Apple Arcade: Golden Delicious or Wormy to the Core?

https://www.apple.com/apple-arcade
https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-arcade
Sixty bucks a year is a good entry point for me; I have some concern this is a less than stealthy attempt to get me to upgrade my tech.
Who's into this?

I wasn’t interested until I saw there’s a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky in there and now it’s a definite yes for me. For the free first month at least!

have some concern this is a less than stealthy attempt to get me to upgrade my tech.

Apple has always been a dongle company. You want the software, you have to buy a new single. (In this case costing 1000 bucks and with an OLED screen)

a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky

Oh, so it turns out this is going to be on steam too. I thought their whole thing was that all apple arcade games were going to be exclusive to apple arcade?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frLeePH8W9Y

looks shite.

could be!
wondering if it's a better option than dropping five bucks in the app store on a monthly basis trying to hunt the wumpus tho.

One thing that does sell me on this is their requirement that the games be playable fully offline. I've got little to no signal for around 75% of my weekly commute and it's amazing how many games which have no online component at all still refuse to boot up if you're not connected.

i don't think any of the games that are related to existing games are exclusive or i would have heard more people complaining about it. maybe some are launch exclusive.

I think what's been said is that the games are *mobile* exclusives, but I don't think that counts Switch.

mostly relishing the opportunity to not deal with paywall bullshit

Managed to sign up today, couple of days early because I’m running the ios13 beta. It’s instantly overwhelming, I’ve ended up just semi-randomly plucking out half a dozen titles to try.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-09-16-heres-every-game-launching-as-part-of-apple-arcade-this-thursday

jim what hardware are you running it on and how fast does it play? do you have to download the games fully to use them?

also:
https://www.macworld.com/article/3410287/how-to-pair-a-ps4-dualshock-4-controller-with-iphone-or-ipad.html

I’m still on an iPhone 6S! And everything I’ve tried so far runs perfectly, which I didn’t expect tbh. And yep, they download fully just like any other app.

The dual shock thing was the reason I installed the beta In the first place, it works really well and makes some previously unplayable games viable again (fortnite, gta, etc)

Oh wow didn’t expect this at all but Sayonara Wild Hearts is now my favourite game of 2019.

WHAT THE GOLF? starts out stupid, gets stupider, and then eventually encompasses the entire history of video game genres and mechanics.

live for ipad now with ios13.1; will be test driving a free month starting tonight methinks

oh hai
Card of Darkness is a CCG game by Zach Gage and Pendleton Ward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTvaD0O-YD4

^this is great btw

SOLD. But man I’ve scrolled through the arcade list many times already and don’t recall ever seeing this pop up at all, feels like curation is going to be an ongoing problem.

yeah, i am relying on external websites to navigate this thing. I think this thread (please?) and this forum are gonna be my go-tos for awhile
https://toucharcade.com/community/forums/apple-arcade/

apple’s ability to just show you the list of things you have available based on your paid plan is is horrible, if the apple tv channels functionality is any indicator

What the Golf is a total treat; goofy physics engine fun with lots of terrible puns and surprising depth. I'm impressed.

Patterned is a super chill jigsaw puzzle game that you can play basically forever.

Dang, Grindstone is addictive! Totally the kind of thing that would be unplayable as F2P shit but so good with all the timers and options opened up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26UtmuqU37Q

Grindstone is severely addictive; i hit a stopping point then worked out a different approach and am really enjoying now.
on first play, pinball wizard seems sort of perfect?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrXQBIE6_wM

so far this is a pretty great value if you have an ipad. less interesting on phone.

Card of darkness plays fine on the phone for me, what else do you need

bumping this as a reminder that it has a pile of timewasters for five bucks a month if that's what you or your children need.
https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/iosapps/best-games-apple-arcade-3694157/

Hmmmmmmmm..... maybe.

I still have it. Roundguard is the best of the new ones I've played, but I think you can get it elsewhere too.

Grindstone is pretty dang good. Looked it up and realized it's the same developer as hidden DS gem Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, which makes a ton of sense.

Surprised this wasn't the game involving Pendleton Ward!

Only tried a handful of other games but so far it does seem like an excellent value for the $5/month. What the Golf? was amusing. Gonna try the Steven Universe and Samurai Jack games on my Mac later.

It's worth a few months at least. I should probably stop paying for it now though.

Sunk some time into EarthNight, a auto-run platformer with a hand-drawn illustrated look that came out in 2019. Enjoyable!

Not a fan of the recent trend of porting old games as + versions (i.e. Jetpack Joyride+, which has much less content than the regular ad version) but it does give the opportunity to play a bunch of games you may have missed without the ads. Also the Alto's Adventure repackage added an extra "world" and ported over progress from the original.