No matter what Apple does, they are never wrong, LOL!

Someday some of these people will wake up and realize Apple does not care about them either. They are, after all a big corporation and like all the others just want to make money for themselves and the shareholders.

What Apple did here was not exactly customer friendly. Sure the games are pretty cheap, if they weren’t the shouts would have been a lot louder, like it was for the iPhone price cut.

But in some ways this game thing is worse and silly. It will only them lose game sales. I will never buy one after now knowing I may be only “renting” them.

Only Apple fanboys would attack ReelSmart for being honest. I have read this website for awhile now and picked up many tips, I even fixed a few Mac problems along the way, oh yeah, I know Macs NEVER have problems, LOL!

There is no way this site is anti-Apple. In fact it is pro Apple. Apparently Stephen just doesn’t wear blinders or drink the Apple Fanboy kool-aid! This will keep me reading ReelSmart for a long time as the reviews are non-biased and the site is not run by an Apple Fanboy!

I would expect that Apple NOT put out a game only a few weeks before they are killing the ONLY compatible iPod. I would also expect, that the standard in the entire tech industry apply. That they charge a reduced mprice for an update or provide a free one for getting an EXACT same game to run on the new iPod OS. Not gouge their best cutomers (the ones that bought more than one iPod).

When upgrading ANY application on ANY platform I have never been required to PAY FULL PRICE for the SAME EXACT thing for the same platform! NEVER. I simply bought an update at a reduced price that usually even had more features.

If Apple wanted to be forthcoming, they could have simply told customers at the launch of the new iPod that the current games did not work and needed to be updated. But instead, they did little to explain this. Jobs touted the new nano that it could now play games (never telling anyone they did not play any of the available ones). They even called the new full sized iPod a classic. Classic what?

In fact they sold many games to the new iPod owners that did not work and refused refunds. The Apple support forums were full of complaints, that Apple promptly took down. The text on the iTunes site was so small most people bought them without knowing. Some were EVEN prompted to buy them on the first synced with iTunes. Do you think this is alright also? Probably you do. The voice of reason is me, I point out when Apple screws up, and do not follow them blindly.

I challenge you to read this blog and show me were I am unfair to Apple. I think you will find, I am fair but point out their msitakes, even though you may not think they make any!

In my case my 5th generation iPod was stolen and I was left with 7 games that were useless, two that were only released a few weeks before Apple brought out NEW iPods and killing the old ones, that THEY knew were incompatible. This is not being nice to customers, sorry.

The new games Apple has simply updated to run on new iPods are EXACTLY the same and now run on ALL the iPods. If you like paying FULL price for the same thing, you might be one of Apple’s BEST customers!

Apple refunded my money, as they should have. If you choose to blindly follow a company and pay whatever they ask when ever they decide, that is your choice. I am as big an Apple fan as there is, but will always point out when they do something wrong that affects good customers. This was a bad decision on their part, that will lead to less games sold in the long run.

Most users like myself, NEVER knew we were RENTING them. What next re-buy all your videos?

Good name you choose. Notice you are writing from Windows, not that good an Apple customer I guess.

As for the older games still being available, why wouldn’t they be? Since when does technology stop working when a new iteration come out? Same with why an ‘older’ version of the sims being released just weeks before the new iPods coming out.

This is how Apple operates. For someone who has purchased Apple products for many years, as you stated, you should know this. How do you recommend they handle it in the future? Pull the product 3 weeks in advance saying that they’re not compatible with upcoming products? Pick one business in technology that does that? Why should Apple?

You know you can buy a compatible iPod any day of your life. There are millions all around us. Your excuses have been lame, and have cost Apple time and money, taking resources away from serving other customers with legitimate support requests.

A game for the older iPod is not the same as a game for the newer iPod. Different versions. Apple should not have to compensate you when you move to the newer platform. That’s like Sony having to buy you new CDs to replace your cassette tapes when you buy your first CD player.

Get a brain.

Thanks for bringing attention to this. I will be contacting Apple support for a refund. Hopefully, they will give me the same treatment and give me a refund for the games I bought.

Good point. But, I thought it was Steve trying to be 80s hip!

First, the SIMS games were only released about three weeks before the new iPods. Why offer them when you know you are killing ALL the compatible iPods?

Second, the new Tetris release that Apple expects us to re-buy runs on the 5G and the new iPod nano and classic, proving there will be updated games to work on ALL iPods that have this capability. Apple just seems to expect stupid customers should re-buy the SAME games again!

Third, Apple is STILL selling the old games that have NO compatibility with ANY iPod they currently sell. Many have reported that when they connect their NEW iPods for the first time they are prompted to the iPod games page where they have mistakenly purchased games without reading the very fine print. They are left with useless games, for which Apple makes NO refunds. This is almost criminal. Many have complained to Apple without results.

Forth, you use an analogy of upgrading from an old Mac to a new Mac. This makes MY point exactly. As you are correct that your software needed to be updated to run on OS X. You neglect to mention that you probably were NOT required to purchase the software application again at FULL PRICE. You simply would pay an upgrade price that probably came with more features anyway! Not to mention you are comparing a Mac from 10 years ago and I am comparing an iPod from 10 minutes ago.

Apple should have informed users that the old games would not work, they kind of sprung it on people! Bad communication. They even called the new full sized iPod, the iPod classic, meaning what?

Next they should have offered free or at least a low upgrade price to the new games. None of these games have any new features or levels, they are simple games that just needed some recoding to play on the new iPod OS. Asking customers to re-purchase either shows Apple is “out-of-touch” or greedy. I will let you choose.

So far Apple is playing run and hide. They have made no announcement, they take down every complaint or ask for help on their support forums, and they have customers like me waiting four days for a simple anwser. All while blogs and websites all over are showing angry customers. It is to be seen if they will rectify this. My guess is they are measuring the anger, calculating that it may not be that bad as the games are only $4.99 each. Many people though, have purchased six or seven (like me), that is not so cheap now is it?

Pointing to an obvious technical excuse, is not the answer. Jobs tried that unsuccessfully with the iPhone price cut saying “Well that’s technolgy.” I am an engineer and a developer, I understand what’s involved. It is not the great undertaking you describe for these simple inexpensive games to be re-coded.

Being fair to loyal customers should be Apple’s first prority, which it clearly wasn’t. This affects Apple’s BEST iPod customers, as you would have to have bought a 5G iPod, games, and then a NEW iPod to be in this situation. The precedent of telling some of your best customers to re-purchase at FULL price is certainly have a short term gain at the expense of long term customer loyalty. How many people will buy these silly simple games again if they are only good for a year? How many will line up on the first day of a new Apple product? Less I bet.

Jobs said people want to own music, not rent it, Well Mr. Jobs should realize this is the same with iPod games. Especially since nobody even told us we were renting them!

If you can’t tell, this is meant to be taken with a large dose of salt.

As has been said, the hardware and software is very different between the new iPods and the old. This is a practice that has been going for years, making comparisons between the PS 2 and the iPod is pointless, since on the PS3, aside from the first units shipped in the states, they started to remove the chips needed to get them to play older games. (FYI, Not sure about the N64, but on the Game Cube, at least, you could buy add on packs that enabled you to play older games, just to fact check you there.)

I agree its a bit of a shafting, but sadly, this stuff does happen. I have a 2nd gen iPod Mini that has served me well for a few years, when I heard games were out I was highly excited, and then instantly upset because I heard my old beloved iPod couldn’t handle them – I have since refused to buy another iPod until Apple issues a firmware update for the Mini to allow games to played, after all they are still iPods and we all know its easier to make things compatible with existing products than products yet to be made or even designed. (again, to be taken with a dose of salt.)

Give it time, Apple will try to do right by everyone, but you have to appreciate that it is technically not possible to make the older games run on the newer OS X based iPods. The under lying architecture and programming systems are completely unique on the new systems in comparison to the old – hence the reason you’re old games wont work. I’m taking a shot in the dark that Apple never really anticipated this would be an issue (since y’know as good as they are, they can’t predict every possible scenario that can happen when a new product comes out.) and are jut now dealing with the fall out of it – which sadly does take a few days to make contingency plans, clear the red tape and pass the info down through the ranks.

At the end of the day their are companies with much, much worse business practices than the three or four mistakes apple has made with the iPod/iPhone roll outs and changes over the past two months.

Call me a fan boy all you like by the way. It means little if that’s what you think.. I’m not, but hey, nothing I can say will change anyones mind to that if they chose to think it so..

I will never buy any of these games for my iPod. If the music, movies, and TV shows work that we paid for, Why shouldn’t the games we already paid for. The price is cheap, but still should not have to pay full price. Apple should give refunds!

But the game fiasco, now this is like spitting on customers, over such a small amount of money. Thanks for stopping by.

I’m sure it’ll get reverse engineered soon enough, but I’m done supporting a company that restricts me from using my own device. I liked the idea of the iPod touch because I would be able to purchase songs directly to it from iTunes (something I’m not currently able to do!) So they would have received extra revenue from me in addition to the iPod sale. I’m sure the reasoning is to stop 3rd party apps used to grab songs off someone elses iPod, but I have a huge music collection ripped to my system. These aren’t downloaded songs, they are my personal collection that I paid for. Apple would have made probably made a lot from me, as they have an excellent variety of what I enjoy and I am more than willing to shell out for my music.

I was ready to make the purchase, too, as my 3rd gen iPod recently bit the dust. Instead I bought a new 4g Zen, and while it may use MTP (Microsoft’s Media Transfer Protocol) for file transfer it still works on my machine. It’s not as smooth and pretty as an iPod, but it sounds great, was a lot cheaper, and doesn’t restrict me from using it with music I already own.

If Sony can make Playstation bacward compatible and NOT charge the FULL price to re-purchase these expensive games, Apple should have either offered an upgrade at a price of maybe a dollar. NOT expect you to pay FULL price for what IS the SAME game.

I am an engineer, Apple developer, Web developer, video engineer and totally understand the platform, the OS, and I have owned EVERY iPod they sold. This is not an excuse to charge FULL price for what amounts to an update! That is simply NOT consumer friendly.

Say and believe what you want, this will not help the company you are defending. Many people will NOT line up so fast for the new Apple product next time and many will NOT buy future games.

If a good customer has bought a 5G iPod at $250-$350, bought games for it, then goes and buys a new iPod classic at $250 -$350, Apple should NOT be charging that GOOD customer FULL price for the same title game, that is essentially the same game. The SIMS games were only available for a few weeks. Now the 5G iPod is dead and Apple no longer sells a compatible iPod for it. Many have downloaded the game for the new iPods as they were not aware they would not work (the fine print is well tiny). Apple offers NO refunds!

Apple has mis-respresented the iPod games completely, most customers are shocked when they are finding out the games are incompatible and Apple is still selling them without refunds.

So going by your standards, I would have to recommend to customers NOT to upgrade their iPods as Apple will screw them on cheap games and expensive add-ons (including Apple’s own brand). Sure this is GOOD for Apple’s business now, is it not?

Newer games and newer versions of older games can work with older iPods because it’s easy to make software for hardware that exists. But you can’t expect games to work on hardware that didn’t exist when they were made.

The game you bought will continue to work on an iPod current with the one you had. Nobody’s taking that away from you. You still own that game, and it still works on old iPods.

But if you want to run a new game on a new iPod, you gotta buy it. It sucks, but Apple hasn’t misrepresented anything or taken anything from you. The old games just don’t run on the new iPods, and they’re not obliged to give you any money back just because your old iPod is gone.

You can stick with what you have, or you can keep up with the times. You’re trying to mix the two, and as you can see, it doesn’t always work. So do you want your old games, or do you want your new iPod?

No customers should be told to pay FULL price to re-purchase all the games they already bought for the same basic hardware. What if they decide they want you to pay FULL price for other Apple software, when a new Mac comes out?

I bought TWO new iPods to replace the one that was stolen. Why is it good business to leave a bad taste in good customer’s mouths like this? Apple NO LONGER SELLS an iPod that is compatible with these games leaving customers high and dry! Think I would EVER buy games from them again?

What I am requesting is a free download of the SAME game I already bought or at least a 99 cent charge. Mind you this is not an upgrade, it is the same game. It would simply make the game compatible with the new iPod models I paid for.

It is bad enough, that Steve Jobs has touted the add-on compatibility of the iPod dock connector for years. If you are not aware, EVEN Apple branded add-ons are now broken, leaving customers with expensive Apple add-ons that no longer work along with the so-called “Made for Mac” third party devices. You must buy a $49 proprietary cable just to get TV out. Now we are expected to re-purchase games.

Even if you do not agree with me, I bet you can see my point that this is penny-wise and dollar foolish on Apple’s part. It is bad business to use such a petty amount of money to piss off customers!

If you want to play your old games, go to eBay and buy a 5G or 5.5G.

Or you could save a ton of money by simply rebuying all the games for $35 (actually less since some of them aren’t yet available).

By your own admission you buy new iPods every generation and just dropped $550 on new iPods and you’re bitching about $35 worth of games?

STFU and buy the games again, you cheap bastard.

You can afford fscking iPods, but you can’t shell out US$4.99 for a compatible game?

I repeat: STFU.