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Comment by trollied | Hacker News Reader

I actually downloaded the original Angry Birds a few weeks ago, just for a little nostalgia trip. They've changed it & completely ruined it with ads and other crap. Deleted it after a few minutes. Was really disappointed. I Paid for the game originally. That's the game I want to play. Utter joke that this nonsense ever became acceptable.

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Is it the actual original Angry Birds? (Now renamed "Red's First Flight" or something like that)

IIRC they did this renaming switcheroo to get people into the freemium+ads-supported version. The original was undercutting their new monetization.

(Which don't get me wrong, is exceedingly scummy already. "The original was undercutting their new monetization", AKA people prefer to not have ads and annoying freemium if they know the game is solid)

Apple Arcade still has a nice Angry Birds version with zero ads or gambling mechanics or any other nonsense.

If it was not for Apple Arcade, I probably would restrict my kids to playing Kerbal Space Program or the few games I know that do not have all that garbage.

Apple Arcade is perfect for kids, you can let them install any game from there and you can be a 100% sure there's no predatory in-app purchases, subscriptions or ads.

The Netflix games are trying the same approach. Basically they have games on the app stores but you can't play them without an active Netflix subscription.

Is there something like this for Android?

There's Google Play Pass.

This made me look to see if I could find the original Angry Birds in my App Store purchase history. It's there, but its been renamed "AB Classic" – I couldn't find it by searching, so I had to scroll a loooong way down the list of apps until I found it near the bottom. Its position in the list was accompanied by other such classics as Flight Control, Doodle Jump and geoDefense, none of which have (or had) ads. I don't install or play games on my phone anymore.

+10 for "I don't install or play games on my phone anymore."

Same here. I gave me this rule: No games on phones or private work computers, as well as no crap like Facebook. I might expand this rule to other non-productivity apps as well, since gaming on a phone is a time drainer and distractor for me.

Bonus points if you have blocked your preferred web distractions at the hosts file level. I still catch myself about once a week mindlessly logging into something while waiting for a process longer than 10 seconds to finish.

"Nuh-uh." - Hosts file

https://www.howtogeek.com/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-yo...

Forgot about this one. Nice tip.

this can be done with NetGuard (Android) or apps like AdGuard Pro (iOs). Both function as VPNs and allow DNS filtering (load custom host lists).

Essential software and should be the first app to be installed on a device.

I’ve started to mainly focus on games that have Ana drive community years after release - often indicated by an open source implementation of the engine. Thing the various source ports of Doom, OpenWM, OpenTTD, etc.

RIP Flight Control. I miss that game a lot.

Me too. It was so so good.

> AB Classic

Wow. Couldn't even leave the words Angry Birds in the title.

You need SEO for this crap.

Search engine obfuscation.

Netflix's games have no ads and have no annoying pop-ups... it's the only stuff I download for my kids to play with. Everything else is cluttered with too much junk for my liking.

On iOS Apple Arcade is pretty good also. No ads or other nonsense.

> Flight Control

I've yet to find a good substitute for this game. Nothing else is paced quite right.

It sounds like a boiling frog problem: they could only monetize the original idea so much and struggled to come up with original ideas in mobile games. So all they could do is just try harder to milk the original idea.

Apparently, there's still a billion dollars worth of merch and micro transactions that can still be milked.

>> there's still a billion dollars worth of merch

Our family has a rather nice Angry Birds carry-on suitcase. I have to wonder what it will be worth in twenty years.

Is it a game mercy suitcase or a movie tie in? That could change the outcome, as future value is roughly tied to nostalgia + rarity.

Old classics are being converted into shitty experiences... mobile gaming is turning bad. It is just terrible now to play on mobile

Same! I couldn't even find the apk of the old version I bought back in 2012. The old version was a decent little mobile game. This? Advertisements, popups, DLC reminders, and you can't play a round or two without annoying interruption.

I'd pay twice for the game if I could get the old vanilla experience back. I played on Wii, and it's too laggy to enjoy.

Uh huh, maybe you also want to play Tiny Thief that you paid for? When you buy pizza, do you also expect it to be edible after 10 years?

</s> // <-- I have noticed adding this reduces errors

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