The LA Times ran a great piece by Chris O’Brien today on the experience of using MFi game controllers, and on how they could be foreshadowing the direction Apple will take with the Apple TV.
Chris O’Brien at LA Times says:
With sales of iPads potentially flattening out, analysts have been itching for the company to do more to leverage the ecosystem of users it has built. And one of the most tantalizing prospects for doing that is the increasingly popular Apple TV.
This stealth hit has brought in $1 billion in hardware and software sales in the last year. Now it seems like there is enormous opportunity for Apple to expand Apple TV by turning it into a gaming hub as well as a media streaming device.
[… SteelSeries chief executive Bruce] Hawver is optimistic. And he notes that Apple likes to take its time to make sure the technology is developing in a way that pleases users and leads to high-quality experiences. He’s hoping the company has learned enough, and likes what it’s seen of controllers using iOS 7 to make that leap to putting games on the next version of Apple TV.
The entire article is worth a read (and it links to AfterPad!), but the general conclusion is that while MFi controllers on iPhones and iPads are nice, the entire thing seems like a great opportunity for further developing the Apple TV.
Personally, this has always been my belief. If Apple didn’t have bigger plans for hardware-controlled gaming, they wouldn’t have bothered with implementing controller support. In my opinion, the entire MFi controller program is probably a public beta of something far larger.
The HD âreimaginingâ of the classic puzzle-platformer Prince of Persia 2 has been updated with further bug fixes.
Both Standard and Extended layout controllers are supported here, though movement is handled via the d-pad on all controllers; analog sticks are not supported.
This mobile remake of the classic game includes updated graphics and less frustrating gameplay, which should make it more accessible to new players. While many of the classic, challenging, memorable moments of the original are missing in this updated version, platforming game fans will still find something to enjoy in what’s here.
Episodic adventure in the action-FPS-RPG universe, coming this summer
For this first time ever, screenshots from the upcoming Telltale Games developed Borderlands adventure game spinoff are available, and they look very, very good. Tales from the Borderlands appears to absolutely nail the art style from the original shooter games – no surprise, considering Telltale themselves used a similar art style for their Walking Deadgames.
Controller support for the iOS port of Tales from the Borderlands has not been specifically announced yet. However, all of Telltale’s post-iOS7 games have supported MFi controllers thus far, so there is no reason to assume they’re neglecting it here.
Screenshots
Telltale Games says:
Today we would like to release the first ever screenshots from our upcoming episodic game series, Tales from the Borderlands, premiering for download later this summer.
In the first round of screenshots, players get a closer look at the upcoming series set on Pandora AFTER the events of the critically-acclaimed Borderlands 2 from Gearbox Software and 2K Games.
Featuring two playable characters, the story is told from two unique perspectives that will alternate as the story progresses. These characters include Rhys, a scheming, low-level data-miner within Hyperion who’s plotting his own grand ambitions; and Fiona, a clever and classic fast-talking con-artist born and raised on Pandora out to pull off the grift of a lifetime.
While they themselves aren’t vault hunters, both Rhys and Fiona will also come across vault hunters such as Zer0 and other characters from the world of Borderlands 2 throughout the series, as all events in Tales from the Borderlands will be part of the official Borderlands story canon.
Galaxoid, a Space Invaders / Galaga style arcade space shooter, has been updated for MFi controller support.
The gameplay in Galaxoid should be immediately familiar to any gamer who’s had the pleasure of visiting an arcade: control your ship at the bottom of the screen by moving left and right to dodge bullets, while at the same time firing your own shots at waves of enemies.
There is a reason some game designs become classics
Controller support in Galaxoid is well implemented, but must be manually enabled in the Options menu. After doing that, however, the game controls quite well. If you’re a fan of classic arcade games, and are looking for something like that to play with a controller on your iPhone or iPad, Galaxoid is a great choice.
Zombie Gunship Arcade – previously announced as an April Fools joke, then subsequently revealed to be a real game – is now available for all your side-scrolling zombie shooting needs!
Gameplay in Zombie Gunship Arcade is fairly straightforward. This game is part of the wave of Flappy-Bird-Inspired arcade games. That means difficult, reflex-based timing with one-button gameplay. For Zombie Gunship Arcade, that means tapping the button to fire your guns and elevate your ship, mowing down waves of zombies beneath you, and attempting to avoid shooting the innocent humans below.
While this gameplay seems superficially easy at first, you’ll quickly realize how false that is. Firing your gun to elevate your ship high enough, while at the same time not hitting the human characters below, requires timing and precision just as delicate as avoiding walls in Flappy Bird.
Shoot down at zombies to propel your plane up – just like real life!
As a Flappy Bird style reflex-based arcade game, you pretty much know what you’re getting with Zombie Gunship Arcade. The use of humans on the ground instead of walls in the air provides some welcome variety to the genre, but if you’ve long ago burned out on everything Flappy, it’s unlikely this game will change your mind. However, Zombie Gunship Arcade is polished, fun, and free to download. If it seems entertaining to you, there’s nothing to lose by giving it a try.
Editor’s Note:
Zombie Gunship Arcade also has the distinction of being the 300th game with MFi controller support! Perhaps it’s fitting that a Flappy-Bird-style game should get that honor…
With all said and done, the journey to 300 games took approximately 6 months. New games hit the store every week, with multiple compatible games generally hitting on Wednesday evening. Pricing of these games runs the gamut, with about half of the available games free or freemium, and the other half running between $.99 and $16, representing a fairly large spread.
Throughout the journey to 300 games, threemajorcontrollers have been released, each from a different company. In addition, even more controllers have been announced, to be available for sale in the coming months. Both SteelSeries and Moga have confirmed strong sales of existing hardware.
With WWDC on the horizon for June, the future for hardcore gaming on iOS seems bright. Many of Apple’s best engineers are working on an expanded Apple TV, presumably with game support. Apple’s controller hardware partners have announced major new products in the pipeline. The flow of new games with controller support is not drying up – if anything, it’s accelerating.
Afterpad was started a short 3 months ago, and in that time we’ve posted over 150 reviews, release notes, or links. We’ve broken major stories and cataloged every game. And we’re not slowing down.
I hope everyone reading this has enjoyed the work done for this site. And I hope you’ll join me on the journey to the next 300 games.
Jared Nelson at TouchArcade reveals that Limbic Studios, creators of the popular Zombie Gunship game, have a new side-scrolling interpretation of their zombie-shooting formula in the works, to be released on Thursday.
…This past April 1st, Limbic announced in our forums that Zombie Gunship Arcadeâa side-scrolling, 2D, “de-make” of their hit titleâwas in the works. As the story went, a catastrophic event with a soft-serve ice cream machine ruined all of Limbic’s equipment, and they didn’t have any backups of their work. So, the best they could do to get things back up and running on short notice was a simplified, retro-fied version of Zombie Gunship.
Well, it turned out that the whole announcement was just an April Fool’s joke⦠or at least, that’s what Limbic wanted you to believe. They’ve just sent word that Zombie Gunship Arcade is in fact a real game, and it’s coming this Thursday.
Zombie Gunship Arcade appears to bring zombie shooting to a Flappy-Bird-style game design, with the associated touch-jumping. MFi controller support will be included as well; with any luck, that means controller support might eventually be on the table for the original Zombie Gunship games as well.
Hit the source link to read more about this one, or follow us to be notified when Zombie Gunship Arcade hits the App Store.
Modern side scrolling shoot-em-up Trisector was just updated with improved controller support! Specifically, controller sensitivity was greatly improved, with more natural movement controls and clarified settings.
Classic shoot-em-up action
One particularly interesting this about this update does not appear in the release notes: the review time. This update spent approximately 2 days from submission to Apple to appearing on the store – an extremely short review time by any standard. Hopefully this represents a lasting change from Apple – the previous review time of 7-9 days wasn’t bad, but 2 days is significantly better for developers.
Anyways, fans of shoot-em-up games should definitely give Trisector a download. It’s a lot of fun, and features great controller support.
After a brief absence from the App Store, Spectre 3D is available once more!
The original Spectre was one of the first games to ever really engross me when I was a kid – I have many fond memories of playing it on my old Mac Plus.
This updated version of Spectre made number 1 on my list of classic Mac games you can play with a controller, against some strong competition. Give this one a download while you can. It’s an excellent update of a true classic from the golden age of Mac gaming.
