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Battle For The App Store

    Hey, everyone. First of all let me apologize to the I-Pad folks who could not see my squirrel video. It was not in the proper format for I-Pad viewing, I suppose. You can go to your PC and watch it. It did not appear on Pulse, either.
    I am on the app store quite a bit and I find it intriguing to watch the shifting tides. Let me expound a little on its subtleties. With the review system, buyers have a lot of power to control some things, which is good. I have watched game developers put out updates for games that, rather than enhance the game, inserted adds on a game that people have already paid for. They were dumped on pretty good for it too. There have been a few games where it was apparent that developers had their employees and relatives pad the reviews to get a better rating. Working the system, I think it's called.
     The recent innovation of In-App-Purchases is the coming thing. They sell you a game. Then you have to shell out more money to get new levels, weapons, or 'unlocks'. Whatever. What we have here is a battle for 'our' app store. The concept of an app store was and is, extremely cool and innovative. It enabled small operations, even garage operations to have a shot at the big time money. There have been numerous success stories and that's great. Before, if you had a brilliant idea, you'd have to go through a process of borrowing money, developing the game, packaging, marketing etc. I think it fair to say that this process stifled creativity and many primo games were lost in someone's living room dream.  But there is that certain cadre of people who are not satisfied with mega-bucks. They want the app store to be like the rest of the gaming industry. They want you to shell out $40 to $50 for each game. They think that if they raise prices gradually they can soon bring the app store into line with other systems. These people look with horror at free games. They wake up in the middle of night in a cold sweat. Their wives say, "Honey, what's wrong?" They reply in a shaky voice, "Nothing, dear. I just had a nightmare about a really great game that was selling for $.99 on the app store. It was a horrible dream. I stood there watching my Mercedes, the chalet in Aspen and buckets of money falling into this abyss as the common people were laughing and playing their new game. Could you bring me a shot of bourbon?"
     I buy a lot of games on the app store and I've paid as much as $9.99 for some of them. I think it would be good for us to watch ourselves lest we lose that which is best about the app store. The app store, when you think about it, is kind of democratic. It's like "Whosoever will" can submit a game. On it's own merits it can succeed or fail. Look at the 14 year old who put out Bubble Ball. It hit numero uno on the free apps list. By the way, I've played it and it's fun. Or how about Doodle Jump, which some people drew out on graph paper and threw out there. It was $.99 but garnered millions of downloads.
    The store and its nuances will be watched with interest, here at the author's green retreat. I'm CE Wills.

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