Mobile Gaming and Microtransactions Discussed

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek, I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining me this

week is Mike the Birdman Dodd from thisweekengeek

.net So yes, we reconvene as the dynamic duo

in this podcast of geekdom to discuss What's

the deal with mobile gaming? So This is a topic

that I pitched to Steve a little while ago, and

the main reason I want to talk about mobile gaming

is you always see these ads during sporting events.

Like, do you remember a couple years ago, it

was the chick from, like, I don't know, Sports

Illustrated riding around in armor, and there

was like, come do Clash of Kings or Clash of

Clans or whatever the frig it was. Are you talking

about Kate Upton? yeah that's it um it is a rotating

panel of of uh women now that do it blondes yeah

so so there's that there's like i remember the

original mobile game was like angry birds then

there was like flappy bird and all this crap

and then pokemon go hit it big well and i realized

before that oh god i forgot that was like the

start of all this garbage See, I thought Farmville

was like exclusively like a Facebook thing. It

was there used to be even a Star Trek Star Trek

ish space type of app thing that was higher Facebook.

I remember this vaguely and I used to play it

like ad nauseam on this and you could log in

through your Facebook or you could download the

thing separately or log in separately and it

was Highly addictive because you get to build

kind of your own star system your own empire,

you know build up everything and then In theory

you could go on vacation and put it that you

know, you were away so you could lock it down

So you couldn't be attacked while you were gone

what happened is I went away I did that and I

went away for about a week and I Came back and

I was completely decimated and I was like, okay,

I'm done And I never played it again I remember

Candy Crush when that was a thing, although I

can honestly say, proudly say, I've never played

one game of Candy Crush. Do you remember when

they turned Candy Crush into an actual game show?

Like with people and stuff. But yeah, so anyway,

so the main reason I want to talk about this.

So I've been playing two mobile games. and I

don't even know why I'm doing this. I'm playing

Jurassic World alive, which is basically a reskin

Pokemon Go, but with dinosaurs and Pokemon Go.

And which is funny because since I've become

handicapped, I don't get outside very much. I'm

still waiting on my power wheelchair so I can

go zipping around the neighborhood like the teared

menace I'm going to be when I get it. So that

being said, Normally it's you go around and you

collect a monster, whatever, right? Monster,

dinosaur, whatever. And then I started looking

around the app store and there's this thing called

the Power Rangers Legacy Wars. I'm thinking,

well, golly geez, well, I like Power Rangers.

I will like this. And I played it for about 10

minutes, realized this is way too much effort.

And then I tried another Ninja Turtle game where

basically you can collect heroes from the TMNT

universe and battle against the Krang and all

these other bad guys and whatever. And I played

that for about half an hour thinking, all right,

well, that's enough of that. And I know mobile

gaming is this huge platform and it's supposed

to be this huge thing. And I never got it. Well,

the funny thing - And I feel like I'm missing

out on something because mobile gaming, like

I said, it's this huge platform and people make

millions, billions of dollars on microtransactions

for things like Candy Crush, things like Farmville.

The funny thing - Stuff like that, like these

life -seeming - I know one of my neighbours,

Lacey, one of our friends actually plays Simpsons

Tapped Out a lot. I don't think she spends any

money. I think she's found a way to game the

system. There was an episode of South Park where

they go to Canada and they talk about freemium

games and there's a cycle of happiness and basically

it boils down to you get a little bit of happiness,

you ring the bell. You get just enough incentive

to keep playing. You get rewarded for keep playing.

You get rewarded for spending a little bit of

money. The cycle continues repeats itself ad

nauseam. And I don't know. I just mobile gaming

never caught me. I don't think it's because of

micro transactions. I just don't know if there's

any good mobile games out there and I'm waiting

for the one game to come along and blow me away.

Now I'm playing on an iPhone seven plus, which

is two generations behind, but I have 256 gigs

of storage. So it ain't going anywhere anytime

soon. In terms of whether I'm going to run out

of space for stuff. Now I used to play WWE super

card and that was fun for a while until I started

getting my ass kicked by people that were paying

to win. And I don't think I've got a problem

with micro transactions, because honestly, sometimes

I like to pay for an advantage, not over other

players, but to maybe get an advantage in the

game. Like, I don't want to spend two hours grinding

for a level here. Just let me pay two, three

dollars, give me some levels, give me some items,

whatever. A good example of this is the Assassin's

Creed games. pay a few bucks, here's all the

cool upgrades you wouldn't get unless you searched

around for like three or four hours. And here's

some wood and some stone to build some stuff.

You do that in black flag and like rogue or whatever.

I don't know, Steve. I don't know whether this

is that my, you darn kids get off my lawn. Do

I just not get it? Am I too old? I have multiple

theories on this. Or is mobile gaming just not

for me? You asked me to sit down and play a Game

Boy game? Hell, I'll even play those Tiger Electronics

games. And those are friggin' terrible! But you

asked me to play Simpsons Tapped Out? I'll give

it ten minutes. None of that I don't care. I

have a couple of theories on this. This whole

thing on the mobile gaming. And I think it all

started back in the day when WoW became the free

-to -play format. And a lot of the systems online

started doing that, and then they started running

on microtransactions. And they figured out that

this was a nice, feasible way of making money

without having to charge you for the game, because

the games are addictive, and how else to get

you to keep paying money for the same game. than

to give you things in the game to either progress

you or to advance your level or to give you the

advantage in multiple ways. Now, the funny thing

about this is I think that it's partially the

fact that we're not the target demographic anymore

because, you know, we're old. We kind of stick

by the old hat way of doing things. Two, this

generation doesn't have a Game Boy. They don't

have handheld gaming. It's all on the phone and

so therefore the app store is their main go -to

to play games and I think that the reason why

we're not a part of that target demographic is

because We didn't grow up with garbage games

We grew up with fully developed games that were

actual games not something that was purposely

set aside to create microtransactions now when

you look at you know, like anything that was

on the Game Boy systems or any of the levels

of, you know, Game Boy Color, Advance, whatever.

We had, you know, and even the Tiger Electronic

games had more purpose to them than what we're

getting in some of these games now. There's a

Star Trek game. I think it's timelines or something.

And then there's the Power Rangers legacy. There's

a Ninja Turtle game. There's a superhero like

DC universe type thing. Marvel Strike Force or

something. Yeah, I think it's called. And there's

there's a bunch of these games like that where

you get to play with multiple generations of

the characters and the ships and whatever their

gear is. And they're they're honestly there's

a there's a Transformers one that's like Transformers.

Devastation Earth or something, I think? It's

Legacy Wars or something on the phone. Devastation

was a Xbox 360 game, which was awesome. Combiner

Wars, I think it was called. That's an animated

series. But there's Transformers Earth Wars.

Which that one you build bases and you do that

kind of stuff and that's that's microtransaction

heavy and you get characters But it's not even

the same. There's there's more. I mean, there's

a storyline and it's a lot of grinding and whatnot

I played it for about a year and then I was like

I'm done with this and I fell into the microtransaction

Trap with it as well. And then I finally got

out because the game just sucked and But they

came out with this new one this late legacy wars

type thing And it was too much work. A lot of

these games were way too much work for the return.

And I just was like, you know, why am I playing

these games, killing my battery, doing all this

on the phone when I can play a perfectly good

game on my desktop? Or, you know, and they're

fully developed compared to the stuff that's

on the App Store. I don't see the purpose of

playing it. A lot of it's just grinding. It's

not a lot of its story. And for me, When I play

a game, when the story runs out, the game's done

for me. Like, unless it's like a multiplayer,

like first -person, you know, where you're playing

in teams of stuff online, whether it's like Battlefield

or something else, but... So like, for instance,

Star Trek Online, like, I can play the crap out

of that, because there's this intensive story

line that goes between the entire Star Trek universe

and... Yes, there's microtransactions, but there's

also a multitude of other ways of doing things

without having to spend a dime. It just may take

you forever. But I think that we're very much

out of that target demographic for the app stores

for these mobile gaming options. I almost wonder

if kids today are spoiled for choice to kind

of counter your thing, like all they have is

phones. They have the dying system, which is

the 3DS, Nintendo's last handheld, arguably,

because the 3DS has been, its life cycle has

been around since 2011. That's a long life cycle

for any console. It's not really that long. I

mean, Nintendo usually holds on to their like

even the Game Boy lasted for a while before they.

I mean, they had the pocket, then they had the

color and then it took them a while. I mean,

even then it was the same system, basically just

a different color, you know, different design

to the screen. And it really didn't change until

they came out with the Game Boy Advance. Yeah,

well, there's typically a hardware revision every

two to three years. The 3DS has gone through.

There was the 3DS, then there was the 2DS, the

2DS XL. 3DS XL. 3DS XL. And... That was it. Now...

And now there's the Nintendo Switch, which can

be used as a portable gaming system or as a core

gaming system. And I see more people use it portable,

undocked, than I do anything else. I myself can't

really play with it undocked just because the

screen is so small. For me to play a game like,

say, Zelda Breath of the Wild, I can't see what

the hell is going on. Well, that I equate to

age. because I have to wear glasses now. I can't

physically see. I mean, I can see part of my

screen like for just basic use, but for the most

part, I have to wear glasses when I'm looking

at a screen anymore or any kind of wording or

really anything that requires me to focus on

information. My aiming and far cry is terrible

because I have to use my my glasses now before.

My eyesight was okay when I was popping off shots

in advanced warfare. I could pick you off with

iron sights right across from the map. If I saw

a pixel of you, I could nail you. I'm not that

great of a sniper, but if you hold still, I can

hard scope you. But still like, I don't know.

There's something about this generation. of games,

it just doesn't wow me. And I know because mobile

games can be complete shovelware. Now, occasionally

you get a really good mobile game that's done

by a developer who cares about the product, who

cares about what they're doing, but you're putting

it into such an oversaturated marketplace. Nine

times, it's nine times out of 10, you get garbage

and it's hard to find the good from the bad.

And I don't know why I keep coming back to these.

collectible monster games, like I said, it's

Pokemon or dinosaurs, pick one. And I've been

playing Jurassic World alive since it got released

on the app store, like about a month ago. And

occasionally I could have my little teeny dinosaurs

battle people, stuff like that. And I don't know,

it's just fulfilling enough, but I caught that

part of myself while I was playing it today.

to actually say to myself, Mike, what the hell

are you doing? You could be playing Far Cry.

You could be playing Yakuza 6, Song of Life.

You could be reviewing God of War on the PlayStation

4. What are you doing? You're playing with velociraptors

the size of a marble. I don't get it, Steve.

I really don't. Like, I really feel like a piece

of my gaming consciousness has just - died, died

in a flat line and is on the table, barely clutching

to life. And I just, I don't understand it, man.

Maybe you, the alter geek listeners can tell

me, is there some mobile game that's worth 20

minutes of my time? Dare I say a half hour? What

is worth 15 % of my battery life? Because there

has to be something. Like there literally has

to be. I honestly, I don't even care to play

any of these things anymore. Sorry to cut you

off, but I just remembered something. My wife,

Blair, she'll play on her phone for hours and

she'll play mobile games like all the time and

she only plays the freeware. I remember she played

the freeware version of Jeopardy and Wheel of

Fortune for months. I don't know how she kept

coming back because I'm pretty sure it was the

same fucking - whoops um like like 10 puzzles

or something i don't know how the hell she did

it because those games are determined to screw

you to get you to pay money i don't get it or

um what was the other things used to play um

it was wheel of fortune jeopardy price is right

um the stupid one survey says you know what i'm

talking about what's that called i have no idea

That's gonna drive me crazy Family feud that's

it cuz my god. I got sick of that alarms that

Steve Harvey's voice haunts me Oh, that's all

right. They use it on SNL a lot. Oh It was terrible.

Um, speaking of that tell me you saw black jeopardy

with Chadwick Boseman. Oh, it was hilarious.

Oh my God. Oh, hell no. You get that potato salad

out of here. Anyway, I thought that was hilarious.

Racist, but hilarious. Anyway, moving on. But

yeah, there's just something about gaming now

that seems so... manufactured, not authentic,

and yet. There's a cookie cutter formula to the

most mobile games anymore. And I think that's

why we're seeing a lot of the same crap over

and over and over, just skinned with a different

TV show. I mean, I think even right now, I mean,

one of the most popular games in the world. PubG,

I think they're threatening to sue some Chinese

developers by saying they're stealing the idea

of the battle royale survival thing. There's

one called Knives Out, which is another battle

royale survival game. Hell, even Fortnite has

a mobile version. Now, and those games have been

taken over by hackers. Actually, hell, I saw

this happen. So many people were playing, it

was either Fortnite or PUBG, I can't remember

which. On mobile phones, it was causing school

Wi -Fi networks to crash. That's nuts. Cause

those games ain't that good. But you can, the

fact that you can run Fortnite on a phone is

incredible. Now Fortnite is fun. and it's freemium.

You can play that on console or PC. And the only

thing that matters is cosmetic items. If you

wanna hit someone with a shark on a stick, you

can do that. I don't know why you would, but

you can do that. If you're willing, if you're

willing to pay $34 for that, you can go right

the hell ahead. But yeah, I mean, I guess the

advantage of doing mobile games is anybody can

do it. I remember when Xbox Live Arcade used

to be filled with just these useless arcade games.

I even bought a few of them. I remember one game

that was particularly popular because it was

particularly bad. It was called, I made a game

with zombies. And all you were was a stick figure

that shot bullets at green colored stick figures

and exploded in the blood. And it was so bad.

It was, but some kid was obviously super proud

of this and he... He told you what you got. He

made a game of zombies. Party on, kid. I wonder

where that kid is today. Hell, he's probably

the dude who developed Minecraft. And that's

another thing. If I'm gonna continue ranting

on this episode, what's the deal with Minecraft?

Explain that to me. It's Legos in the computer.

I don't get it. Oh my God, because, okay. Now,

there's something I'm gonna be interviewing on

Twig hopefully in the next couple of days. There's

this thing called the Electronic Super League,

and they're setting up seasons of like 100 kids

in like 80 or so theaters across the United States,

where it's competitive Minecraft. And I got like

teams over in like the UK building maps for this.

And I'm just wondering, How do you build competitive

Minecraft out of Lego? I mean, how do you turn

Lego into Battle Royale? See, Battle Royale to

me is like back in the days of Doom and Duke

Nukem 3D, when you could modify and create your

own WOD file that you could add onto the game

that would create your own levels and you could

modify them with different skins, which people

did and made the games awesome. My brother built

a Enterprise D in Duke Nukem 3D. Nice. And it

had working transporters. Some of them didn't

take you to where you wanted to go. Like a bottomless

pit that would literally drop you for like 20

minutes before you hit the bottom. It was such

a dick move. And if you didn't hit this rocket

launcher like the first 30 seconds down the hole,

you just fell continuously until you were gone.

But no, I mean, it's I don't see how you can

do that with with Minecraft. A first -person

shooter? Yeah, I can see that. But, you know,

I just don't... The stuff that is... I think

it's just because I'm old, I find this stuff

to be just very stupid. I really don't understand

a lot of what goes into e -gaming and some of

the stuff. The first -person shooters, I get

it. There's a way to tell who the winner is.

If you're building Lego bricks on Minecraft,

like I don't get it. Yeah, it's just maybe that's

just it, Steve. Maybe we just don't get it. We're

just that's just not our jam. I mean, I'm not

creative enough to build anything in Minecraft.

First off, I don't have the patience. I don't

have the creativity. Hell, when I played Lego

Dimensions, I had to watch YouTube videos to

build some of those things. And those things

are ludicrously simple. I admit it. I'm full

out, flat out stupid when it comes to building

stuff. Although, to my credit, I did build both

Ghostbuster Ecto One cars with no help. And then

they got broken in the move. And now I'm having

a friend fix it because I'm not going through

that again. That was stressful enough the first

time around. But still, there are things I do

not understand. And I will not understand, I'm

kind of guessing. So I think in closing in this

episode, I think it would be fun to get the listeners'

thoughts on this. What did they think about mobile

gaming? What is something that if you're into

it, great, what is it that draws you to it? It

would be kind of interesting to know. And also

the age range, just because I'm going to be 32,

not like it matters, but I don't get into that

stuff anymore. I literally will play on the computer

and that's about it. I just don't have the patience

for it. Plus, my hands are so... Damaged from

using the computer and using consoles and using

Like Gameboys and my phone Just from having to

mash the buttons and everything else that I I

literally have pain in my wrist my hands So I

can't play those anymore So yeah, I mean it would

be interesting to find out so you can email feedback

at altered geek comm and let us know what you

guys think or comment on the various social channels

or the websites Absolutely. I mean let us know.

What are some good freemium games? What are your

thoughts on microtransactions even just we definitely

want to hear from you because I think I think

there's a lot of good feedback that could be

had on this topic because you can get very impassioned

as you saw me rant in this episode. I didn't

expect to get that... Spirited. Yeah, heated

and spirited because I was like, wow, I got a

lot to say about this in a really short amount

of time. So there you go, Altergeek listeners.

Birdman powered up. I've probably had too many

cups of coffee today. I thought you were just

powering up like Dragon Ball Z. I'm getting there,

man. Kale Ken times 10. Whoo! So, uh, you can

get ahold of me on Twitter at SCP -21 and yourself,

sir. You can find me without controversy at Birdman

Dodd. So until next time, get altered, get geeky

with the Altered Geeks.