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Originally posted by 90GT50
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Ummm So how's the baby thing. -
By monday the game will no longer work.... as no longer on the app stores
http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/09/...yen/?hpt=hp_t2
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Everyone DL clumsy bird now.Check your self bro , you're not that cool.Comment
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'Flappy Bird' Creator Pulled Game Because It Was 'Too Addictive'
Amid Speculation of a Publicity Stunt, Developer Says Fuss Was
Overwhelming
HANOI—Despite what many players of his infuriatingly difficult "Flappy Bird" smartphone game seem to think, Dong Nguyen isn't actually Satan.
"I just wanted to create a game that people could enjoy for a few minutes," he said Tuesday in a wide-ranging interview.
His game, which became a global phenomenon, in recent weeks soared to the top of the charts in Apple Inc.'s App Store and Google Inc.'s Play, turning the shy 29-year-old Mr. Dong into something of a sensation among small, independent game developers. His notoriety grew further when he mysteriously withdrew the free game from circulation Sunday at the height of its success.
"It was just too addictive," Mr. Dong said. He said he didn't intend for people to play the game for hours at a time, as many gamers appear to have done.
"That was the main negative. So I decided to take it down," he said.
"Flappy Bird" has delighted and enraged players in equal measure. To progress through the game, players tap the screens of their phones to keep a crude, heavily pixilated bird aloft and navigate a mazelike series of obstacles. On the face of it, the game couldn't be simpler.
But "Flappy Bird" is also extraordinarily difficult. Many players have posted screenshots of their high scores to Twitter or other social media sites to show how they are getting on. The goalkeeper for English soccer club Arsenal recently posted his record score for the game shortly after rivals Liverpool fired five goals past him. "Game over!" Wojciech Szczesny wrote on Facebook after racking up an impressive personal best of 282 points.
For comparison, Mr. Dong said his best score is 150.
Other players wrote unusually extensive reviews of the game on Apple's App Store, detailing the misery they say Mr. Dong's creation inflicted.
"I would, in a heartbeat, sell my soul to Satan just to have never downloaded this app," one reviewer wrote.
It is the game many people love to hate, though. Some players have jokingly suggested that Mr. Dong himself might be the devil, and his decision to take down the game from the store was greeted with both applause and mourning.
In a bizarre tribute, some players listed their iPhones for sale on online auction site eBay, noting that they were preloaded with "Flappy Bird." One was listed for $134,295, although others are more modestly priced, with "Flappy Bird" mentioned as an additional inducement to potential buyers.
Some gaming industry observers were stunned that Mr. Dong would voluntarily kill off a game that at its peak was bringing in $50,000 a day in advertising revenue. Speculation in recent days has been rife that the move to remove the game was a publicity stunt to drum up interest in future games he is working on.
The reality, Mr. Dong said, is that he enjoys making videogames in his spare time, and the attention that "Flappy Bird" garnered badly crimped his style.
He still lives at home with his parents in Hanoi, but finds it difficult to walk down the street in his neighborhood without being pestered. He said he has virtually disconnected himself from the Internet and hasn't checked his email in days. He is also on vacation from his day job writing firmware for sophisticated computer hardware and said he isn't sure if or when he will return to work.
The fuss, Mr. Dong said, "is extremely uncomfortable" and he is waiting for his life to return to normal. He refused to be photographed or filmed for this article.
The spread of the Internet, and especially the mobile Web, increases the odds of surprise hits such as "Flappy Bird" emerging from seemingly nowhere, industry analysts say.
The growing ubiquity of smartphones, in particular, is breaking the tether between gamers and expensive consoles, enabling virtual unknowns such as Mr. Dong to go viral like Internet video clips. Rovio Entertainment Ltd., for instance, was a comparatively small-time developer in Finland before it came up with "Angry Birds" for the iPhone in 2009.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has quietly developed its own gaming culture among its narrow, higgledy-piggledy townhouses and coffee shops. In 2012, Hanoi-based Emobi Games developed a shoot 'em-up-style game based on the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, in which revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh routed French colonial forces in 1954. VNG Corp. has developed a series of martial arts combat games of the kind most frequently played online in Internet cafes.
Mr. Dong said he spent three days developing "Flappy Bird." It employs a distinctive retro style that the young Vietnamese said he thinks is simple and compelling. "It is pure. It is all about the game, not about the ornamentation or decoration," he said.
His style is in contrast to the increasingly complex games now proliferating on mobile devices offering in-app purchases to help players buy their way to the next level of difficulty. That could be part of its appeal.
"It is a throwback to the games many of us grew up with," said Vietnam-based technology writer Anh-Minh Do. "But what a lot of people have ignored is the discipline of 'Flappy Bird''s game design. They underestimate his smarts in making it as hard as it is. Yes, he's been lucky. But that's not the full picture."
"Flappy Bird" initially had a quiet start to life, launching in May last year to relatively little attention. Mr. Dong didn't bother trying to promote it. But in January Swedish gamer Felix Kjellberg —better known as YouTube star PewDiePie—featured it in a rundown of his favorite games. The video has since been watched 9.8 million times, and helped to propel "Flappy Bird" to the top of the app charts.
Since pulling it from Apple's and Google's app stores, interest in Mr. Dong's other games, including "Ninjas Assault" and "Droplet Shuffle," has increased. Mr. Dong said he is working on three prototypes in a similar vein to "Flappy Bird."
If there is one positive to be gleaned from the furor over his most famous creation, it is that "I have more freedom and confidence to create more games," he said.
Meanwhile, "Flappy Bird" has flown the coop and found a new lease on life since Mr. Dong pulled it from the app stores. It is available at various online sites, albeit not in its original, hand-held habitat.
And if there is a lesson the rest of the world can learn from its success, Mr. Dong said it is a simple one: "Just be patient," he said.
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Fucking pussy needs to suck it the fuck up and make that money!!! $$$$$$$$$Comment
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these people are freaking nuts... people with flappy birds installed on their phones are asking insane prices for them.
Brand new Iphone 5 WITH FLAPPY BIRD game installed. Its with At&t, 16 gb, NOT jailbroken, all completley orignial. It also comes with a LifeProof case and all its attachments. The phone is brand new, I put it in the LifeProof Case the day I brought it and never took it out. Never dropped it, no scratches, all new. The game flappy bird is also in here, wich is IMPOSSIBLE to get because it's been deleted from the App Store. Asking $1,500 or best offer.Comment
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I have the apk for Android devices if any of you wants to capitalize on this debauchery.Comment
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Windows store still has it....2012 GT500Comment
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Jeez I love videogames and I do admit I have an addiction, but jeeeesus I'd never spend that much choo choo. Craigslist has blown up too with it. I didn't even know wtf all this was all about until i started seeing 6000 dollar iPods on CL on my search for a cheap gym beater iPod...
Wtf is wrong with pplComment
you could re-create flappy bird with $1500 lol2012 GT500Comment
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