosing between the phones in a vacuum, I’d tell you to get the iPhone in a heartbeat. However, you don’t need to double up, so if you plan to get an iPad, then you will have that base covered and can safely stick with the cheaper/more flexible Android phone.

The only real gaming edge Android has is the ability to load emulators onto it without the need for jailbreaking or other hassles, though obviously on-screen touchpads and buttons aren’t ideal for these games. Apart from that, iOS is still an order of magnitude ahead in terms of game quality and variety, with Android’s game library mostly being a subset of what’s available on iOS, and many good games not appearing there until much later if at all.

5552

Because of my job I carry around both an iphone 4 and an HTC Incredible 2. Each has their strengths. Sounds like you’re definitely going to get the ipad later - if that’s the case and having access to both worlds appeals to you, getting the Droid leaves you in a position where you get access to both platform’s libraries. That said, fwiw, if I had to stop carrying around one of my phones now, it would be the android. In no particular order that would be because:

The iphone’s less flaky. This might be just an HTC or just an Incredible 2 thing, but it’s crash prone, and has been across multiple software updates, especially browsing the web.

Web browsing works better on ios in general.

The app store is so much better than the android store… it baffles me. How can google get search on their app store so wrong?

Scrolling, zooming, and look and feel, are all better on ios. This is subjective I know.

I don’t really care about one of android’s great strengths, its openess. I spend enough time tinkering with computing systems at work, I just want to be able to treat these phones like my Nintendo DS - flip it on and it works. I don’t want to root the thing or install some other rom or UI. If that appeals to you though Android is the better choice.

There’s a larger gaming library on ios by far. I suspect that’s going to change this year with how well android phones have been selling, but today, that’s where we’re at.

Oh, and I almost always end up shooting photos with the iphone - more because of the software library and all the great photo apps I have.

No clear advice for you but hopefully the above helps,

5553

I am definitly getting some good input so far, thank you guys. I am in the same boat on the tinker factor (my friend really tries to upsell that, but I just don’t care)

The app store thing threw me though. Maybe I am too new to this whole deal, but so far I have had a terrible time browsing what is available for iOS and had a much easier time looking for games on android (with the "people who bought this also installed/ also developed by/ etc tabs). Maybe it is different when browsing the store on the actual phone rather than via the web?

Is there any value to waiting for a 4g iphone? I don’t really see a difference on my friend’s Bionic, but it seems to be all the rage.

5554

i ordered the nexus one as soon as it came out (after using a windows 6.5 phone) … worst decision i ever made. the software was great, but they stopped supporting it after a year-ish? the hardware though, was utter crap. i literally had to charge the phone twice a day just to get my work done … and the phone kept breaking down … sent it in to HTC thrice, and all three times they gave me the run around (they also didnt repair it the first time, and sent it back to me exactly as i had sealed it up when i handed it over to them … after keeping it for 2 weeks…) in contrast … when i had an issue with my iphone battery life going down quicker recently, i got a 1-to-1 exchange with no questions asked and no hassle. i eventually bought my mum and dad iphones because it was easy to use as well …

oh yes… about games … definitely a much better selection of games for the iphone and i cant wait for pocket heroes! [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLar3q7ZQNg ] (hell finding cases for an iphone 4 is super easy …)

5555

That’s part of it, but I think it’s also a factor of how successful the Apple app store’s been at attracting developers. I hardly ever find stuff by browsing; it’s either through recommendations in threads like this, or from sites like TouchArcade.

Do you mean fourth-generation iPhone, or the actual 4G cellular networking? I’m not savvy enough on the tech side to offer a whole lot (and I’ve never used an Android phone), but from what I’ve heard, 4g is still more of a drain on battery life than it’s worth.

5556

I’m an app developer for both platforms (and a bunch of other handheld platforms) and I think the clear choice is the iPhone 4s, especially if you are considering getting an iPad in the future.

tempus actually hit most of my thoughts. I want a phone that works and a phone that isn’t abandoned by OS upgrades (be aware of the latter when getting Android; your phone will age very quickly if you don’t get one of the Google stock models). The fact that Apple hosts the most supported app store reminds me of the old PC vs Mac or, at least early on, the 360 vs PS3 debates. The former has almost every game/app in the world. The latter has a decent subset along with a couple of interesting tidbits.

If you are getting an iPad in the future, I think it is a benefit to get locked into the platform. The iPad runs ALL iPhone apps out of the box and you get a license to run any purchased app on a decent number of devices (I think it is 5). In some cases, this will mean you get an iPhone sized app you can double to fit the iPad’s screen. In many others, you’ll actually be buying a universal app that works great on both platforms (I’m actually developing a universal app now). When you do get an iPad, you’ll already have a bunch of apps.

For example, I bought Ascension once. I have it on my iPad, my iPhone, and my wife’s iPhone. I play it on the device that’s closest to me, often against my wife. :)

5557

I’m really not getting the complaint about the Android market being more difficult to search than the Apple app store. In my experience, the Apple store generally requires the app title verbatim to find something specific, while the Android market is very good about finding a specific app with very general search terms.

5558

I rarely ever put a title in verbatim. If I just put a section of a title in, or even a word in the description, it brings up my choices. It’s actually quite thorough I’ve found.

5559

The Android Market used to really really suck. Now it just kinda sucks.

5560

Even if you don’t care to really dig into that stuff (and I don’t), I wouldn’t write off that openness as a selling point completely. Any flavor of Android gives you additional flexibility in the ways that you interact with your apps and media that can be noticeably more convenient than Apple’s dictatorial but polished interface paradigm. If I were to switch back to an iPhone, here are a few of the things I would miss:

-Making a desktop shortcut directly to a specific, frequently accessed book (or phone number, website, etc.), to save the step of opening the app and then selecting it.
-Widgets to display my calendar and task list directly on the desktop.
-Being able to place app icons wherever I want and have them stay exactly there (say, in the bottom right corner of a screen even when the rest of the page isn’t full).
-Placing some different apps on the screen to the left of the home screen rather having it wasted on a search page I never use.