And You Thought It Was Just A Phone...
by Matt Fox
June 2, 2009
The App Store first appeared last year on July 10, 2008. It's been almost a year since it's arrival and it got me to thinking: How many games are currently available for download now? I was shocked when I found out the answer to that question... over 6000!
Wow! I couldn't believe it. In less than a year, this "phone", has become one of the biggest gaming devices around. That is a staggering number of games to choose from. I mean let's compare the iPhone to what is currently out there right now.
The Playstation 3 has a little over 400 games, either out right now, or announced for the near future. The XBOX 360? A little over 600... still pretty low when compared to the App Store, right? And in my opinion the App Store's biggest competitor, the Nintendo DS also has around 600 games currently available or announced as well.
In less than a year we have over 6000 games? That really is an amazing number of titles to choose from. Now, I know what some of you are about to say, a lot of games are pretty sub-par and made by inexperienced developers. Couple that with the "copycat" games and yeah, you can disregard a large portion of that number.
So let's say we eliminate half of that number for poor quality games or for whatever other reason you'd like. Well, that still leaves you with 3000 titles. No other device or console out right now can even come close to that number. Not even close. That's quite an accomplishment in only a year and I can only imagine what that number will be in 2010.
App Pick of the Week
So this week I have a music kind of game called Balls. It is currently free so go and check it out. Basically there are a bunch of colored balls that you flick around the screen with your finger. Each one makes a different sound and the point is just to create music. It's a fun time killer and you can customize just about everything from the colors to the size of the balls.
Retro Game of the Week
First things first, congratulations to Odin1Eye for guessing the Sega CD game, Tomcat Alley last week. Actually that game was running for three weeks straight without anyone guessing it, so again, nice job Odin1Eye.
This week I have one that might be easy, but maybe not. Either way, see if this picture rings any bells. As always, name the game and the system it was on. See you next week!