Sucks for people who already have zenbound on their 3GS. This means they gotta pay again for a higher graphics version. If they want to or not that is. But good for New 3GS costumers.
The main audience for this update will understandably be people who have a 3GS but have not bought Zen Bound before. For anyone else, we understand the concerns but just have patience until you see something concrete in the form of screenshots and additional details. I don't believe anyone could say Zen Bound was rushed out, or that we didn't pay attention to quality. The same mentality applies to this version as well. I have to underline that we're not doing a small spit-shine here. Major parts of the game code will be re-written from scratch to take advantage of the new hardware. So again, everyone please wait and see until we show what we're talking about. Once the offering is on the table, it's the right time to make decisions if it offers personal value or not.
I don't mind rebuying. Work takes development time, and development time costs money. Will this be able to read our data from the previous version? Also, can you possibly add an online service to remember our data, and compete with others?
I love Zen Bound, but this new version will have to be quite an improvement, or very well priced to tempt me to buy again. That's a great point from kmacleod above; I don't think I could buy it again unless I can transfer my save data from the original. I'm about 50% through, and really don't want to play it all again.
I have done that, but the email doesn't have a download link. All it had was a link to sign up for the newsletter.
Why wouldn't this catch on? Believe it or not, sooner or later the old iDevices will be phased out by developers. It's a fact of life, just like how you can't expect the latest and greatest PC games to run on your old Packard Bell. The 3GS (and presumably the 3rd gen iPod Touch) has a real GPU in it which is going to be absolutely awesome for developers and gamers once the next-gen market share is big enough to do more projects like these.
THIS. The world turns, technology marches on, old stuff gets phased out, new stuff gets supported. If it didn't we'd all be sitting here with 8-bit computers. Besides, once developers start making games from scratch that are capable of distinguishing the device it's running on in-code and then choosing the graphics and rendering engine appropriate to the device (just like it's done on desktop computers), we'll start to see games come out that support both platforms without having to buy two different versions. So quitcher whinin' people. It's a hell of a lot more work to retrofit old code with new features for a new chipset than it is to modify it into its own separate app -- more trouble than it's worth as a free upgrade -- so existing games that are getting 3GS facelifts are, for now, probably going to exist as exclusive, separate 3GS versions. Down the line it's a certainty you'll start to see single apps that will run on all second-gen devices that also feature enhanced features for the 3GS and forthcoming 3rd gen Touch.
*Gasps* Thank youuu! I found the email and now have the songs. I didn't think of looking in my junk mail, only because the confirmation email went into my inbox. As it went there, I never thought the soundtrack email would go to junk mail :s Thank you xx I may get the 3GS version. I don't mind paying for it again. I will just have to see when it comes xD
The problem with that sort of thinking, although I can understand where you're coming from is this: This is the sort of thing that drove formerly PC centric developers AWAY from PC development and towards the more stable paradigm offered by the home console market. Developers for home consoles, if it's an exclusive, develop for one hardware spec only. No upgrades dependent on tech, because at base all different SKUs of the same target platform are the same. This lowers time investment, which lowers costs overall. Not substantial costs, sure...but enough where it's a factor. Contrast that with iPhone v. iPhone 3Gs, and, well, that whole "they do it for PC" doesn't sound like such a great point. Developers disliked the variable PC market, which is why most headed for more stable waters (home console). Again, 3Gs was a great idea...but one that personally I think came to market a year too soon. I'll get a 3Gs based touch as soon as it comes out because as a consumer I have a desire for the product, but from the business perspective I will still feel it came out a year too early. That said, I'm looking forward to 3Gs enhanced games as a gamer.
Sure, but that still breaks down when the next generation of consoles come around and developers have to learn on an entirely new system. Sony-centric developers went from MIPS to proprietary EmotionEngine to proprietary Cell processors, each with their own graphic and sound chipsets, for example, all completely different systems with completely different SDKs containing completely different APIs. The only difference between the console and PC markets is the distance between hardware changes. Modern operating systems abstract the actual hardware with subsystem layers like DirectX on the PC, so the hardware itself is largely irrelevant save for the new features present in new versions of DirectX that support the new features of the new hardware. Even then, PC developers are accustomed to writing games that allow for sliding variability in each game's features and quality levels to let the user adjust the game for their hardware's capabilities. I would argue that Apple did the right thing by introducing the new hardware early. As a platform that allows third party development, the iPhone is still pretty young, so I think it's better that they bring the hardware specs up to modern high-end standards now before the platform gets too firmly entrenched with the old tech. The longer a platform is allowed to exist with an established system, the harder it becomes down the road to change that system up in a way that may introduce incompatibilities that more developers will have to address than if they'd gotten the chance to do it earlier. And let's face it, the PowerVR MBX is pretty long in the tooth by now. Dell used a lite version of that chipset in the Axim X50v series of PDAs five years ago inside the Intel 2700G. (And an awesome little PDA it was, too, even if it was beefy.) Even then it was far from new tech. The SGX is much newer and much more powerful chipset more suitable to modern appliances that has a lot of shelf life left in it and will serve the iPhone in good stead for several years yet. On this we can wholeheartedly agree.
Or how about an introductory discount promo code for current owners of ZB? I understand that the app store is not currently set up for such, but that could change in time for the release ZB 3GS. Count me in if I can get the enhanced version for at least 40% off. Would the remaining fare not be enough to compensate the developer for that portion of the code that is new?
Nope, it'll be at least January before things have been pulled together to a state where we can lift the skirt a bit
The formal announcement of ZB2 will be in a few days time, but here's a tease (also posted in the "Will we see better gaming graphics in 2010?" thread). The development will still take a few months, so this is a work-in-progress screenshot. Please consider all the textures and UI elements to be placeholders at this point. But disclaimers aside, I hope you enjoy this sneak peek
