In this week’s Game Freak, I’m going to tell you about one of the easiest ways to game on the go. I’m speaking, of course, about apps. Yes, since everyone and their mother seems to have a smartphone these days, app gaming is the unfortunate future of portable gaming.
Well, regardless of their often simple design when compared to the bigger portable gaming devices, like the Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable, they’re often fun, easy and cheap, which is a plus.
The easiest way to find them, of course, is through the app store’s free app tab, but it’s always not the best option since, at most, there’s only 50 displayed at one time. Ironically, there’s an app that makes finding free apps easier. It’s called FreeAppWin, and it will show you all the current on-sale apps for free. The good news there is that you can get some apps that normally cost anywhere from $1-5 for free.
Granted, remember that since they’re free, they might not always be of the highest caliber, but they’re just one easy deletion from giving you back that valuable memory space.
I can’t just go ahead and assume everyone is as tight with money as I am though, so don’t take all this talk about free apps to mean you should stay away from the priced ones. It’s just there’s more of a risk since it could be both a bust and loss of money.
If you’re looking for a failsafe, there’s always Angry Birds, which is obviously battletested since it has more than 350 million downloads between all platforms and games. It’s guaranteed to provide hours of entertainment, even if it’s mindless.
Also, don’t forget your favorite games that you play on real boards, such as chess, checkers or even tic-tac-toe. I know I have spent many a lecture playing tic-tac-toe on my iPod Touch with the kind of cutie you always sit by but never have a real reason to talk to. Or maybe that’s just me. Either way, it’s fun.
Don’t forget Words With Friends, because I know everyone can use a good lesson in the proper spelling. It’s fun too, and if you can resist cheating you might actually learn something. There’s a free version to boot, though you might have to put up with some ads.
In the same vein as my Fantasy Football column, there are also plenty of apps to keep you up to date on other games, like ESPN Scoreboard or ESPN Fantasy Football 2011. That way, not only can you keep up on the real games, but all your fantasy ones too.
The bottom line is that apps pretty much cover any base you can imagine. While the games aren’t rated AAA at the moment, that fact could change within the next couple years when big game companies get involved in making apps.
It’s happening, people, so sharpen your downloading skills before the rush.
— Jason Krell is a junior studying creative writing and Italian. He can be reached at arts@wildcat.arizona.edu.
