Hot Five

Hot Five: Ouya angers devs, Clash of Clans crashes out and bye bye Apple glitz and glamour

Last week's top 5 stories

Hot Five: Ouya angers devs, Clash of Clans crashes out and bye bye Apple glitz and glamour
Welcome to PocketGamer.biz's weekly rundown of the stories clocking up the hits, picking up the click-throughs and generally keeping the advertisers happy by serving up page views.

Or, if you'd prefer, the top five stories currently dominating our readers' attention.

Each week, we'll be counting down the biggest news from the previous seven days, giving just a glimpse of the industry's big issues, from five to one.



Opinion: The era of Apple glitz and glamour is over

Even the most ardent of Apple supporters would have to admit that the firm's iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C reveal last week wasn't as typically 'Hollywood' as some of the Cupertino's past press splashes.

According to site editor Keith Andrew, the iPhone 5S's fingerprint tech Touch ID was the one moment that tapped into an Apple of old – eager to innovate.

The Apple of 2013, he argued, is far more concerned with expanding it's rapidly topping out market share, with a cheaper handset for China and emerging markets a sign of the times.

"Whether it ends up missing the mark or not, iPhone 5C is a direct reaction to that – a device born out of a base desire to increase market share rather than to innovate," detailed Andrew.

"You won't find an analyst out there who doesn't think moving into China is the right thing for Apple to do right now. It just means that we're going to have to get used to an Apple that's a little less focused on showbiz and a little more focused on its share price."



Nearly 6 million devices already running iOS 7

Aside from the iPhone reveal, the other interesting bit of Apple news to emerge was the suggestion that almost 6 million devices have already upgraded to the new 'flat' iOS 7 – despite the fact the platform is only available in beta form for developers.

"Chitika claims web usage statistics claim iOS 6 is the dominant version of the OS, with a 92 percent share of all iPhones," detailed editor Andrew.

"Sneaking in at the bottom is iOS 7 with a 1 percent share. Using Apple's own statistics published at the time of its beta launch suggesting that there are 575 million registered App Store accounts across the globe.

"Using that figure as a rough base, that would mean around 5.75 million devices are running iOS 7 before the platform has even officially launched."



Developers pull Ouya games as company responds to Free the Game fund farce

Having launched a campaign designed to encourage the development of exclusive Ouya games, it appears the troubled microconsole is now losing support.

Ouya's Free Your Games fund pledged to double the funds of any exclusive Ouya game pushed via Kickstarter as long as its total hit $50,000. Chatter suggests, however, that some titles have been amassing somewhat dodgy donations in order to qualify for Ouya's Free Your Games fund.

It's Ouya's perceived lack of action against the developers behind these titles, however, that has angered some.

Developer Sophie Houlden stated, "This isn't even a response, let alone a decent one. You don't get to keep my game, you don't get to have any of the games I was looking forward to (or even started) porting to Ouya."



Opinion: I've played Clash of Clans more than any other game, but now it's time to log off

Editor-at-large Jon Jordan has been playing Clash of Clans since its Canadian beta back in August 2012, but now he's set to stop.

Why? Because, in his own words, to have "an informed opinion on free-to-play games, you have to spend time and money actually playing them."

"It's also important to play some of these games for long periods of time to see how your motivations to play and pay rise and fall over the months," said Jordan, speaking on his role as a journalist.

"And, of course, to experience how developers update their games with new content and time-dependent offers to keep their long term audience interested. So, in that context, will I be deleting Clash of Clans from my iPad?

"Not quite. It's going into a new folder called 'Games I Used to Play'. I might dip back into it every so often, but my attention is demanded elsewhere."



Developers reveal what PS Vita TV means for the industry

Is Sony's newly unveiled microconsole PS Vita TV launching outside of Asia? The picture is unclear, but what we do know is, developers want it to.

Speaking to indie studios following the device's big reveal, the reaction from most developers was warm and welcome.

"I'm all behind the microconsole concept, no matter who creates it or what it runs on. If I can get my games on all of them, I will," detailed Pascal Bestebroer from OrangePixel.

"If it will be niche product? For now, sure, but it's a niche product that every company seems to be working on."

You can also read our take on why PS Vita TV proves the industry is longer happy to wait for Apple to launch an app-equipped Apple TV here.

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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.