Metal Jesus Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 I released a video today about that cool / weird Pitfall! game that only came out on iOS back in 2012 but was abandoned around 2017 and is now nearly impossible to play. Should these mobile games be preserved and archived for future generations? I figured there would be quite a few Pitfall! fans here on AtariAge. Do you remember playing this? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 The android version is available on archive sites and runs on modern android. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted June 3, 2022 Share Posted June 3, 2022 Never played it. It should be preserved tho. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 Touch screen games? (meh)...But to each their own. The game looks really neat, but you're "endless running" so you never get to stop and explore the huts or the caverns or...(I know, I know...I used to wish I could explore the background buildings and faces and mountains, etc. in Super Nintendo games too, Guess I'm weird like that). So it's a mobile game? I think all video games should be preserved...Yup! All games except mobile games should be preserved... ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koopa64 Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 7 hours ago, GoldLeader said: Touch screen games? (meh)...But to each their own. The game looks really neat, but you're "endless running" so you never get to stop and explore the huts or the caverns or...(I know, I know...I used to wish I could explore the background buildings and faces and mountains, etc. in Super Nintendo games too, Guess I'm weird like that). So it's a mobile game? I think all video games should be preserved...Yup! All games except mobile games should be preserved... ? Going by that description, even Super Pitfall for NES sounds better. You can stop and explore at your own pace at the very least... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jeremiahjt Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 I usually stay away from mobile games, but I actually had this one and played it a lot. I had to uninstall it because I was spending too much money on it though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patroclus99 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 There were actually some mobile game-titles released which were very good... way back when, say around 10-15 years ago. Hero of Sparta (I & II), Galaxy on Fire, Lost Winds, Waking Mars, etc. But, the whole iOS game library kind of degraded into a bunch of mediocre, data-mining cash-grabs full of microtransactions... sort of sad, really. Apple will sell anything on their Appstore as long as they get their 30%... basically a messy amalgamation of non-curated crap these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 Mobile games = mechanisms decorated with videogame-like characters and ships. Mechanisms designed to transfer money from your wallet to a corporate bank account. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynicaster Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 So it's Subway Surfers, basically...? I have no use whatsoever for touchscreen games, except for maybe word games and stuff like that. There was one iOS game I really enjoyed called Flip Ship from 10-12 years ago, which had a cool take on the classic risk/reward arcade type thing, but I think it got boxed out many OS updates ago. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 FWIW, I tried mobile gaming once. ONCE! There was this brain buster puzzle game (something about a piece dropping, and you had to draw the piece, and if it falls the right way, things happen and it solves a puzzle)...Anyway it looked fun on a couple of coworkers' phones so I tried it. Couldn't really get signed up for the account properly; Took way too long...Finally, actually got the game to play ONCE. Then the account and game disappeared and never reappeared so I'm over it and Glad I haven't wasted money/time/data on it ever again! (Don't ya just love a happy ending?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 8 hours ago, Keatah said: Mobile games = mechanisms decorated with videogame-like characters and ships. Mechanisms designed to transfer money from your wallet to a corporate bank account. (Thinks back to Arcades. ) Ya mean it's like a "coin slot"? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMaddog Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 I don't have any attachments to mobile games, only one I still play is Crossy Road but that's it. I think younger kids would be the ones who have special memories of playing games like Angry Birds, at least before the francise got over-monitized. At least Android games no longer on Play stores can still be sideloaded. Apple is terrible when it comes to removing old games that hadn't been updated, remeber the 64-bit purge? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwlngmad Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 All games should be preserved whether they are computer, console, portable, and/or mobile games. However, definitely there are games that don't need to be preserved such as Jekyll and Hyde and Super Monkey Daiboken. I am sure that Dr. Sparkle of Chrontendo fame would agree with me on one if not both of those games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 On 8/17/2022 at 4:34 AM, Keatah said: Mobile games = mechanisms decorated with videogame-like characters and ships. Mechanisms designed to transfer money from your wallet to a corporate bank account. You know that's the same business model of the old coin-operated arcade games we liked in the early 1980s, right? I enjoyed the old flat-shaded Pitfall! mobile game while it was available, the Virtua Racing aesthetic is cool. But it's dead now, so play something else. Temple Run 2 is similar, but not dead, which makes it better. I'm not convinced that every piece of trash culture needs to be preserved. There are plenty of trashy Flash games that went away when that technology was made obsolete, but many of them are better than cartridge or arcade ROMs that are easily emulated. But very few people care about the web games, just like with old mobile games. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razzie.P Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 On 8/30/2022 at 4:16 PM, Flojomojo said: You know that's the same business model of the old coin-operated arcade games we liked in the early 1980s, right? Yep. This. Occasionally, I start to get a bit annoyed when the kids want to "waste their money" on modern "ticket" arcade machines, or want another dollar for something in Roblox. Then I have to smile at my own hypocrisy when I remember how much I pestered my mom and granny for "just one more dollar" for Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, etc. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 On 6/4/2022 at 6:01 AM, GoldLeader said: Touch screen games? (meh)...But to each their own. The game looks really neat, but you're "endless running" so you never get to stop and explore the huts or the caverns or...(I know, I know...I used to wish I could explore the background buildings and faces and mountains, etc. in Super Nintendo games too, Guess I'm weird like that). So it's a mobile game? I think all video games should be preserved...Yup! All games except mobile games should be preserved... ? You're not weird, that very point for me put me off Super Mario Run and actually bothering to finish it. The fact you can't really stop reliably on a dime or go left without using wall kicks and other reflecting shot type moves sucks. It made what should have been a really fun game a dog, maybe set in my SMB ways, but argh...it's a fun sucker. I remember the Pitfall game, not going to watch link there as I know of it, I had it. It was one of the better of those style that don't just run into the screen like temple run 2. I am enjoying the odd realization here being brought up in the comments here, quarter feeding an arcade game is no different than dollar feeding a mobile game to play a bit longer, that's what the arcade game did too. Stuff like that really is fine, it's when it gets into exploitative pricing and abuses with the values and more so with the slot machine garbage of loot crates. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 The arcade was a little more governed by way of having to travel to a venue across town. Here, today, I see men pissing in the urinal and playing a mobile game at the same time! Crazy! Immediacy and availability of mobile amplifies the problem to epic proportions. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadir Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 I've tried a few mobile/touch screen games and big disappointment. It seems like they COULD be good. However, even ones based on franchises that I enjoyed playing on consoles or PC just come off feeling like cheap money grabs with no real game play value. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 I wonder if that is because mobile, because cheap, because of observing others play in the fashion of unimportance, of time-wasting. Nothing to do with mobile gaming is a grand expansive experience. Often times when I play 70's and 80's games I got the right period music going, on a larger high-quality display, in a comfortable setting. Not on a 4" screen at the bus stop with noise and smell all around you. Well, money-grabs.. That's precisely what they are designed for. Believe me, for a developer to jump through the hoops and navigate the mobile landscape - they ain't doing it for fun. No recreational programming in sight here. All about $$$. Totally opposite the lone guy of the 80's exploring the art and optimizing code for the sake of performance and "can I do this better". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 15 hours ago, Keatah said: I wonder if that is because mobile, because cheap, because of observing others play in the fashion of unimportance, of time-wasting. Nothing to do with mobile gaming is a grand expansive experience. Often times when I play 70's and 80's games I got the right period music going, on a larger high-quality display, in a comfortable setting. Not on a 4" screen at the bus stop with noise and smell all around you. Well, money-grabs.. That's precisely what they are designed for. Believe me, for a developer to jump through the hoops and navigate the mobile landscape - they ain't doing it for fun. No recreational programming in sight here. All about $$$. Totally opposite the lone guy of the 80's exploring the art and optimizing code for the sake of performance and "can I do this better". I rather disliked my Freshman college English teacher...One of them...Well I still dislike her I guess. She was so by the book. I wonder if she's still alive? Oh, and this other teacher that claimed I was "making up words"...Ahead of my time I guess because I saw one of "my" words on the internet the other day, some 29 years later! so Nyaaaah!... Oh, Anyway... I agree with this statement, Probably 156% (even though I was good at math) but now I hear my college English teacher's voice in my head telling me to tell you that she's not so sure if your first 2 sentences are actually sentences. That's OK, you can ignore her...I usually do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 You know fuck shit and piss on the idea of making up new words. No dumbass teacher gonna tell me otherwise. Each one of my sentences is sophisticrafted to convey an exact meaning with a certain level of elegance. It ain't my problem if the lexicon incomplete & inadequate. Besides.. Madison Avenue makes million$ inventing new words daily. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oky2000 Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 The problem with all forms of digital download/online access only gaming is they will all be gone. For an entire generation their fav' games will be lost forever. I feel sorry for these people. I can go and plug in my 2600 light sixer and play Invaders whenever I want to remind me of the awesome start to video gaming of my personal gaming history but for a whole generation they will not be able to do the equivalent sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 On 9/12/2022 at 7:09 PM, Keatah said: Here, today, I see men pissing in the urinal and playing a mobile game at the same time! This raises questions about logistics that I am not entirely sure I want answered... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) On 6/3/2022 at 4:24 PM, Metal Jesus said: I released a video today about that cool / weird Pitfall! game that only came out on iOS back in 2012 but was abandoned around 2017 and is now nearly impossible to play. Should these mobile games be preserved and archived for future generations? I figured there would be quite a few Pitfall! fans here on AtariAge. Do you remember playing this? In France, the BNF (National Library) has set a goal in the past 15 years to archive any video game made available in France in any way shape and form. And one of their issues are precisely digital-only games, as unlike books and regular video games, download-only games don't have a physical copy to be shipped to the BNF. They try to get them by asking the publisher. Some complies, some don't. Games are preserved regardless of interest or quality. https://catalogue.bnf.fr/changerPage.do?motRecherche=Pitfall&index=&numNotice=&listeAffinages=FacNatDoc_s&nbResultParPage=20&afficheRegroup=false&pageEnCours=1&trouveDansFiltre=TIT&trouverDansActif=true&triResultParPage=0&critereRecherche=0&typeNotice=&pageRech=rsi But it seems that this IOS game didn't made it (yet). And if you wonder, yes, you can go to the BnF building and ask to have (free) access to a computer where you can play all the games in the catalogue... provided said game is playable, which most of them are, being available with an emulator when required. Edited January 18, 2023 by CatPix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, CatPix said: And if you wonder, yes, you can go to the BnF building and ask to have (free) access to a computer where you can play all the games in the catalogue... provided said game is playable And provided you're a "researcher". Getting the corresponding accreditation requires to be looking for a document that is only available at the BnF - but it doesn't need to be the game, once you get the accreditation, you can consult any document. 6 hours ago, CatPix said: They try to get them by asking the publisher. Some complies, some don't. Actually, publishers are supposed to send two copies of all their games by law, but some don't comply either. Edited January 18, 2023 by roots.genoa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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