Features

Hands-on with Game Center in iOS 7

The green felt has gone!

Hands-on with Game Center in iOS 7
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iOS

As you probably already know by now, Apple is using the upcoming release of iOS 7 as an excuse to completely redesign the outdated UI of its iPhone and iPad.

The Cupertino company has overhauled all of the apps that come pre-installed on every smartphone and tablet it ships, too.

Yes, including the Game Center app.

Here's what Apple's Xbox Live-esque social gaming app looks like in iOS 7, which should be available to download this autumn.

The first thing you'll notice when you fire up Game Center in iOS 7 is the absence of skeuomorphism. You see, Apple has - thankfully - ditched the obnoxious green felt and that shiny wood effect in Game Center v2.0.

In place of those oft-derided visual metaphors is a clean white background and several colourful bubbles. Yay.
Game Center

Tap on the 'Friends' bubble (or the 'Friends' tab at the bottom of your device's display), and you'll be taken to your friends list. From here, you can view the list of your current buddies.

Here, you can also view any friend requests you may have received, and check out Game Center's friend recommendations.

If you tap on one of your current friends, you're instantly transported to his profile.

On your friend's profile are three coloured bubbles. These indicate the number of games your buddy's played, the amount of achievement points he's earned, and how many friends he has.



As always, the 'Games' tab enables you to view a long list of the Game Center-supported titles that you've played on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Game recommendations are listed here, too.

Anyway. Tap on a specific game, and you're taken straight to its very own profile-like page, from where you can rate it and 'Like' it in Facebook.

From this page, you can also check out the game's leaderboards (if it has some), see what achievements you still need to unlock, and find out if any of your friends are also playing it.

You can get more info on a specific achievement just by tapping on it. If you've already unlocked an achievement, you can share your 'victory' with the rest of the world via text, email, Facebook, and Twitter.


By pressing on the 'Challenge' tab, you can - surprise, surprise - view any challenges you've received from your friends.

To see a challenge in more detail, simply tap on it. You'll be taken to a screen from where you can either take up the gauntlet or, err, not.

If you don't have already have the game needed to complete the challenge, you will be prompted to download it from the App Store via an on-screen bubble.


Finally, there's the 'Turns' tab. I can't really show you much of this tab today - it's a pretty barren wasteland given that iOS 7 isn't available to the general public yet.

This tab will house all of your alerts from any asynchronous turn-based titles (like Disc Drivin' and Scrabble) that you have downloaded on your iOS-powered gadgets.

Well, we presume so, anyway.

Anthony Usher
Anthony Usher
Anthony is a Liverpool, UK-based writer who fell in love with gaming while playing Super Mario World on his SNES back in the early '90s. When he isn't busy grooming his beard, you can find him replaying Resident Evil or Final Fantasy VII for the umpteenth time. Aside from gaming, Anthony likes hiking, MMA, and pretending he’s a Viking.