Counterfeit Pokemon Game Tops App Charts

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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Counterfeit Pokemon Game Tops App Charts


A bogus version of Pokémon Yellow has reached #2 on Apple's paid apps sales chart, despite the fact it doesn't work.

The app costs $0.99 and comes courtesy of developer, QEAB, which also released equally unlicensed versions of Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh around the same time. The game seems to have slipped past Apple's less-than-stringent application process, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107512-Apple-Authorizes-Counterfeit-Version-of-Wolfires-Lugaru] though presumably the company has its hands full protecting us from all that nasty satire. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.312885-Apple-Bans-Anti-Apple-App]

Official or not, there's a market for Pokémon games on iOS. Pokémon Yellow, which according to the sales blurb is "Just like the original. Only better because you can play it on the most intuitive device ever - the iPhone," is currently squatting on the #2 spot on the App Store's paid Apps sales chart, despite the fact it doesn't actually work. According to the majority of the user reviews, the app crashes upon reaching the title screen. Luckily, QEAB - which is a fantastic word to say out loud - are on the case.

"If you are experiencing issues with Pokémon Yellow, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience," says the company's website. "Thanks for your patience while we thoroughly investigate this issue. We are working on a new build and we anticipate this will be completed soon, which should overcome the issue. Again, apologies for the inconvenience."

There's numerous upsides to this whole debacle: first, perhaps complaints from a heavy-hitter like Nintendo might shake up Apple's somewhat lax attitude towards protecting developers from thieving scam artists; second, it might convince Nintendo that there's money to be made in iOS versions of their bestsellers; and finally, it's a wonderful opportunity to use an obvious "it's still better than Angry Birds," joke. That's me, always looking on the bright side.

[Update] While writing this, the game was removed from the app store, anyone who bought it can get a refund through Apple's customer service desk. Have fun with that.


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SD-Fiend

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Nov 24, 2009
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Lord that mask couldn't be any creepier if there was an overweight black man under it
OT:I heard of this earlier. Just another scam I guess...
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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that picture....some guy has murdured pikachew and is wearing his skin as a mask?!
 

Kyrinn

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Zachary Amaranth said:
I love the fact that it not working didn't seem to be a deterrent.
Well you have to have bought the app in order to leave a review and warn other people so at least a handfull were guaranteed to buy. I also think the fact that it was available on the top 10 paid apps box led a lot of people to click buy without actually viewing the app or the reviews.

On another note the game actually reached #1 before it was taken down.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Kyrinn said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
I love the fact that it not working didn't seem to be a deterrent.
Well you have to have bought the app in order to leave a review and warn other people so at least a handfull were guaranteed to buy. I also think the fact that it was available on the top 10 paid apps box led a lot of people to click buy without actually viewing the app or the reviews.

On another note the game actually reached #1 before it was taken down.
But that's exactly the thing. It had to get to the top, and that took more than a handful.

Once you're in that top ten, yeah, you're going to get a lot of blind buys. But that large divide between the handful of starters and the top ten list is the part that gets me.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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There was a similar thing on the Android market. It worked but it was terrible and clearly unlicensed. Though, just like this situation, it shows there is in fact a market for this type of game... maybe I'll make one that works and doesn't directly infringe on Pokemon! MUAHAHAHAHA!
 

PinkiePyro

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Sep 26, 2010
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lmao XD

I can not believe that so many bought a non-working app regardless of the copyright infringement
at least apple is handing out refunds

seriously I always research before I buy games READ THE USER REVIEWS PEOPLE!
 

Waaghpowa

Needs more Dakka
Apr 13, 2010
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Maybe apple should use a small portion of it's 100 billion dollars that's just sitting around doing nothing to hire a few people to keep this shit from happening in the first place. No? Guess it's too expensive then.
 

spectrenihlus

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Feb 4, 2010
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Hey Nintendo!!! Maybe you could oh I dunno release some of your games on the iphone and other smartphones there seems to be a market. Why fight apple when you get profit from them.
 

scottxxxx667

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Apr 30, 2010
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spectrenihlus said:
Hey Nintendo!!! Maybe you could oh I dunno release some of your games on the iphone and other smartphones there seems to be a market. Why fight apple when you get profit from them.
If they are going to release old games it will be through their own eShop on 3DS. Expecting them to put their own software on someone elses hardware because it has a larger market share would be like expecting apple to put the AppStore on Android or the iLife/iWork programs on Windows 7.
 

yundex

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DVS BSTrD said:
QEAB used rip-off
It wasn't very effective.
Shouldn't it be super effective since it hit the #2 spot in paid downloads? :D

Side note, only teenage girls use iphones! Android is for real phone...ers!
 

yundex

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Nov 19, 2009
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DVS BSTrD said:
yundex said:
DVS BSTrD said:
QEAB used rip-off
It wasn't very effective.
Shouldn't it be super effective since it hit the #2 spot in paid downloads? :D

Side note, only teenage girls use iphones! Android is for real phone...ers!
I knew you were going to say that the INSTANT i saw what post you were quoting.
I don't know if that's good or bad. :(









:)

Capcha: That iesnork
Yeah! That damn iesnork!
 

Shinsei-J

Prunus Girl is best girl!
Apr 28, 2011
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I'm just loving that pic.
But we need a pokemon yellow remake now... NOA!!
 

Redlin5_v1legacy

Better Red than Dead
Aug 5, 2009
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Looks like Nintendo



Can't catch them all. [http://mirrors.rit.edu/instantCSI/]

Or, maybe according to the update, they can. I still am amused by it though. Nintendo and Apple getting along? Forget it. Pokemon isn't going to grace Apple products, the IP is needed to sell the 3DS with the next version. A version I may end up not buying... For the first time in my life...

[sub][sub]That picture is amazing.[/sub][/sub]
 

Ayjona

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Jul 14, 2008
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Grey Carter said:
perhaps complaints from a heavy-hitter like Nintendo might shake up Apple's somewhat lax attitude towards protecting developers from thieving scam artists;
Since a word like "lax" is relative and must be put into context to gain meaning, I'm assuming you are comparing the App Store review process to... uhm... the review process of another mobile software store with similar low barriers of entry... such as... uhm...

Surely t'is better to have no review process at all, like the Android market (which have had several Pokemon clones), since that evidently protects the store from criticism of the review process ;-)

I do appreciate the Escapist's famous anti-Apple bias at times, but in cases like this (easily compared to articles on the same subject by other sites, such as Ars Technica), it just leads to bad, or at least silly, journalism :-D

Ah, well, I'm sure The Escapist will do a piece on all the times Apple actually does remove clones and other forms of copyright infringement (of which they removed over a dozen last month) from the App Store. Considering that this is something other mobile software stores do not, that IS actually NEWS...

Redlin5 said:
Or, maybe according to the update, they can. I still am amused by it though. Nintendo and Apple getting along? Forget it. Pokemon isn't going to grace Apple products, the IP is needed to sell the 3DS with the next version. A version I may end up not buying... For the first time in my life...
Heh, one of the few times Nintendo's shares have jumped in recent times is when a persuasive rumor that Nintendo intended to release their software for iOS spread. After Nintendo vehemently denied, their shareholders started pressuring them to actually do so :-D

Yer right, as long as Nintendo rely on hardware sales, it will not happen. The question then becomes: how long CAN they survive by putting out dedicated portable consoles in a world where smartphones (of all kinds, not just Apple's), a piece of tech that is rapidly growing towards being ubiquitous in the western world, already can exhibit superior hardware, greater portability and a whole world of utility and creative software, and the constant connectivity that 3G and 4G connections bestow, leading to a whole new kind of multiplayer gaming. People are already playing SFIV for iOS (and soon for Android, hopefully) competitively during train trips and in classrooms, and once async gaming really takes off (the first tremors can already be felt in many Android and iOS forums, where the first question any maker of a multiplayer turn-based games will face is: "does it support asynchronous play?"), WiFi connectivity might not be enough to bring all those otherwise wonderful little Nintendo consoles into our homes, hands and hearts...
 

Frostbyte

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Jan 1, 2012
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QEAB... I love saying that.

OT: Another clone? Really? Seriously, Apple, get your shit together. Now.