this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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I paid for this game in 2021 because I wanted to play Fruit Ninja now and then and I didn’t want to deal with ads or all the weird stuff in the newer version. It is now unplayable without paying for the stupid new subscription service. They’ve basically just stolen the money I paid them now.

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[–] Ethalis@jlai.lu 56 points 1 month ago

I hate the subscription model so much

[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 46 points 1 month ago

E N S H I T T I F I C A T I O N

[–] Arbiter@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

what the fuck

[–] subverted_per@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 1 month ago

Subscription service for an old single player game is bullshit. This is my current beef with nintendo, aside from trying to kill the emulation community. I just got a switch light. I found they even offer old NES games for free in a bundle. Oh but you have to sign up for their subscription service, two weeks free! I gotta pay six bucks a month and always be online to play ancient once practically abandonware single payer games from before the internet was even a thing.

Remember, you don't own shit unless you have it in physical media.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

EDIT: IOS

I just followed this guide and got an older version working like a charm.

https://github.com/qnblackcat/How-to-Downgrade-apps-on-AppStore-with-iTunes-and-Charles-Proxy

Its from the apple servers so appears legally sound. The official half-brick site says this thing “is not possible”.

The only shame is you need windows for the itunes version but that isn't a problem for most people i recon.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The old apk should still work tho right? I was always offline at school and was still playing it, so if you find an old apk archive it should work.

[–] NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Oh i see, i havent had a playstore on my phone for almost 10 years so i dont really remember what the UI looks like.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The unofficial TI-83 Plus version is free... although you need the expensive calculator

[–] atocci@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

It blew me away that the game could be played on a calculator. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous to play in class though. The sound of the keys clacking as you dragged your finger across them couldn't possibly be mistaken for actual math work and made subtlety impossible.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The calculator can handle it because there is no 3D, the fruits are animated 1-bit bitmaps of around 24×16 resolution. (Unlike in the Mario game, sprites don't even have transparency, they just draw on top of each other.) Fruits can be sliced through in any of the 8 directions but the graphics always just stop animating and split horizontally in half. I'm not complaining, it's a genius demake. The concept, gameplay, fonts, contrast fadeout with the bomb... all perfect. The watermelon in the menu is a little tutorial, and they even spare a few bytes for "⠟⠇⠯⠇⠯⠂⠿⠅ ⠀ ⠹⠁⠯⠇ ⠀ ⠛⠇⠧⠇⠽⠅⠹⠁ ⠀ ⠻⠇⠞⠆⠟⠇⠿⠅", a friendly message because CPU-native TI-83/84 Plus games don't have a standard for that (I've seen them use MODE, ALPHA, CLEAR, 2nd+MODE (QUIT), F6, a menu item, or ones that only get exited automatically on game over!)

With some practice, you can get over 95% of fruits while playing stealthily (pressing 1 key at a time with a finger on each of the 3 center columns such as SIN-COS-TAN).

[–] Bumrocky@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

AccuWeather did the same thing. I got their adless app forever. But they stopped supporting it and forced to update to the new app full of ads and subscription required. Total BS

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Moral of the story: do not trust anything that can update itself for no reason.

[–] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

They did this with age of zombies as well - I loved that game!

[–] TeckFire@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I’m still mad that when Epic’s account got banned, my Infinity Blade trilogy purchase went with it….

[–] h3mlocke@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

To fruit ninja or not to fruit ninja...

[–] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

Should've pirated it, mobile game companies are sleazy douchebags more often than not, and so are the stores they often sell the games on.

[–] CreateProblems@corndog.social -5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Okay I agree that subscriptions are dumb, especially when you already own something. And I know capitalism is a fucking hellhole.

However, they did not steal the money you paid them. It has been 1,279 days since April 11th 2021. You paid $2.15 total for the app, per your screenshot. Assuming you used the game every day, let's break down that cost to cents per day. It works out to 0.168ths of a cent per day for ownership during this time. For a game you clearly enjoyed playing, you paid about a cent per week, which was used to pay the employees who were supporting the maintenance and possibly further development of the app. that money wasn't stolen, it was used to support the thing that you enjoyed.

Does it suck that you can't use it anymore? Absolutely!

Should you be able to own your purchases forever? Yes!

Is the system fucked? You better believe it!

Did they steal $2.15 from you? ... no.

[–] NinjaCheetah@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

If you went to a store, purchased a board game, took it home and played it for a couple years, and then suddenly someone from that store came to your house, took the game from you and prevented you from playing it further, would that not be them stealing your money? Not really sure how this is different.