Personal anecdotes, well this anecdote as a whole I have had and continue to have daily, I personally find them less amusing or interesting and more disturbing. Personal experiences are something to build opinions off of rather than getting a poll from an organization which can be flawed or embellished first hand counts of things appeal to me much more than being told what everyone else thinks by a single entity, I'll take my view on what I see not what I'm told I see.
Alright, but accept the fact that what you see is not necessarily representative of anything else. Saying you should use facts to support your claims is not the same as asking for groupthink.
I mean, you seem to hold that polls can be flawed or embellished - that seems kind of hypocritical considering that firsthand accounts are inherently flawed and embellished.
As far as Ads on thing to make them "free" in my opinion the Internet and everything else in general was doing much better when it had less of them, I honestly hate that you can't move and inch on-line or in real life without seeing some kind of advertisement most of the time for something stupid, I don't need them in my games for whatever reason especially breaking the fourth wall and I am sure that I'm not alone in this.
I do however get the point make no mistake it bothers much less people than it offends, so it is ultimately accepted.
They make ads for the internet? Join the Adblock Master Race.
I feel like the 4th wall bit doesn't really apply. Angry Birds isn't a game that aims for immersion (at least, not the same way a console game might), so there's nothing really to break.
Plus, the ads are extremely easy to ignore or bypass; there's always the ad-free version if they're that much of a bother.
I still say Snake is more engaging than angry birds and a might bit more difficult to beat.
I like Snake (good memories of playing it in Timesplitters 2, for one), but that's irrelevant. I'm not saying either is better - I was just listing the conditions that allowed Angry Birds to become popular.
I have nothing against the game itself but it has been done maybe not with touch control but knocking shit down with balls has been done since the medieval ages and I know that games existed before it where this has been done - the controls also "free" there is that word again with Viagra and other what have you Ads then is not truly free......... Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
I find this "x has been done before" sort of argument to be weak. It all depends on how you present now. I mean, zombies have been done before, but The Walking Dead was still a thoroughly fantastic experience. Superheros have been done before, but Arkham City was still goddamned amazing. Hell, we've had murder for the entirety of existence - does that make games like Half-Life, Grand Theft Auto, etc. any less good?
Like I said, it's truly free in the sense that you pay nothing out of pocket. To reiterate: You pay exactly $0 for the game itself. Saying it isn't free because ads are including is splitting hairs at this point.
most of the instances I do know it was the game, maybe not all but I digress, Small kids don't need expensive phones with games on them to keep in contact with mom and dad nor do I think beyond GPS text and the calling phones do, that there is any possibly necessary life saving features to a smart phone over standard cell phone.
Pretty sure a five year old does not need Facebook on his phone, not that that is a feature you are mentioning just stating that it is unnecessary.
It's certainly an arguable point; still, "dumbphones" are getting phased out more and more as smartphones become more and more ubiquitous. There's less and less of an alternative. Plus, to be fair, smartphones have tons of potential uses beyond just Facebook or games. They're extremely useful, so the demand is easily understandable - I just upgraded this year, and I can hardly believe I managed without one.
We could try to figure out the right age for these devices, but at the end of the day, it's going to vary from family to family, kid to kid. Setting a clear standard is, for the most part, going to be impossible.
Also, nice Idiocracy reference.