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Nearly two hours long but worth the effort. If you register with fora.tv, you can download an MP4 of the talk. Related posts: Dear Esther – 14th Feb 2012 8/100 Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference AndroidGuys mix it up with GTalk web app Upcoming nerdiness
Nearly two hours long but worth the effort.
If you register with fora.tv, you can download an MP4 of the talk.
From CNNMoney.com 77% of iPhone owners say they’ll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they’ll buy another Android phone. I’ll address these as the result of two separate things. SOFTWARE LOCK-IN Software lock-in on the iPhone is high for most people. Once you’re in there with Angry Birds, Plants vs … Continue reading “iPhone vs Android: software lock-in and halo effect”
77% of iPhone owners say they’ll buy another iPhone, compared to 20% of Android customers who say they’ll buy another Android phone.
I’ll address these as the result of two separate things.
SOFTWARE LOCK-IN
Software lock-in on the iPhone is high for most people. Once you’re in there with Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies and any of the other paid-for iPhone apps, you’re going to suffer from an unconscious lock-in. This hasn’t really occurred on Android initially because of it’s slow adoption but more recently because it’s still not possible to actually be paid in many countries if you’re a developer which is slowing adoption as well. And because the good paid apps aren’t there, normal people aren’t buying them which is again reducing the lock-in.
Software lock-in (essentially meaning the ability to transfer your software to other similar devices but not other platforms) is working well for iPhone but is currently worthless on Android. Software lock-in is not a bad thing in itself – it can’t be used as an argument for or against any mobile platforms because all of them practise lock-in – but it has an effect.
For example, this is my page of folders on iOS:
Every one of those folders is an incentive to stay with iPhone. Primarily because there’s some good fun in there but also because my kids are really happy to be distracted by lots of different colourful games when we’re waiting in the car or during a long journey. Therefore I get additional lock-in pressure from my kids.
HALO EFFECT
In the office where I’m based there are six people. When I started there, one had an iPhone (me!). The others had a variety of Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. Now, two years later there are five iPhones and one Android device in use. (One of the individuals went to HTC Magic running Android from Blackberry and since then has had a iPhone 3GS and is now on an iPhone 4.) The one Android device left here in the office is a HTC Hero still running Android 1.5. I would describe this as a Halo effect. Different to the common Halo effect (easily described as the effect of buying one device with an Apple logo meaning you buy a lot more), this is showing that experiences with the device are leading to others buying the device. This is partially related to software lock-in; people are interested in getting the same software as you.
For the record, the one Android device will apparently disappear from this office when the contract ends. This is not a good trend for Android.
I, myself, have bought each iPhone as it has been released (I’m still waiting for my iPhone 4 to arrive) but despite my interest in Android, I’ve yet to buy any hardware. This is entirely because the hardware churn in Android is extremely rapid which means there never seems to be a good time to buy. With the iPhone, you know there’ll be a new model every June but with Android, there’s a new model with slightly tweaked specifications coming out every month or so. And some of them have Android 2.1 and some have earlier versions of the OS but I’m expecting Android 2.2 – hence my reticence to buy now. The minimum specifications for Android seem to be rising and some features (such as the ballyhooed Flash) do not run on sub 1 GHz devices so this is again putting me off – 1 GHz has become the new minimum and currently shipping devices don’t seem to be exceeding this. Where’s the high end device?
All of this contributes to a ecology where Android is selling briskly (helped by Buy One, Get One Free tricks – also used by RIM but never by Apple) but that people are not returning to Android as a whole. It’s something that Google needs to resolve. And Nokia needs to respond as well – though they may have sold 10x the number of handsets as Apple, Apple is making more than 10x the amount of profit (creating a factor of nearly 100 difference between the companies). iPhone with it’s singular presentations (ignoring the current ‘legacy’ iPhone 3GS still being sold) is a clear marketing position. Nokia still produces dozens and dozens of different models. This is why iPhones in cafés are so recognisable but it’s so hard to identify the market share for any other individual model of phone. This contributes to the Halo effect I mention above. You can easily spot people using iPhones (and due to the dearth of ringtones, hear them). How about the frequency of spotting any other model or brand of phone?
While we wait with bated breath for the release of Game Center which will undoubtedly hurt early AppStore pioneers in social gaming (like OpenFeint or Plus+), I believe that Apple needs to grow up a little more and provide a little more of a sense of ‘game‘ rather than ‘app‘. This morning I spent a … Continue reading “Apple needs to man-up if they’re going after Games”
While we wait with bated breath for the release of Game Center which will undoubtedly hurt early AppStore pioneers in social gaming (like OpenFeint or Plus+), I believe that Apple needs to grow up a little more and provide a little more of a sense of ‘game‘ rather than ‘app‘.
This morning I spent a little time trying to track down a clone of Gauntlet on the AppStore that might run on iPad or multiplayer across multiple iPhones. The only one which seemed to come close was “The Relic” by Chillingo which is coming up on a year late. There are other games out there like Dark Raider, Catacombs or Shadow Edge but I can’t tell which of these games are going to be truly multiplayer – at least not in the way I want.
I think Apple need to look at how they present information for games. This, for instance, is simply not enough:
and this is also pitiful:
So we see the icon, the name, price, size, a vague-ish rating for the game content (which, if you remember the dawn of the AppStore, didn’t exist) and basic requirements for the hardware.
Compare this to Nintendo:
and Sony do even better:
You can see if this is a multiplayer game on the device, multiplayer over the internet, the specifications, the rating, the size. And they do it in a consistent way across all their games. And the multiplayer icons are the first things I look for in games – considering how irritating it is to have a good game and it not be multiplayer (though some games like Super Mario Galaxy have such a stunted second player option, you have to wonder if it was worthwhile).
Come on Apple, sort it out.
Earlier this week, I asked Games Developers to “Make Me Cry”. This video made me cry…with laughter. That, in itself is an achievement. Related posts: Onlive: Gaming in the Cloud review FSF integrity questioned, no-one surprised. OpenMoko FreeRunner: *sigh* FSF on iPhone 3G: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.
Earlier this week, I asked Games Developers to “Make Me Cry”. This video made me cry…with laughter.
That, in itself is an achievement.
At DevDays last week, Dermot Daly replied to a question about ‘other mobile platforms’ by saying that the amount of money changing hands on iPhone is enough for most people to consider but the important point is that the falloff in money when you go to other platforms is so severe that they’re not work … Continue reading “Why the iPhone still is #1 for business”
At DevDays last week, Dermot Daly replied to a question about ‘other mobile platforms’ by saying that the amount of money changing hands on iPhone is enough for most people to consider but the important point is that the falloff in money when you go to other platforms is so severe that they’re not work considering yet unless you already have a customer who’s willing to pay for the effort i.e. if there’s not enough money in iPhone then there’s definitely not enough money in any other platform.
But you also have to look at the engagement. Hyper-local review site Yelp state they have 32 million unique visitors from all sources and only 1.4 million of them were iPhone users which sounds tiny. But those 1.4 million users were responsible for 27% of Yelp searches, they make calls to businesses once every 5 seconds and nearly a million people used Yelp’s iPhone app to find directions to businesses in May.
So aim for deep engagement, aim for people to carry you around in their pocket, make it easy for people to use you and they will use you.
Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games View more presentations from Sebastian Deterding. Related posts: Games: Giving Credits Where They Are Due All I needed to know about games… Musing on the communication of culture 16 things…that take 50 years to learn
“in an effort to introduce plot, character development and narrative tension to games. They had realised that although their games are addictive, few are emotionally compelling. I’ve never seen a computer game that made me cry” – Professor Jenkins of MIT. (link) There must be games which are emotive (beyond Anger and Fear/Anticipation). Games have … Continue reading “Games Designers: Make Me Cry!”
“in an effort to introduce plot, character development and narrative tension to games. They had realised that although their games are addictive, few are emotionally compelling. I’ve never seen a computer game that made me cry” – Professor Jenkins of MIT. (link)
There must be games which are emotive (beyond Anger and Fear/Anticipation). Games have been able to make me feel anger or fear as I follow the plot but I wonder about the softer emotions (sadness, love).
Speaking with my wife about this, she reckons that the interactivity of games reduces the possibility that you’ll feel the softer emotions. In contrast, I’ll admit that movies have been able to make me feel softer emotions (the ending of Edward Scissorhands gets me every time and don’t even talk to me about The Notebook). It’s a combination of immersion in the story, empathy for the characters and the music and foreshadowing of the plot.
So, why can’t computer games make us cry?
Wired had an article in 2005 on the subject: Can a Game Make You Cry?
I could tell something was wrong as soon as I saw my friend’s eyes. It was back in 1997, and he’d been playing the recently released Final Fantasy VII. That afternoon, he’d gotten to a famously shocking scene in which Aerith, a beloved young magician girl, is suddenly and viciously murdered.
He looked like he’d lost a family member. “I’m just totally screwed up,” he confessed as he nursed a lukewarm beer at a local bar. Nearly all my friends were playing Final Fantasy VII too — so, one by one over the next week, they all hit the same scene, until every nerd I knew was sunk in a slough of despond.
I’ve never played FFVII but I have to wonder if this game is unique. And watching the scene, I guess you have to play it through to experience it.
Of course, they don’t make any yet, but they will. And I went for the retro Battlezone-type graphics because I have zero skill with Photoshop and Illustrator any more (never mind not having a copy that would run on Snow Leopard) so my varied tweets last night are generally about finding folk who can put … Continue reading “They Make Games”
Of course, they don’t make any yet, but they will. And I went for the retro Battlezone-type graphics because I have zero skill with Photoshop and Illustrator any more (never mind not having a copy that would run on Snow Leopard) so my varied tweets last night are generally about finding folk who can put together something for me (for a reasonable price).
The aim of the company (as you can tell from the Twitter profile) is to apply game-like experiences in mobile, mhealth and e-learning. I’ve a heap of ideas in this and my next steps will be to start to put together people who will be important to the development of the company.
Alien Salvage will be contributing to the Digital Circle-initiatived BLOC54 collaborative network focussing on the Games Development Industry in Northern Ireland.
For the last few days since Apple opened up the iPad AppStore internationally, I’ve been playing Mirror’s Edge for iPad. Mirror’s Edge was a 2007 First Person ‘Runner’ (as opposed to shooter) which made a bit of a splash and was bundled with the PS3 for a while (which means it can be found very … Continue reading “Mirror’s Edge for iPad: Spiritual Successor of Saboteur!”
For the last few days since Apple opened up the iPad AppStore internationally, I’ve been playing Mirror’s Edge for iPad.
Mirror’s Edge was a 2007 First Person ‘Runner’ (as opposed to shooter) which made a bit of a splash and was bundled with the PS3 for a while (which means it can be found very cheaply in most second-user Game Stores).
Personally I found the game relied on the PS3 gamepad too much which I find difficult to use so I never got past the demo before switching it off. On the other hand, I’ve been finding Mirror’s Edge for iPad to be extremely compelling but I think this might be cause it’s a bit more linear, the controls make a lot more sense (as well as being simpler) and I think it reminds me of some other games, like Saboteur! for instance. Released in 1985 by Durell, developed by Clive Townsend, it was extremely compelling though the video may seem old and outdated by our modern standards.
The aim of the game was to fight your way through a 2D maze and retrieve a floppy disk. How totally and utterly 1985! Looking at Mirror’s Edge for iPad, it’s not hard to see how this game could be revived and made extremely compelling. The same can be said for the Tomb Raider franchise, hint hint!
What makes Mirror’s Edge beautiful? There’s the lovely screen, the great perspective, the easily learned controls but there’s also a non-violent element as well. The character, Faith, defeats enemies by slide-tackling or jump-kicking them (as well as a nifty disarm) but there’s no gunplay. The story is not strong and poorly presented by a crawling text banner when an audio or video commentary would have been so much more appropriate but I find the replay value to be high and the Speed Run (where you attempt levels trying to get the fastest times possible) adds another level of competition. Speaking of competition, the single-iPad two-player version is good fun as well – but it’s screaming out for a WiFi co-op or competitive version.
So if anyone wants to remake Saboteur! (or the sequel which involved stealing punched tape), then I’d suggest you look at Mirror’s Edge for iPad before starting. If you’re overcome by nostalgia and want to re-play Saboteur!, then you can grab it from World of Spectrum.
A few years ago when we were feverishly playing PSone games on our Macs using Connectix’ Virtual Game Station, there was a rumour that not only was the Mac going to have a renaissance of games through Sony’s platform but Nintendo was also going to display their wares on the Mac considering the chip inside … Continue reading “Nintendo vs Apple”
A few years ago when we were feverishly playing PSone games on our Macs using Connectix’ Virtual Game Station, there was a rumour that not only was the Mac going to have a renaissance of games through Sony’s platform but Nintendo was also going to display their wares on the Mac considering the chip inside each GameCube was a PowerPC 750-based core. The 750 was also known, on the Mac, as the G3 and it shipped in several iBook and iMac models. Rumours were rife about a USB-based hardware dongle to provide the extra “Gecko” compatibility.
Of course it never happened. And that’s a shame as today we read this:
Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future” . – TimesOnline
How many copies of Super Mario World for iPhone would sell? How many copies of Mario Kart for iPad would sell? Do you think Nintendo could make money on Pokémon for iPhone? How about the rest of their game library?
In my opinion, Nintendo need to get away from selling little pieces of plastic in large plastic boxes. My kids have a great deal of difficulty managing the safety and care of these chips and I’m sure some of them have found their way into the bag of a vacuum cleaner. Get out that scam of selling plastic! There’s no need for it considering every DS Lite and DSi has had WiFi for years. So, yes, in three years Nintendo has been made to look like a dinosaur but declaring war is not the right thing to do.
Apple has proved to be a formidable company with 100 million iPhone OS devices out there in consumers hands in just under three years. The DS range (including the DSi, DSi XL) has sold 129 million devices since 2004.
Nintendo and Apple are not necessarily enemies and I find it simplistic for them to consider themselves to be enemies. Look at SEGA – which has brought Sonic, Golden Axe and Football Manager to the iPhone among others. These aren’t going to create the same revenues as selling Wii and DSi units – but it doesn’t have to be an either/or. However, burning your bridges is unwise.