Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/25/apple-launches-credit-card-ga.html
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They’re not removing games from the App Store - in the video they showed Arcade as living where the Updates icon is in line of icons along the bottom of the App Store app.
When you run out of ideas, start a Credit Card business.
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Titatium hahahaha
Sorry
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That was my gut reaction as well. On the other hand Apple is basically already in the business with Apple Pay, so it does make sense to extend it with a physical credit card to get access to those systems that haven’t yet adopted Apple Pay.
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I’m kind of excited about Arcade. I’m frustrated with the kind of games that are popular on the App Store. The race-to-the-bottom price wars have left us with a terrible selection of “free-to-play” games that are pretty bad on the pure gameplay front. The Apple TV could be a good console, but Apple just can’t seem to get their shit together to foster a good ecosystem. Minecraft dropping support for the AppleTV was strong signal.
While I don’t think they’ll do anything for the AppleTV specifically, I’m glad they’re trying to drive the quality up with Arcade. That said, their presentation seemed to focus on “games with a great story”, which is a very American (Hollywood-esque?) focus to what makes video games good, whereas I want “games with great gameplay” which is what Nintendo is so great at.
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The title would be much more fun without the comma.
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“Good artists borrow, great artists steal; value-maximizing artists go get a real job in financial services.”
That is what Jobs used to say, right?
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That’s actually exactly how I read it;
Apple launches credit card gaming service
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I like the idea that the list of purchases stays on the device and is not known to Apple. I like less the idea that the device will still do recommendations.
I have no idea whether 24% APR is low in the USA, here in Europe 14% is considered rather high.
I don’t know why Apple are creating a credit card, I can’t think of any good reason, my instinct is to hate it, and it seems like a horrible omen regarding their corporate trajectory. But they’ve done weird stupid side hustles before, so as long as it sinks without a trace like iAd, whatever.
I do not like the sound of Apple TV+. Much as I like subscription services, I don’t plan to subscribe to an unlimited number of them just to soothe the FOMO of every single NASDAQ symbol. Even if their content is HBO-grade, I would have serious problems paying to spread Apple’s horrible po-faced cultural mores beyond Cupertino. I love and support the fantasy of the original Mac, but if you want to turn the world into Esalen without dicks or swearing, that’s on you. For me, the Mac is a bicycle for Lisa Frank shoops of Satan fucking Gus Kenworthy in a rainbow communist energy vortex at the mall,* OK? If that’s too real for you, just stay in your sterile flying saucer and don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t understand what I want to watch on TV.
The Apple Arcade thing sounds good, and will probably just amount to a more convenient way to pay for the sorts of iOS game I pay for already. It would’ve been more exciting five years ago, before they forcefully ignored the opportunity to make iOS into a really good games platform (like a vastly superior version of every Nintendo console). But there have always been really good indie games on iOS, and this should mean more money and less risk for those developers, so I am pleased.
As a matter of personal policy, I am required to point out here that Minecraft never supported Apple TV. There was a paid “Minecraft” app in the App Store, for something like $15 IIRC, but it was a dummy app that didn’t get past the menu screen. Some people claim it worked on their Apple TVs, but that’s a lie as far as I know. Mojang / Microsoft didn’t respond to tweets, don’t have an actual support email at all, and never even acknowledged the Apple TV version on their (Microsoft’s) website. If it failed to make money for them, I wouldn’t rush to point the finger at Apple.
* Note to self: block out two hours for this
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Damn. I have zero interest in games. None at all. Finding anything in the app store is nightmare of drowning in games. Sigh.
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Me too. And why not use the word “and” (where a comma is technically ungrammatical)?
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Apple now officially is a bank selling phones and some laptops aside?
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Minecraft was supported on the AppleTV, the Microsoft version with the marketplace and all. I’ve played it. I got it through a bundle with the Steelseries Nimbus controller. (and that’s why I was hoping for more on the AppleTV, I was hoping for more worthwhile content to use that controller with)
Yes, I was being sarcastic; I bought Minecraft through the App Store as soon as it came out (I already had a Stratus controller), and even though they updated the app about a dozen times, no version ever worked for me, and their support provision was less than zero.
Oceanhorn is pretty good on Apple TV with a game controller. It seems like there are a few racing games but I don’t care about those.
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