Eurogamer iPhone app launches! Comments by Tom Bramwell

£2.39?!?!! I'll pass and just access the site for free via Safari

@Hartzu: We're working on a general mobile version of the site for other phones which should be available soon.

why would anyone pay for this? Eurogamer works perfectly well on my phone.

Any plans for a free Lite version?

Ah, how I love hearing people complaining about the pricing of anything in the app store. It's £2.39, for Christ sake.

Do the same people who complain at the price of an app complain when they go into Sainsbury's and buy a sandwich? I know which is better value at £2.39.

The app probably tastes nicer too.

Also, Spooke, can you also watch all the Eurogamer TV videos on your phone?

Of course you can continue to use the full version, it's not a problem. Reasons why it's a couple of quid:

- It took a while to develop
- There are no adverts
- EGTV works
- It's faster and uses less bandwidth
- Everything, including the forum/comments/screenshots are formatted specifically for the iPhone

It's an optional extra - if you get it, we think you'll like it.

Sounds like a nice idea, but I don't have an iPhone and have no plans to get one ever. Can't wait for the mobile site though. IE Mobile struggles to display the whole site which is a pity.

@Spooke:

People may be inclined pay to have the service without adverts. I'd go for it myself if it weren't on iPhone. I would expect that a mobile site would be ad-supported just like regular Eurogamer. And besides, the asking price is less than a magazine and it lasts forever.

I like the initiative but there should be a free ad-sponsored version also... I'm not £2.39 paying for this.

Nice to see it coming out, but even though I see why you would charge for it (after all, you had to put some effort into making it) I don't think €3 is the right price, considering other offerings the App Store has for just 1 euro. I think 0,99 would be a more suitable price for something like this.

Bit of a split-personality response here...

It seems a little pricey to me, I agree with charging something for it, but lets not forget that every single visitor to EG benefits them, SEO-wise at the very least, so charging 2.39 is a bit rich. When I just rushed to download it, I expected it to be free, or 60p at worst. The fact it's £2.39 has given me pause, and i'm a massive EG fan and spend money on apps like it's going out of fashion - so there's little to no chance of winning over someone who isnt a big fan of the site already. Which then leads me to think -- how long before they knock it down to "special offer" 1.19p?

And here's the flip side --
Then again, I buy gamesTM magazine every month for a fiver, and that doesnt have video, so in comparison, this isnt so bad.

cool I downloaded. watching a egtv video on my iphone now. might even browse eurogamer this way more than the browser version from now on, one less reason to turn on my computer

It's £2.39 people, skip a coffee and get Eurogamer goodness on the go forever.

Superb work guys, thanks to all involved in the putting together of this corking app.

Now all I need is a better battery life for my iPhone

I was about to complain about charging for stuff that's available free, but I've been shockingly quickly converted. Decent quality games videos seem often awkward to get hold of on iPhone (so many sites like Eurogamer using proprietary movie players), so it's probably worth it for that.

I'm off to download. Lets see if I'm back in 15 minutes demanding my money back.

Bit expensive, will stick to the normal version for now. Unless you add in some boobs, then I'm all over it.

I agree with "its JUST 2.39" but it's just over the price point of INSTA-BUY for that exact reason. I think that a "SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER" of a quid would get a few people on it straight away and then the good reviews would send it up the charts and get people paying the higher price.

FAIL!

It doesn't show the editor's blog posts, so I can't actually respond to this article in the app. The first hurdle, Eurogamer, tsk tsk.

I want my money back!

Here we go again...

Bit cheeky really. Number of other sites offer similar functioned apps for free-£1.29.

I would get this at £1.29, but for some reason this just seems steep.

@AbracadaverAK : It is perceived value, not cost. I can attain little value for £2.39, you know, principle.

Another positive take for the guys who have put so much hard work behind this. I was initially expecting this to be free myself, but having stopped to think about it for a moment, I believe I will cough up a couple of quid for a faster (less bandwidth) add free experience, and the ability to watch EGTV. I spend enough time reading this site, so I think it's worth it.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Good point about the editors blog, sorry Tom :)

I would pay 99p, no more.

I'm disgusted at the price I'd have to pay to use this app EG! Shocking price!

/ has no Iphone

"We're working on a general mobile version of the site"

Are you intending on this working with mobile Safari ?

The National Rail App is £5 and it gave me the wrong platform the other day and I almost missed the train. :)

[penhalion: Actually, the response in the forum when we announced it was that £2 is fair enough as a one-off fee for an ad-free site that will be improved over-time. We'll see how it goes.]

99p maybe, 59p defo but it should still be free. How about a promotional code for all the registered sight users. I can buy quite a lot of good entertainment for that kind of cash on the app store and there are a lot of great web and social apps that are free that offer more services than this.

It's especially steep as on a 3G or Wireless network I can get on the site, surf and comment on it for no money already. If I want to watch a video I can probably live till I get to a desktop or even just youtube it (another installed and free app)

Poor show EG. way to fleece your regular fan base!!!

...or

To be honest I'd rather you stuck a few adverts on there and gave me it free. I don't find advertising offensive in anyway as long as it's not in you face. a lot of free apps do it and it's not to bad considering the free nature nature of the app. the let those that want to pay a premium for ad free version do it if they want too!

Wont be interested at the current price and unless we all refuse to get it then the price will not come down to something more reasonable!!

great effort guys, thought it would be cheaper too but really is it worth moaning about when you consider the price of some tat gaming magazines and the EGTV functionality
Its a buy for me!

"This ad-free version should be free, after all you guys are running a charity!"

Frankly, I can understand why somebody think the price could be knocked down a bit, but not why it should be free (and without ads)

£2.39 is less than (probably less than half) the price of a paper magazine, how's that for perspective.

Now back to complaining:

From the Dragon age Review:

No captions for review screenshots?
No viewing the review screenshots in landscape mode? This applies to the Dementium gallery, too, it would seem.
What does 'tilt to zoom' mean? Tilting seems to have no effect.
There's no obvious platform associated with the screenshot gallery.
Or indeed the review, apart from the fact the article goes to lengths to say it's of the PC version.

Comment posting is really nice, but there's no Karma system :(

Tilt the other way ;)

Just tried it, the EG TV-player is nice, but the compression could be scaled back a bit. Try looking at the Shattered Horizon trailer for example :)

Another thing, in the settings I can select what to filter on, but I can only "show all content" or one single category.

people happily pay £2 for a portion of chips but for a phone app tht last longer than 10 grease filled minutes....its apparently a discrace :|

It may only be £2.39 but it is a little pricey compared to other apps of similar content. I think if the price was only 99p Eurogamer would sell a lot more downloads and will make more profit in the long run.

No matter the arguments, in comparison to the market, it's too expensive. It would sell more and rise quicker up the charts, which in turn increases sales, and would be a good advertisement for the site. You need to take a little hit to get the price down. You won't make your fortune from the app and a little bit of goodwill goes a long way.

@keano - lol, comparisons of food and apps is funny. try living on apps alone mate.

However, I think that everyone on here making a complaint about the price has a very valid point based on the cost of other apps of this type. When compared it isn't favorable and doesn't do that much more than just surfing the actual site in the safari browser. What you are actually paying £2.39 for is an app that lets you play the trailers or egtv, everything else is already free via safari and unlimited web browsing :)

ok... I was going to complain at the price, like many on here I expected a free app to broaden access to the site rather than a paid for extra!!

However, after watching the video on the forum I'm changing my opinion... it actually looks like a lot of time, thought and effort has gone into an app which re-formats the site in a way that is far easier (& faster) to use than simply using safari!! Plus since I end up spending most of my personal web time accessing the web through the phone rather than the laptop I'm in!!

Will report back later on whether I regret that decision ;-)

Yeah I don't really get the fuss over paying a couple of pounds for this. It's such a trivial amount to begin with. I once gave someone a pound to hurry their friend up when I wanted a go on the demo terminal in a shop while the person in front of me was taking ages to enter their name onto a high score table. It sounds like this app may even be worth the money too.

Given that Vroom, a fellow forumite, basically started this off his own back and it snowballed to full blown officialness,I have no problem rewarding him for all his efforts by paying up. it's not like anyone at EG decided they should start a moneymaking scheme, it's one man and his crusade to make EG an easier read on iPhone/iPod Touch.

There are updates on the way too, hidden easter eggs, the ability to read stuff without a net connection & EG TV is great over wifi. I've already used it a whole bunch, and think it was worth every penny :)

I do appreciate some may prefer using good ol' Safari for the fuller experience, and I'm sure I'll still use that too sometimes, but for my general dya-to-day forum browsing I'll be using the App.

If they charge no more than £1.19, though £0.59 is the ideal, then nobody will complain about price. I don't expect things for free but you have almost 400,000 members, and with a small uptake you could get a good return at that price. Probably better than the current pricepoint.

LOLs I think someone has got confused - review number 2 for this app on the store... "Its one of the best games of the past 10 years possibly ever. why anybody would choose to play it with pop in, aliasing and dodgy load times just because of the promise of DLC at some point in the future is beyond me".

That review is Owens. Bless him :)

It's definitely quicker than trying to view the site in Safari.

Tilt the other way ;)

Oh for christ's sake!

Perhaps they should fix it so that you tilt in the same direction for screenshots as for videos?
A bit of pinch-zoom, since we're mostly viewing images of a far higher resolution than the iphone's screen might be nice, too.

Edit: sorry, Vroom, I do like the app. I should probably head to the forum to discuss all this properly, rather than railing at you.

Costs less than a chips and beans and a bottle of coke from my Uni shop, so consider it part of my healthy eating regime.

Given it a go and seems to be rather good, the EGTV is probably the best part of it for me, not to mention the occasional chuckle you get from reading the forums while on the train / bus / horse and cart etc

Liking it so far :)

If you are not on 3.0 of the Touch OS you shall also need to fork out €4 to Apple (cunts) to upgrade.

Anyhew well done Vroom!!

Mornin Barton!

Still in a cheery mood I see ;)

OH NOES THIS IS TOO DEAR.

I WUD DEFO PAY 59 PENCE FROM MY SKOOL LUNCH MONIES.

MEBBE EVEN 60 PENCE.