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Editor’s Note: There’s no denying that the iTunes App Store is bursting with games. But how to sort through it all to discover games actually worth playing? Michael offers us one solution. What would you suggest Apple do to clean up the App Store? -Brett
Lately I’ve noticed that the overall quality of games on the iTunes App Store has dropped drastically. That’s not to say that games released prior to this summer were any better — the gems were simply easier to find. These days, original and innovative games often end up buried under a deluge of rip-offs and recycled concepts.
There are likely hundreds of great games on the App Store that you and I have no hope of finding. The App Store’s limited recommendations and meager filters mean that games can easily fall through the cracks, making it that much harder for an indie developer with a groundbreaking idea to reach an audience. Sure, you can find out about new games through your friends or via Web sites like Touch Arcade, but how many iPhone users make that effort? The bottom line is that, as of now, there’s no convenient way to find out what’s out there.
That means a lot of iPhone users end up buying crappy games. If they get burned enough times, they may decide that wading through the endless pages of fart applications isn’t worth the effort and stop buying apps — and games — altogether.
I fear this trend has already started. Fewer people seem to be reviewing the apps they’ve purchased these days, which suggests to me that they’ve become apathetic. And fewer reviews means it’s more difficult for other users to gauge the quality of a product.
Apple can do something about this. They should take an active role in policing content to restrict the blatant rip-offs of popular games — maybe by stamping a “seal of approval” on certain games like Nintendo did back in the day. (Don’t laugh — it used to mean something!)
Otherwise the App Store is going to become overrun with games by companies like The Godfather, who have done a tremendous disservice to gaming on the iPhone. They profit by releasing knock-offs designed to lure unsuspecting customers and suck the cash from their wallets. Look at their latest “game” on the App Store: Girl Wars. It bills itself as “the first massively multiplayer game on the iPhone and iPod Touch for girls only!” The app itself is free, but if you want to fully take advantage of the game’s activities — going to the mall or spa, getting in a cat fight, etc. — it’s going to cost you Fashion Points — and those aren’t cheap. Girls who download this game may never want to play a video game again.
Sadly, because of the way the App Store is currently set up, it’s way easier to stumble across twenty variations on Girl Wars than it is to discover an amazing game like Rolando 2. If Apple allows the App Store to go unchecked, it will become nearly impossible to find great games, and the once-revolutionary marketplace will become nothing more than a sea of shovelware.