App-ocalypse – Stately Play

Another victim of the App-ocalypse, Imperial, comes roaring back to life

March 26, 2018 David Neumann 2

Well, what do you know, miracles can happen. Imperial is one of the first board game apps to land on the iPad way back in 2011 or so, and it was not well received by the general public. Much of this was due to the opacity of Mac Gerdt’s original design which has the feel of 18xx, but looks like a Dudes On A Map game, but it was also because the app was, how to say this nicely, not polished. Graphically, it resembled something cobbled together using scans from the cardboard version and pieces created in Microsoft Paint, but under the hood it was a rocket ship. The AI was stellar and the app included all the advanced variants, something even the big publishers don’t always pull off today. Problem is, the app hadn’t seen any love from its developer since 2013 and when iOS 11 rolled into town, Imperial finally left its spot on the home page of my iPad. I’m happy to announce that, yesterday, I was able to reinstall it thanks to a surprise patch that updated it to 64-bits.

The reports of Stone Age’s death have been greatly exaggerated

February 21, 2018 David Neumann 7

iOS Universal • It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything relating to the App-ocalypse, the destruction wrought on the App Store when iOS 11 dropped last September. It was at that point that 32-bit apps were deemed unworthy of our love and sent packing. One of the better casualties was the digital rendition of Stone Age from Campfire Creations. This wasn’t a huge surprise, considering that Campfire Creations died a while back, leaving no one to update the app. Turns out, Campfire Creations wasn’t quite dead and, in fact, are feeling better. They definitely don’t want to go on the cart. How can we be so sure? Yesterday, Stone Age was updated to work with iOS 11.

Civilization Revolution 2 manages to outrun the App-ocalypse

November 29, 2017 David Neumann 10

iOS Universal, Android • While Civilization Revolution 2 isn’t exactly the highpoint of Sid Meier’s influential Civilization series, it’s the only one we’re likely to ever get on our phones, so it will have to do. If you’ve updated to iOS 11 since its release in September, however, you’ve had to do without. Civ Rev 2 was one of the victims of the App-ocalypse, remaining 32-bit when it needed exactly twice that many bits. It took 2K Games three months to fix the problem, and today they updated Civ Rev 2 to be 64-bit complian,t meaning we can all redownload it at our leisure.

Hoplite saved from extinction, now 64-bit

October 6, 2017 David Neumann 0

Back in Pocket Tactics‘ glory days, one of my favorite writers over there was Clancy. He was a lot like Owen, but without the snark. Or, I should say, a different type of snark, but he knew what the hell he was talking about and shared that info with aplomb. His reviews were delights, with one of my faves being for the roguelike-puzzle gem, Hoplite. Not only did Clancy give it 5-stars but, behind the scenes, he nearly convinced Owen that it was GOTY material. This in a year that saw both FTL and XCOM: Enemy Unknown land on the App Store. Even with that competition he wasn’t too far off. 2014 was a fantastic year for gaming, and all three of those titles remain on my iPad. Hoplite took a little vacation from the App Store the past few weeks but, yesterday, rose from the ashes with a brand new 64-bit version ready to conquer iOS 11.

XCOM: Enemy Within joins the ranks of 64-bit apps

September 22, 2017 David Neumann 10

iOS Universal, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • The past couple of weeks have been tough ones for me, but this hardship has been completely of my own devising. Instead of going to sleep at a remotely decent time, I’ve been staying up well past 2am nearly every night playing War of the Chosen, the new expansion for XCOM 2. While we’re unlikely to ever see the XCOM sequel on our tablets, there is good news in mobile-land for XCOM fans: XCOM: Enemy Within was just updated to comply with iOS 11’s 64-bit requirement.

Codito strikes again, making Brief History of the World 64-bit

September 12, 2017 David Neumann 6

iOS Universal • We praised Codito last week for being cool enough to spend their time and money to make sure all their apps survive the upcoming App-ocalypse, arriving with the imminent release of iOS 11. At the time, Le Havre had gone 64-bits and we all jumped and cheered and patted Codito on the back saying things like, “Good show!” and “Well played!”. Strangely, all this Codito love was followed by an email from Mr. Codito telling me to knock it right the hell off. I was confused, but held my tongue and waited for more info, which arrived today.