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[Harry Bizzle]

I hate stuff like this cluttering up the App Store sales charts and stopping me from finding what I really want. I'm sure you're doing a great job writing them but when I search for something I really hate it when I see "eBooks" or "Guides" popping up in the results.

PS: Gamestation Dundee don't sell iPhone games yet.

What on earth are you searching for that eBooks and guides pop up when you don't want them?

"Grand Theft Auto".

You really are quite sad.

Takes about ten seconds to sift through them or to just type Rockstar in the first place.

I'm also quite sure no one is going to be upset when they can't find Modern Warfare 2 on the app store because of all the guides.

[Fishfingers]

I never said the content wasn't good, or that it wasn't worthy of the price. I'm just saying, there is WAY too much of this stuff on the App Store and Apple needs to do something about it. Maybe they'll move things like this over to "iBooks" when it launches.

[Green Gecko]

I suppose it is less off an app in the computing sense and more of a multimedia book thing. In the same sense you usually wouldn't refer to a Website as an "app". It's Apple's fault for not categorising these things more and allowing pretty much anything (unless it directly competes with Apple COUGH Google Talk). Not to suggest GamerGuides are anyway near the baseline of drivel that seems to flood the Appstore - Andrew's been doing these guides for a good few years professionally and packs immense detail into the guides. I think there is an appeal to having so much information in a small accessible medium on a portable device you can quickly refer to while playing a game. Especially at the low price and seeing as mags seem to be dying out in favour of the net for that kind of content - the iPhone and similar devices bridge that gap between portable media and desktop/laptop computers bringing all the benefits of digital technology.

On the other hand you could consider it akin to interactive edu-tainment like Encarta or other kind of info CD-ROMs. And those would usually be classed as applications..

[Andrew Mills]

Cheers for the comment FF (seriously) and cheers for those who jumped in!

These are NOT "applications", they're merely text content modified slightly to suit the device better.

I'm not offended at all, but hell, that's just nonsense isn't it? The 5 programming books by me right now would say otherwise to that comment. Whilst even I would like to question the validity of a few guide apps out there (Christ, there's one that's only 20k in bloody size! - with an App Store pic of it not working too! ), techincally they're applications.

Some of the guides out there might be rather gooseberry fool applications , but they're still applications none-the-less!

I never said the content wasn't good, or that it wasn't worthy of the price. I'm just saying, there is WAY too much of this stuff on the App Store and Apple needs to do something about it. Maybe they'll move things like this over to "iBooks" when it launches.

The reason you get the guides is purely from a marketing standpoint. Apple offers us developers 100 characters to create keywords and you'd be off your rocker not to use the name of the game you're writing the guide for in it. Granted there's a lot a crap guides up on the App Store, but I can't get rid of them, so I can only do my best to shout that bit louder, get my games earlier - and thus my detailed guides out sooner - than the rest ( ), and write the best, most detailed game guides I can.

As GG said, there's a gap in the market (which I identified as early as last summer, some of you may remember that topic I created about this back then, before I had it deleted ). The chance to have a quick reference guide whilst your playing a game is a great selling point imo. So I make my guides as quick and as accessible as I physically can.

I'm filing all my guides under the Reference section now anyways, I did admittedly file my MW2 guide under the games > action section to see what sort of an impact it'd have on sales (as that's a higher traffic area). Until they do move the guides to a books-only section though, all I can do is my word-of-mouth, a spot of pimping in the mags I write for and of course, my - paid for - 'advertising' on GR (and I've been a genuine member here for 7 years or so now!).

If all you got in your results were my lovely guides and the game you wanted, life would be sweet. But when you get the same devs releasing the same old shite for almost every game under the sun, there's bugger all I can do about that until I can afford to do this full-time permanently.

I love you, Millsy. And I paid for your first app.

And that's why you're getting a free copy of my GoW 3 guide (for buying the guide, not actually for loving me... ).

[Ario]

Great job, looks really well put together and much cheaper than those official guide books they try to flog you in GAME.
Any others planned?

PS. My name is Ario and I'd like a code, I'll probably buy some guides down the line when I get more iTunes credit.

[Sprouty]

I don't have one of the i thingys, but the preview shots you've put up look ace. Hope these do well for you mate.

[Fishfingers]

Cheers for the comment FF (seriously) and cheers for those who jumped in!

These are NOT "applications", they're merely text content modified slightly to suit the device better.

I'm not offended at all, but hell, that's just nonsense isn't it? The 5 programming books by me right now would say otherwise to that comment. Whilst even I would like to question the validity of a few guide apps out there (Christ, there's one that's only 20k in bloody size! - with an App Store pic of it not working too! ), techincally they're applications.

Some of the guides out there might be rather gooseberry fool applications , but they're still applications none-the-less!

I never said the content wasn't good, or that it wasn't worthy of the price. I'm just saying, there is WAY too much of this stuff on the App Store and Apple needs to do something about it. Maybe they'll move things like this over to "iBooks" when it launches.

The reason you get the guides is purely from a marketing standpoint. Apple offers us developers 100 characters to create keywords and you'd be off your rocker not to use the name of the game you're writing the guide for in it. Granted there's a lot a crap guides up on the App Store, but I can't get rid of them, so I can only do my best to shout that bit louder, get my games earlier - and thus my detailed guides out sooner - than the rest ( ), and write the best, most detailed game guides I can.

As GG said, there's a gap in the market (which I identified as early as last summer, some of you may remember that topic I created about this back then, before I had it deleted ). The chance to have a quick reference guide whilst your playing a game is a great selling point imo. So I make my guides as quick and as accessible as I physically can.

I'm filing all my guides under the Reference section now anyways, I did admittedly file my MW2 guide under the games > action section to see what sort of an impact it'd have on sales (as that's a higher traffic area). Until they do move the guides to a books-only section though, all I can do is my word-of-mouth, a spot of pimping in the mags I write for and of course, my - paid for - 'advertising' on GR (and I've been a genuine member here for 7 years or so now!).

If all you got in your results were my lovely guides and the game you wanted, life would be sweet. But when you get the same devs releasing the same old shite for almost every game under the sun, there's bugger all I can do about that until I can afford to do this full-time permanently.

I love you, Millsy. And I paid for your first app.

And that's why you're getting a free copy of my GoW 3 guide (for buying the guide, not actually for loving me... ).

How do you feel about real 'applications' stealing exposure from your books? Apple should sort the organisation of this stuff out surely. There is no way that a 59p book should be in the same sales charts as a £59.99 GPS application.

[Dual]

Bought the MW2 guide and will be getting the GoWIII one as well. Haven't actually got anything to play the games on yet, but you know, we should all be supporting talent like this.

Good work Millsy.

[Jimmy Shedders]

Don't post Fishfingers

[Andrew Mills]

My God of War 3 guide has been approved for sale today so I've brought it forward to pop on our App store from Midnight tonight! SO I'll update the thread/topic title when it's fully available to buy/download.

Great job, looks really well put together and much cheaper than those official guide books they try to flog you in GAME.
Any others planned?

PS. My name is Ario and I'd like a code, I'll probably buy some guides down the line when I get more iTunes credit.

I'll PM you some codes tomorrow for both MW2 and GOW 3.

And I have quite a few lined up for the future. Just Cause 2 is next on my list *looks at Promo copy *, then most likely Splinter Cell Conviction. After that, I'll take a look at the big games, and then I have a few special guides lined up for the summer months.

I don't have one of the i thingys, but the preview shots you've put up look ace. Hope these do well for you mate.

Cool, cheers for looking at least, much appreciated.

How do you feel about real 'applications' stealing exposure from your books? Apple should sort the organisation of this stuff out surely. There is no way that a 59p book should be in the same sales charts as a £59.99 GPS application.

Can't do strawberry float all about it, it's their store and it's how they run it. I can just make use of all the avenues available to me to get the word out, get some feedback (which this thread is decidedly lacking in btw... ), and make improvements from there. Some guides appear to do pretty well and are in the top 25 of the paid apps chart in reference. That's where I want need to be for each of my big guides for a couple of weeks at a time at least. I can moan about it, or work with how it is and use what I can of it to my advantage.

Bought the MW2 guide and will be getting the GoWIII one as well. Haven't actually got anything to play the games on yet, but you know, we should all be supporting talent like this.

Good work Millsy.

Nice one, appreciated!

Don't post Fishfingers

Don't be like that, he asked a fair enough question. I don't mind anything that isn't glowing, and he raised some very fair points, so fair play to him.

I'll have to start my PR/Marketing assault for my GoW 3 guide this weekend to get the ball rolling for Monday methinks...

[Christopher]

Nice one Millys, will download the GOWIII one

[Prototype]

Right. Since I'm getting a free copy I'll rent GoW3 from work and use the guide to work my way through it, and give you some proper feedback.

Cheers dude.

[Andrew Mills]

Right. Since I'm getting a free copy I'll rent GoW3 from work and use the guide to work my way through it, and give you some proper feedback.

Cheers dude.

Nice one. *thumbs up*

And cheers too Suzz. (no homo )

[Frank]

Weren't you doing a Final Fantasy XIII guide, or did you just import the Jap version?

I'd put my name in, but I think it'd be a bit unfair as I don't own an iPhone and MF2 and GoW don't appeal to me in the slightest.

[Andrew Mills]

Weren't you doing a Final Fantasy XIII guide, or did you just import the Jap version?

I'd put my name in, but I think it'd be a bit unfair as I don't own an iPhone and MF2 and GoW don't appeal to me in the slightest.

I was sent the Japanese version to do a simple guide for GamesMaster magazine. I still have the Japanese copy of the game, but it's pointless me playing it as I couldn't understand a single word of the story or most of the menus!

[Andrew Mills]

Right, double post and all, but the app is available for purchase right now, so here's a direct link below:

itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/god-of-w ... 13153?mt=8

I'll PM the codes to those who've asked for them in a moment.

[Dante]

Right, double post and all, but the app is available for purchase right now, so here's a direct link below:

itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/god-of-w ... 13153?mt=8

I'll PM the codes to those who've asked for them in a moment.

Really enjoyed the MW2 one and ma cousin found it pretty helpful for SO. Defo get this to support the cause.

[Rog]

Bought. Had a look through and it seems to be exactly what I wanted. I can still do the combat and puzzles myself but I'll know when the collectibles and hidden treasures are. Perfect having them stand out like that so I can just flick and not ruin the rest.

Only improvements I could see are improving the anti aliasing on the art. The edges look rough. Maybe a few choice screens here and there to break up the text.

[Andrew Mills]

Bought. Had a look through and it seems to be exactly what I wanted. I can still do the combat and puzzles myself but I'll know when the collectibles and hidden treasures are. Perfect having them stand out like that so I can just flick and not ruin the rest.

Only improvements I could see are improving the anti aliasing on the art. The edges look rough. Maybe a few choice screens here and there to break up the text.

I'm glad the colour coding is useful for you.

Yea, that has to do with the choice of font used. (That and I heavily optimised the art to minimise the file sizes). I can't use any grabs for copyright reasons, but I reckon I can add in some additional 'tips' in special box-outs to break up the text some more.

Question: Do you feel that £1.19 is a fair price for the guide? I'm never quite sure if it's a sweet enough spot for impulse buys or not. Many other guide authors ask for 59p, but they don't have as much detail. Does the content justify the price for you as a customer?

Cheers for the feedback, keep it coming!

[Rog]

Well I had the choice of asking for a free code or paying the £1.19 and I paid. So I'd say it's a fair price for the amount of content. A secrets only kind of guide would have to be 59p though.