how could this game go into top paid game?

that's why the iPhone market is the most difficult market to enter. There are too many kind of people who owns a iPhone. And you know what, more than half of the people who have an iPhone aren't hardcore gamers. Keep that in mind

 

I know the public like to buy total crap, but I'm calling shill on those ratings.

 

what about those sudden top rankings for some of jirbo's games? was that just an Apple screw-up?

 

Something is DEFINITELY fishy there. The app has ZERO reviews in the Canadian App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/connect-em/id378761270?mt=8#

Unless some magic is happening, that's really weird.

 

I've created the art for this title over a weekend. As far as I know, the means used to drive sales for this game have been somewhat unorthodox but completely legitimate. If there is any "unfair" magic going on there, I have yet to catch wind of it.

I'll be honest: the first time I played it I was deeply unimpressed and quit. The fact that the game was designed and developed very quickly definitely shows... However, a few hours later, I decided that I didn't give it a fair shot, and tried again. Something clicked, and before I knew it, I had enjoyably spent a good hour and a half organizing little colored marbles. At a high enough level of difficulty, the game is challenging enough to make me think, but still simple enough that it doesn't make me feel pressured.

@ ElectricGrandpa: As far as I know, that's only due to the fact that the game was advertised primarily to a certain audience.

 

This shows that the iPhone just doesn't want high quality A & AA games. They want C & D games.

 

@ Mondae: Interesting point, but I think that's actually a good thing, in a way.

The iPhone is not a game console, and maybe it's all the better off for not pretending to be one. A lot of people who play iPhone games want to be entertained for 10, 15 minutes at a time, not pulled into an utterly epic, immersive experience. This is why the app store trends towards low-cost games.

 

Ya, but a game can be a great expierence & still not cost alot. Look at Trenches or Ninjatown. Those games are inexpensive. This one is cheap.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

Many people do not have a varied and deep experience of games. The iPhone is not a games machine. It is a phone that is introducing people to games as a consequence of it's many abilities. Therefore a large part of the market is for people who are not 'gamers'.

 

Still though, I'm not saying all top paid will be hardcore games, but even casual games can have quality.

 

Well, I can honestly say that I still enjoy it. Out of curiosity, what makes you feel that the quality is poor? It's a very simple game, but it's not buggy and it does exactly what it is supposed to do. I would rather play something like this than another action RPG that looks great, but has awkward controls and crashes.

 

To be honest the gameplay doesn't look unique enough to have attracted that much attention. Maybe it really is, but at first glance it looks like a fairly standard match/connect game.

 

I am curious what the unorthodox but legal way to boost the ratings is - there are 3 written reviews that are entirely generic and boring... and there are 910 ratings with an average of 5 star ratings... so I am thinking that 900+ people were "gifted" the game and asked to please just give it a 5 star rating - I guess that is legal... I wonder if that is the way of the future, and so then using the ratings will be one more thing to fall... Not that I use them much, but I do like to see if there are actually worthwhile things being said, and that will influence me to purchase or not...

 

There, that's what I meant.

 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hanidoku/id330655692?mt=8

Same developer---same strategy !

 

Talking about shady, nobody noticed the link uses the original posters linkshare account?

Now you're cookied and he makes a % off whatever you buy in iTunes in the future.

 

hmmm

I have no comment,
but at least these are people giving comment

some people can be nasty and give you a star just because they dont read instructions

or some people give 5 stars but advertise(spam) their link on comments..

I feel sad not being able to reply to comments by our customers..

we should be able to do that dont you guys think?

 

You have to have a load of good luck in people picking up on it. And try and get reviews in mags.