Pocket Gamer Community Spotlight - April 12th
You talk. We listen.
We know you lot aren't shy in coming forward with your opinions. Believe it or not, we read every comment, Tweet, and Facebook message. Sometimes we'll even respond to them.
The Pocket Gamer community spirit is fantastic, and to celebrate that we've started running a new weekly feature based on you, and everything you've got to say.
Here are some of our picks.
After years of waiting, Oculus Rift finally launched, but things didn't quite go to plan. Not all pre-orders were fulfilled, and many people have been left wondering when their headset is going to actually arrive.
Our VR editor, Jake Tucker asked the question, 'Is the launch a disaster?'
And there's definitely been some interesting points raised in response.
Maria da Cunha offered her own surprising story. 'They canceled my pre-order without explanation. I hate Oculus!'Though Sven Viking was quick to point out that 'It's possible you were wrongly identified as a scalper. If you contact support, they'll usually reinstate erroneously cancelled orders.'
Apocolyptica has a theory. 'There have been examples of gaming consoles deliberately having short supply to create hype and more demand when they first come out.'Is this a way to get more people talking about VR, keeping Oculus in the headlines? Then again, with the publicity being mostly negative, surely the company would rather meet demand as opposed to being seen failing to deliver?
Leo Cabellos also pointed out that isn't a problem exclusive to Oculus 'Isn’t the Vive also backordered? Meaning that, at its own launch, you won't be able to get any of them, either?'That's certainly a possibility, and with PS VR also selling extremely well you have to wonder if that will encounter similar problems later this year.
He continues. 'The hype is just too big for *anyone* to keep up with right now, and early reports are that the Rift is pretty close to "plug and play", a significant upgrade from the dev kits. If their biggest problem is that their product is selling out too damn fast...heck, I want their problems.'
While he certainly makes a good point, competition has suddenly become extremely fierce in the VR space. At one point, it seemed like Oculus Rift was the only headset anyone knew about, but now that there are a plethora of options, are people willing to wait?
Wade Carpenter drew our attention to an email that the Oculus team sent out to their supporters: 'We know you're anxious to receive your Oculus Rift and apologize for not updating your order status sooner. We've been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers. We're working hard to get up-to-date ship windows, and you should expect to see your order status updated on our website by Tuesday, April 12. Although many Rifts will be arriving on schedule and in line with original estimates, we'll be covering shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today.'Sounds like they're working to rectify any problems, but we'll certainly be keeping our eyes on this developing story. And, of course, your thoughts on it.
Free to Play Games always bring out a variety of colourful opinions and regular freelancer Matt Thrower talked a bit about them in a new article this week.
He believes they're not all bad, and even highlights all the good things some do and others should be doing.
PanurgeJr has an alternative point of view. 'We can go back in time, convince Apple to support developers, and resist the race to the bottom pricing it allowed in the App Store, and then F2P would never have existed.'I'm not sure that's completely true. F2P feels like a model which would have always emerged at some point due to the way developing games have evolved. Was it accelerated by Apple's influence on the market? Almost certainly, but that wouldn't have been the only factor in the rise of F2P.
Chaos Envoys went a step further. 'Just don't support F2P with bad mechanics. Nowadays, I play mobile games less and less because it's just full of F2P crap.'F2P certainly has a bigger influence on mobile than any other platform, and microtransactions rear their head in premium releases as well as free downloads.
I have noticed, though, that recent games have made their IAP more like optional extras, and there is increased generosity in what they give you out of the box. Look, for instance, at Miitomo, Disney Crossy Road and Clash Royale. You can play these games for extended periods of time without paying a penny.
This strategy is more likely to encourage someone to invest and put money into a product because they've been given a whole lot of something for absolutely nothing. And if they still don't want to invest, they can earn their way to the things they want, even if it takes that much longer.
Her Story won big at the BAFTAs last week, taking home Best Mobile Game, Best Debut Game and Best Innovation. It was also the only mobile game to win at the illustrious award ceremony.
PGGamer quickly flew in to say 'And that just gave me the best reason to buy this. I'm marking out.' RodgerRodger thought it was 'An interesting choice...I loved Her Story, but it plays so much better on PC. The game is played from the perspective of someone sitting at a PC.' Ailan Hidaz is more upset at the fact that 'the developer is refusing to launch the game on Android.'Sam Barlow didn't actually said that. In fact, last we heard he was looking into it but did say that ‘it might be tricky because of Unity + Video + Android.'
Don’t give up hope just yet!
Pocket Gamer finally finished the Top 100 Mobile Games Ever list. We combed through every mobile release over the last ten years, and somehow whittled it down to just 100 games. That - in itself - feels like an impressive achievement.
But as with any list we certainly seem to have upset one or two people with the exclusion of their favourite game.
Here's a few of your suggestions
Arcane said 'WTF?! You didn't include Sorcery!? I kept thinking that it would be in the top 10 but leaving that game is just plain stupid. Also, no Vainglory and Critical Ops? This list is ok at best.' Matt Spall added. 'Bluetooth Biplanes? It won a BAFTA and a Develop Award.' Rahman Hakim on YouTube was also a bit disappointed. 'No detective grimoire, shadowgun, zenonia series and many more…'Some people were just surprised by how many of their favourite games exist on mobile. Like Charles Preston, for instance. 'My reaction to this video. Machinarium is on iOS? Super Hexagon is on iOS? Plants vs Zombies is on iOS? ...etc, etc, etc..'
Townkiller was a bit more diplomatic with his thoughts. 'Don't agree with some of the top 20 games and would have added others, but going through the list I've played a good amount of these and can attest that they are spectacular games.'Ultimately, that's what this is about. We're certain some great games are missing from the list, but we feel there's a strong balance in this lineup, featuring recent titles, as well as games that ushered in the mobile gaming era during its infancy.
Everyone has their favourites, and it's great to see people passionately coming out and drawing attention to the games they love. Truly, we're completely spoiled for choice.
Thank you for all your comments, suggestions, and other feedback. We love reading them - however and wherever you choose to express yourself - that’s why we’ve decided to put all this together. In our next Community Spotlight, we'll be giving away FOUR Retro City Rampage DX codes to some of our lucky readers based on their contributions. So make sure to have your say on the website, our YouTube Channel, Twitter, wherever. We'll be paying close attention and our four favourite comments will bag themselves a free code!
