IPod game

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An iPod click wheel game or iPod game is a video game playable on the various versions of the Apple portable media player, the iPod. The original iPod had the game Brick (originally invented by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak) included as an easter egg hidden feature; [1] later firmware versions added it as a menu option. Later revisions of the iPod added three more games in addition to Brick: Parachute, Solitaire , and Music Quiz. [2] Apple later offered iPod games for sale through the iTunes store. These games should not be confused with games for the iPod Touch, which require iOS and are only available on Apple's App Store.

Contents

History

On 23rd December 2005, CoolGorilla, a new start-up, launched a trivia game for the iPod. It was titled “Rock and Pop Quiz”. [3]

In September 2006, the iTunes Store began to offer nine additional games for purchase with the launch of iTunes 7, compatible with the fifth-generation iPod with iPod software 1.2 or later. Those games were Bejeweled , Cubis 2 , Mahjong , Mini Golf , Pac-Man , Tetris , Texas Hold 'Em , Vortex , and Zuma . These games were made available for purchase from the iTunes Store for US$4.99 each. In December 2006, two more games were released by EA Mobile at the same price: Royal Solitaire and Sudoku . In February 2007, Ms. Pac-Man was released, followed in April 2007 by iQuiz. Until this time, all the available games could be purchased in a package, with no discount.

In May 2007, Apple released Lost: The Video Game by Gameloft, based on the television show. In June 2007, "SAT Prep 2008" by Kaplan was introduced as 3 separate educational games based on the subjects of writing, reading, and mathematics. In December 2007, Apple released a classic Sega game, Sonic the Hedgehog , which was originally packaged with the Sega Genesis system in the early 1990s.

With third parties like Namco, Square Enix, EA, Sega, and Hudson Soft all making games for the iPod, Apple's dedicated MP3 player took great steps towards entering the video game handheld console market. Even video game magazines like GamePro and EGM have reviewed and rated most of their games.

The games are in the form of .ipg files (iPod game), which are actually .zip archives in disguise. When unzipped, they reveal executable files along with common audio and image files, leading to the possibility of third-party games, although this never eventuated (with the exception of superficial user-made tweaks). Apple never made a software development kit (SDK) available to the public for iPod-specific development. [4] The iOS SDK covers only iOS on the iPhone and iPod Touch, not traditional iPods.

In October 2011, Apple removed all the click wheel–operated games from its store.

Games

This is a list of games that were made available for the newest iPods, excluding the iPod Touch. Each game (other than Reversi and ChineseCheckers) cost US$4.99 to buy prior to their discontinuation in 2011.

The list contains 54 games that are known to exist. The list is always kept up to date by this script.

TitlePublisherRelease dateGame ID
Texas Hold'Em [5] Apple Inc. 2006-09-1233333 (v 1.1 is 33353)
Zuma PopCap Games 2006-09-1244444
Pac-Man Namco 2006-09-12AAAAA
Tetris Electronic Arts 2006-09-1266666 (v 1.1 is 66686)
Mini Golf Electronic Arts 2006-09-1288888
Cubis 2 Fresh Games 2006-09-1299999
Sudoku Electronic Arts 2006-12-1950513
Ms. Pac-Man Namco 2007-02-2714004 (v 1.1 is 14024)
SAT Prep 2008 (Math)Kaplan2007-06-2211052
SAT Prep 2008 (Reading)Kaplan2007-06-2211050
SAT Prep 2008 (Writing)Kaplan2007-06-2211051
The Sims Bowling Electronic Arts 2007-07-171500C
The Sims Pool Electronic Arts 2007-07-311500E
Musika (Only Released in UK)NanaOn-Sha, Ltd./Sony BMG2007-08-071C300
Brain Challenge Gameloft / Apple Inc. 2007-09-0521000
Phase Harmonix 2007-11-061D000
Sonic the Hedgehog Sega 2007-12-1818000
Peggle PopCap Games 2007-12-1812104
Bomberman Hudson Soft 2007-12-1820000
Block Breaker Deluxe Gameloft / Apple Inc. 2008-01-1521004
Pole Position Remix Namco 2008-01-2114003
Naval Battle Gameloft 2008-02-0421006
Chess & Backgammon Gameloft 2008-02-0421002
Yahtzee Hasbro 2008-02-1115014
Pirates of the Caribbean: Aegir's Fire Disney 2008-02-2022000
Bubble Bash Gameloft 2008-02-2521008
Scrabble Electronic Arts / Hasbro 2008-03-0315012
Bejeweled PopCap Games 2008-04-1555555
Mahjong Electronic Arts 2008-04-2277777
Monopoly Electronic Arts / Hasbro 2008-06-0315040
The Sims DJ Electronic Arts 2008-06-0915036
Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes Square Enix 2008-07-0824000
Uno Gameloft 2008-0722012
Mystery Mansion Pinball Gameloft 2008-0822010
Chalkboard Sports BaseballD2C2008-0823000
Spore Origins Electronic Arts 2008-08-2515010
Star Trigon Namco 2008-0914006
CSI: Miami Gameloft 2008-0922014
Tamagotchi: 'Round the World Namco 2008-1114008
Asphalt 4: Elite Racing Gameloft 2008-08-2822020
Tiger Woods PGA Tour Electronic Arts 2008-1215038
Real Soccer '09 Gameloft 2008-1222018
Slyder Adventures Sandlot Games 2008-12 25000
Reversi Apple Inc. 2008-1211800
Wonder Blocks Gameloft 2008-1222022
Lode Runner Hudson Soft 2008-1220002
Crystal Defenders Square Enix 2008-1224002
Chinese Checkers Apple Inc. 2008-1211802
Trivial Pursuit Electronic Arts / Hasbro 2008-1215042
Cake Mania 3 Sandlot Games 2009-02-0425002
Lost Ubisoft 2007-051B200
Vortex Apple Inc. 2006-09-1212345
iQuiz Apple Inc. 2007-0411002
Royal Solitaire Electronic Arts 2006-1250514

Default games

These are the games that originally came with an iPod. [6]

iPod versionTitlesPublishers
iPod 1G, 2GBrick (also called Game) Apple Inc.
iPod 3G, 4G, 5G, and 5.5G; iPod Nano 1G and 2G; iPod MiniBrick, Music Quiz, Parachute, SolitaireApple Inc.
iPod Nano 3G; iPod Classic 6GiQuiz, Klondike, VortexApple Inc.
iPod Nano 4G and 5GMaze, Klondike, Vortex, BrickApple Inc.

Criticism

iTunes had come under much criticism due to the UK price of iPod games, GB£3.99 (about US$7.40). Many people from the UK had given the games 1-star ratings, stating that Apple was "ripping off" Britain. [7]

A similar situation occurred in Australia, where the price was A$7.49, even though the Australian dollar was (at the time) worth more than the US dollar (A$7.49 = US$7.76).

Developers had criticized Apple for not creating a software development kit (SDK) for software developers to create new iPod games; this was likely to keep the digital rights management of iPod games closed.[ citation needed ] Despite this, it did not prevent users from running an alternative OS on the iPod such as Linux, whereby, for example, there are ports of Doom that will run on fifth-generation iPods. Running Linux on an iPod retains the music-playing functionality of the device while also adding features such as the ability to create voice memos through the headphones.

When the iPod Classic and iPod Nano third generation were released, games which had previously been purchased could not be synced to the new iPods. Understandably, this made many consumers angry due to losing their investment.

It is also notable that after a game was downloaded, it could not be downloaded again unless a separate purchase was made for the same item. [8] This is different behavior than applications downloaded on the App Store, which can be downloaded an unlimited number of times. These issues were later fixed, however, making it possible to install any single game on any number of iPods registered under the same account.

Unofficial games

Some older iPod units are capable of using replacement firmware such as iPod Linux and Rockbox. These firmware projects can play many other games, including the aforementioned native port of Doom ; and, via a native port of the Game Boy emulator Gnuboy, many other games could be played, including Super Mario Bros. , Tomb Raider , Mega Man , Kirby , Metroid , The Legend of Zelda , Street Fighter , and hundreds more. [9] [10]

Games using the ″Notes″ feature

With the release of the third-generation iPod in 2003, Apple introduced a ″Notes″ feature to the iPod's firmware. This functionality provided the first opportunity for third-party developers to create simple text and audio games which could be installed and run on an iPod without users needing to replace the official firmware.

With a limit of 1,000 individual .txt files, each with a maximum file size of 4kb, the Notes feature made use of a limited set of HTML tags. Hyperlinks could also be used to link to other .txt files or folders and play audio files stored on the device. [11] The limitation of available html tags meant that developers were restricted to Choose Your Own Adventure–style text-based games [12] or multiple choice–style quizzes with narrated audio. [13] Subsequently, very few developers used the Notes feature as a way of publishing games.

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References

  1. ↑ "First iPod game". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  2. ↑ "Apple Updates iPod". Apple Inc.
  3. ↑ "Free iPod Game from Coolgorilla | News | iPodObserver". www.ipodobserver.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  4. ↑ "What's Inside an iPod Game?" bensinclair.com, September 14, 2006.
  5. ↑ Horwitz, Jeremy (2008-07-23). "Review: Apple Computer Texas Hold 'em". iLounge. Retrieved 2023-12-02.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Fun for your iPod". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on 26 November 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  7. ↑ iTunes store
  8. ↑ Melanson, Donald (2007-09-19). "iPod games must be repurchased for new iPods". Engadget . Retrieved 2008-09-30.
  9. ↑ "Applications". iPodLinux Wiki. Retrieved 6 April 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "What is Rockbox? Why should I use it?". Rockbox Wiki. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  11. ↑ "iPod Note Reader User Guide" (PDF). Apple. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 6, 2003.
  12. ↑ "XO Play offers Herbert's Big Adventure game for iPod". MacWorld. 2 March 2004.
  13. ↑ "Coolgorilla releases music trivia game for iPods". iLounge. 23 December 2005.[ permanent dead link ]
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