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苹果Game Center仍有较大提升空间

发布时间:2012-03-09 11:17:45 Tags:,,,

作者:Anthony Usher

回到2011年6月,苹果前CEO Steve Jobs曾站在旧金山苹果开发者大会上心满意足地表示,公司新推出的Game Center网络已有5000万用户(游戏邦注:这超越微软Xbox Live平台的用户规模)。

但这并不代表Game Center平台的发展前景就一片乐观。这一苹果预装于多数iPhone、iPod和iPad设备的免费社交网络仍有很大的扩展和提升空间。

苹果今年夏天将开始自己的扩张计划,推出Mac最新版操作系统——受iPad启发的Mountain Lion。同样,在新版OS X中植入Game Center远远不够。

功能不齐全

首先,就2011年6月我们预期的功能来看,Game Center还有所欠缺——例如,玩家无法查看空闲在线好友;缺少能够发起竞争较量的聊天大厅;以及没有同热门社交网络的结合。

最后这一功能不仅能让你轻松发现自己的哪些好友有Game Center帐号,还将鼓励你和Facebook或Twitter好友分享最新解锁内容。

同样,我们希望Tim Cook的公司能够直接将Activity Hub植入其社交游戏应用中。这会让你清楚把握好友在过去几小时所获得的成就、排行榜位置的变更及伙伴最近体验的游戏回合。

但苹果不应仅止于此。和在索尼PSN平台一样,我们希望获悉好友正在体验的游戏作品。

没有这些功能,苹果的社交游戏网络就无法真正具有社交性,这就令平台失去意义。

game center from apple.com

game center from apple.com

获得更高的曝光度

若你询问普通玩家(游戏邦注:特别是没有iOS设备的玩家)什么是Game Center,他多半会毫无头绪。但若是询问非玩家什么是Xbox Live,他们多半略知一二。

换而言之,Game Center缺乏足够曝光度。

待到Mountain Lion今年夏天进入大众视野,Mac所有者就能够从Mac App Store下载应用,和其他Mac、iPhone、iPod touch和iPad用户一起参加多人体验活动。

系统也将植入操作便捷的Game Center应用,和iOS用户一样,Mac用户将能够查看自己的好友,追踪自己的成就等。

这非常不错,无疑是苹果迈出的正确一步,但还远远不够。

首先,PC用户怎么办?显然,苹果多半不会让自己的用户同Windows PC玩家实现跨平台体验—–这有点愚蠢。能够让用户以自己的苹果ID登陆游戏,查看Game Center好友请求的Windows PC桌面应用对这技术巨头来说简直是小菜一碟。

若无法做到这点,推出网页版应用也行,上述所提到的功能其实也适用于Ping这个苹果另一失败社交网络。

采取措施制止非法手段

查看任何热门iOS作品的Game Center排名,例如《Temple Run》,我们很容易就能发现哪些用户不是通过合法渠道获得分数。苹果需要采取错失制止这一广泛存在的问题。

当然,用户也能够通过小手段在Xbox Live和PSN崭露头角,但要篡改iOS设备却只需几分钟即可(就算黑客手段并不高明),然后就可随意变更游戏设定。

服务于越狱iOS设备的第三方应用商店Cydia提供很多便于安装mod,这能够给予玩家无限生命力及取之不尽的弹药,将他们变得刀枪不入等。

甚至还有这样应用:只要轻轻点击开关,你就能够立即解锁所有支持Game Center的App Store游戏的成就内容。

就此来说,这将严重降低整个Game Center的体验质量。苹果需要进行严加防范,或移除这些玩家的分数,或给出警告,抑或是禁止故技重施的玩家体验游戏。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Opinion: Apple needs to upgrade, expand, and clean up Game Center

by Anthony Usher

Back in June 2011, Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs stood on stage at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco and gloated that his company’s relatively new Game Center network had 50 million members. That’s more than Microsoft’s Xbox Live service can boast.

That’s not to suggest all is rosy in the Game Center garden, mind. Apple’s free social gaming network, which comes pre-installed on the majority of iPhones, iPods, and iPads, has plenty of room for expansion and improvement.

Apple will begin that expansion this summer when it rolls out the latest iteration of its Mac operating system: the iPad-inspired Mountain Lion. Still, the inclusion of Game Center in the next release of OS X isn’t enough.

Feature this

For starters, Game Center is still missing several of the features we requested back in June 2011 – namely, the ability to see which of your friends are online and ready for a butt-kicking; a chat lobby so you can set up a match / bout; and integration with popular social networks.

This final feature would not only allow you to easily discover which of your friends have a Game Center account, but it would also encourage you to share your latest unlocks with your Facebook or Twitter buddies.

Similarly, we’d like to see Tim Cook’s company bake an Activity Hub directly into its social gaming application. Naturally, this would give you a detailed list of all the achievements your friends have managed to nab in the past few hours, significant changes in leaderboard positions, and your pals’ recent gaming sessions.

Apple shouldn’t stop there, though. Like on Sony’s PSN service, we want to be able to see what titles our friends are playing as they’re playing them.

Without these features, Apple’s social gaming network just isn’t very social, which – in a way – defeats the point.

Taking over

If you ask an average gamer – especially one without an iOS device – what Game Center is, there’s a good chance he won’t have a clue. Ask a non-gamer what Xbox Live is, however, and there’s a much better chance they’ll know.

In other words, Game Center lacks presence.

When Mountain Lion roars into view this summer, Mac owners will be able to download applications from the Mac App Store and take part in multiplayer events with other Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners.

There’ll also be a handy Game Center app, similar to the iOS client, that allows you to check out your friends, peruse your achievements, and more.

That’s all well and good. And it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Again, though, it isn’t enough.

Firstly, what about PC owners? Obviously, we don’t expect Apple to allow cross-platform play with Windows-based PC gamers – that’s just silly. A desktop application for Windows PCs that lets you to sign in with your Apple ID and check your Game Center friend requests, on the other hand, isn’t really asking too much of the tech giant.

Failing that, we’d be satisfied with a web-based app. Heck, we’d even settle for the above functionality being baked into your iTunes Ping profile. Y’know, Apple’s other social experiment / failure.

Cracking down

If you take a look at the Game Center leaderboards of any popular iOS title, such as Temple Run, it’s pretty easy to spot the players that haven’t earned their high score legitimately. Apple needs to crack down on this widespread issue.

Sure, it’s probably possible to cheat your way into the limelight on both Xbox Live and PSN, but it takes a matter of minutes – even with very limited knowledge – to hack your iOS device and begin modding titles.

Cydia, the third-party app store for jailbroken iOS devices, houses tons of mods that can be easily installed and turned on to grant gamers unlimited lives, infinite ammo, invulnerability, and other – admittedly – handy tweaks.

There’s even an application that sits on your device that, with the flick of a switch, can instantly unlock every available achievement for any Game Center-enabled App Store title of your choosing.

As it stands, the sheer amount of dodgy scores seriously devalues the whole Game Center experience. It’s something Apple needs to police with score removals, warnings, and bans for repeat offenders.(Source:pocketgamer


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