Video demo of $5 iPod games

by Christopher Grant { Sep 13th 2006 at 7:25PM }

Intrigued by yesterday's announcement that you can buy $5 video games for your iPod from the increasingly misnamed iTunes Store? Wondering how they compare to bundled time killers like Parachute? Netscape's C.K. Sample downloaded casual classics Mahjong and Tetris so all of us with pre-G5 iPods can experience the fun vicariously. The games look pretty impressive, with rich colors and smooth animations but, unsurprisingly, the iPod's stellar scroll wheel interface doesn't translate well to all games, with Tetris' block-rotation proving a bit finicky. Any Joystiqers care to share their thoughts on any of the other eight titles released yesterday? Now if they would only release Doom.

Tags: iPod, Mahjong, Tetris

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Some Show @ Sep 13th 2006 7:28PM

Loading WTF?

Gavin @ Sep 13th 2006 7:29PM

Wow, that parachute game looks awful.

Why did they even bother releasing that?

Matt @ Sep 13th 2006 7:34PM

I bought 2 games, Zuma and MiniGolf, and my thoughts are pretty much the same. Great games, good graphics, especially for a time-passing-ipod game.

Although I personally find $5 to be too high.

Dr.Swiss @ Sep 13th 2006 7:43PM

Netscape??? NETSCAPE???? Is that seriously still around??

I haven't heard of/touched Netscape since early highschool. TEN YEARS AGO.

Cody S. @ Sep 13th 2006 7:42PM

Only game I would ever consider is Zuma. Controls probably work pretty well for that.

azesino @ Sep 13th 2006 7:52PM

I Bought the Tetris, The controls on this game are a disaster, I dont even know how they released a game like this, Iam mad, I feel robbed, just like when I bough Shack Fu for my genesis

PSWii360 Fanbot @ Sep 13th 2006 7:57PM

Info to be released this morning in Japan

Gameboy games downloaded onto the Wii will be downloadable onto a memory card for the DS. The memory card will fit into the GBA slot. GBA games are also going to be considered. Up to 100 separate games will fit onto one cart. As a plus, these games will be playable on your Wii. Price $1.99 - $4.99

Wait for it........

page @ Sep 13th 2006 8:01PM

I think some may in fact get rid of their Nintendo DS since the iPod games are about on par with that systems games (simplistic), you just have a scroll wheel instead of a itsy bitsy stylus. Not much of a trade off and you can still believe you're "revolutionary" or "newgen" because well a wheel or wii'el is so um.... the games are certainly cheaper.

Spuky @ Sep 13th 2006 8:06PM

i think that the 3 conferences are going to reveal launch dates of every region, and prices too, so my guesses are:

Japan:
- Launch: November 5
- Price: i dont know about japanese prices, around $200 us dollars i think
- big announcement: the SD card reader under the flap is actually where you put the DS cartidges so you can play DS games in your Wii. Fire Emblem coming at end of year

America:
- Launch: October 27
- Price: Two versions: a $200 with WiiSports bundled, and a $250 with WiiSports, a classic controller, and 3 virtual console games
- big announcement: They have a team working in the translation of games for the virtual console, so in the next year we are going to be playing Mother in our Wiis, and Sin&Punishment(a N64 game, that looks very cool), and Nintendo makes another alliance, and can play neo-geo games(ok, thats my wishiful thinking, but damn i want to play KOF 98 using that classic controller!)

Europe:
-Launch: December 12
- Price: 200 Euros, or 175 in england moolah(sorry, i know that those price are very high, but you know the funky conversion sistem that all the big gaming companies use)
- Big announcement: PAL-ized versions of old games, thanks to the VC, also...err...i dont know, free slurpees or something

Spuky @ Sep 13th 2006 8:07PM

im sorry that i posted that in here, that was meant to be in the prediction post. im sorry, very sorry

can you forgive me, joystiq?

swampdonkey @ Sep 13th 2006 8:09PM

I picked up Bejeweled for the iPod. Great version of Bejeweled. More like Bejeweled 2 then the original. It plays pretty well. The iPod is no mouse or d-pad, but its far from bad. What is impressive is the animations are pulled right from the Windows version of Bejeweled 2. Who would have though that an iPod could play games with good animations.

Colour me impressed. If this is a sign of things to come, then the iPod could have some great casual titles.

Mike @ Sep 13th 2006 8:13PM

I bought Tetris, and after some initial confusion and trouble, I really like the controls. Occasionally my finger will brush the scroll wheel and the block will go off of where I wanted it, but overall definitely a satisfying experience.

The music seemed like complete shit though, kind of like a techno remixed 10 second sample of the original theme that just loops, but you can play your own music while playing Tetris and still get the sound effects.

Overall I think it was worth it, though 5 bucks is fairly steep.

Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 8:12PM

So add another handheld that will beat the DS in sales LOL.

I guess DS is the #2 handheld games machine worldwide now in one fell swoop.

Grant @ Sep 13th 2006 8:16PM

Bill, if this counts as a "games machine", then I guess every cell phone in the world does too, right? Come on.

Grant @ Sep 13th 2006 8:18PM

page, that's one of the craziest fucking posts I've ever seen. You don't have to be a Nintendo acolyte to realize that there's a world of difference between stylus control and a click wheel. That's like saying you could use a click wheel to operate your PC just as easily as you could use a mouse. Ridiculous...

striderhayasa @ Sep 13th 2006 8:20PM

Ipod games good enough to replace my DS? Surely you people jest. When I can get games as good as Metroid Prime Hunters, Mario Kart, Castlevania or FFIII on an Ipod come talk to me. Until then, it's no rap.

For that matter when I can get a Monster Hunter or Syphon Filter or Armored Core on an Ipod then I'm sold. Ipod replace my DS or my PSP for gaming, puuuhleeeeze.

mike s @ Sep 13th 2006 8:24PM

I bought zuma and pacman.

DO NOT BUY PACMAN! The controls are horrible. You turn by applying pressure on the wheel. However, if you push too hard, you risk exiting the game.
Again, the controls for pacman are horrible, don't get it right now.

Zuma, however, is an amazing game on the iPod.

V1L3 @ Sep 13th 2006 8:40PM

That DOES raise a good point though. At what point do we consider the iPod a gaming device, to the extent that we compare its sales to the DS and PSP?

Granted the iPod isn't soley a gaming device, but then neither is the PSP. The PSP and the iPod share as much in common as the PSP and the DS, but we don't compare the sales charts of the former.

Total sales of the iPod would put the DS and PSP to shame, but since only the newer models can play games, you could only count sales of those models.

At any rate, yes - at this point, I consider this to be on the same level as cell phone gaming. There's nothing I saw in that video that I would consider a better use of my time than poking myself in the eye with a pencil - not to mention an equivalent level of pain.

But if the demand is high, you can bet Apple's next iteration of the iPod will be more devoted to gaming. You're naiive if you think Apple haven't been keeping a close eye on the portable gaming market, waiting for an opening.

Would they succeed? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if you think it'd be a stretch to imagine a formerly non-games oriented company like Apple coming in and sweeping the rug out from under the two major players, just remember... Sony did it to Sega and Nintendo.

ipod linux!! @ Sep 13th 2006 8:43PM

Does anyone here realize that they could get essentially the same games for free with ipod linux??? You can even play gb roms and doom , DOOM!!!!!

...poor misguided fools...

Bill @ Sep 13th 2006 8:46PM

I'm just interested in two politically correct companies (Apple and Nintendo) possibly duking it out.

That would be fun to see.

I kinda think gaming is a natural way for Ipod to expand too. Steve Jobs has got to be looking at DS massive sales and be a wee bit jealous. If Ipod already has the horsepower then it's a no brainer to expand that way at least to some extent.

And then maybe the gaming companies go the other way and start infringing on Ipod territory with more multimedia capabilities? Might as well.

cal @ Sep 13th 2006 9:07PM

Once ds gets the mp3 player, I'll throw the iPod I never bought out the window.

PSWii360 Fanbot @ Sep 13th 2006 9:26PM

You know what would be better?

Downloading Gamboy games onto your virtual console for the Wii. The games could then be downloaded to your DS and stored on a memory card that fits into the GBA slot. GBA games could also be downloaded. Up to 100 games could be put onto one cart depending on the size. In addition, those games could be played on your Wii in muliplayer mode online. Games from $1.99 to $4.99. Sweet

ogvor @ Sep 13th 2006 10:55PM

ilounge has a great article about the ipod games they tried at the event. Then said games like Tetris and pac man dont work well with the controls, but the Apple developed Vortex is made for the control scheme.

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/ipod-gaming-great-idea-good-av-bad-controls/

shoop008 @ Sep 13th 2006 11:12PM

I don't understand why people are excited about this. You are paying $5 for a game with mostly horrible controls that you can play for free on hundred's of flash games sites. These are crappy games that maybe should be sold as a 20 game set for 5 dollars.

digitalrift @ Sep 14th 2006 12:49AM

I don't know why everybody is up in a fuss about the price. Cell phone games are anywhere from $6-$12 and the quality on them are terrible. I haven't tried these games for myself so I can't speak on their quality, but at least they look like they play well.

chuckles @ Sep 14th 2006 2:29AM

I purchased Pacman and it's actually pretty fun. The control take a little getting used to but after 5 minutes I got the hang of it. I'd like to buy Zuma but I can't justify another $5 dollar iPod game in my mind when I have a new DS Lite just sitting there. Now if Id released Doom for the iPod I would buy that right away. BTW I know you can play Doom on the iPod with iPodlinux/Rockbox, it would just be cool to have it officially released.

Galley @ Sep 14th 2006 8:38AM

Don't be dissin' simple control schemes. AcidSolitaire for the Palm has the most brilliant control scheme I've ever used. Pressing down automatically selects the best move, (or the next card). Pressing up is undo. The select button selects stuff, and that's all you need!
http://www.red-mercury.com/product_acidsolitaire_palm.html