Game Center v. OpenFeint
September 1, 2010 by Ryan Ray
Here are two things that I don’t know much about that both relate to the iPhone, they are both two similar takes on a gaming platform for the iPhone and iPod. I’ll come out right now and say that I’m much more in favor of Apple’s take on it, but in all fairness I’ve never used either of them. I have tried to use OpenFeint on a few occasions and sign up through a few great apps I have, but it never worked for me. Pocket God and Mini Squadron are two fantastic games that use OpenFeint to keep track of scores, achievements, etc… This is what Apple is also setting out to do with Game Center.
What do these apps do anyway? They both are akin to Xbox Live and it’s social features. You can add friends, show what you’ve played, unlocked achieved items, etc… Just shows what you’ve been doing and what you’ve been playing. My roommate has Xbox Live and it’s really fun to see when friends come online and play with them. You can invite people to play the same game as you through these game centers and more. Like I said, instead of playing games by yourself and then having to tell your friends about how awesome you are at some game they can now look at the proof with their own two eyes.
So will I be using Game Center anytime soon, or will I try to sign up on OpenFeint again? I mentioned earlier that I will give Game Center a try, and as everything else that Apple does seems very well put together and thought out. I always appreciate that, from what I can tell OpenFeint never really caught on. I think since Game Center is much more solid that it at least has a chance.
What do you think? OpenFeint all the way or are you willing to start using Game Center? Voice an opinion by leaving a comment. You’ll help out me since I’m so clueless about this kind of thing on the iPhone. Thanks for reading!
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I would also be interested to find out what other people say, especially those who’ve implemented OpenFeint and started looking at Game Center. I haven’t implemented any yet, but looking to do so, and was looking for a comparison.
Leaning towards OpenFeint for a start, still seems to be more popular.
Let’s see what the others think.
Thanks for the comment Bach. OpenFeint does have the lead on Apple, but I think Apple saw this hole in their iOS experience and have the opportunity to do it better. We’ll see in the end though won’t we? I’m going to go sign up for OpenFeint now and see what the fuss is about.
Just to add that what is really attractive in OpenFeint is its integration with Facebook and Twitter! so you can connect with friends, submit your scores etc…
Still reading through the docs, but it doesn’t seem that Game Center can do that.
One thing that recently came up is that OpenFeint is looking to integrate with game center. So as a developer it sounds like someone will be able to offer BOTH in their games.
Hmm interesting news and idea. What are the advantages of having both integrated?
Man its so sad to me that companies have to battle out supremacy.
I really get upset for the genuine companies that try- and lose out.
I don’t think anyone is loosing here, competition always feeds evolution. They could both mature and keep providing a great support and product.
To add to @Tony’s comment, here’s the link with more details about OpenFeint 2.7 is integrating both OpenFeint and GameCenter into their SDK:
http://www.openfeint.com/developers/ios
As someone using an Ipod Touch and is often without internet access, I prefer Open Feint. You can load up achievements on Open Feint when you’re offline. You can also earn them offline, and when you get back to a wifi hotspot, those achievements will transfer back over online.
With Game Center, you can’t view achievements offline. When I completed some of them (e.g. in Carcassonne), a message indicated I completed them while offline, but when I went back online, the icons didn’t register as being completed. I will say, one nice thing GC has over OF is Game Center lets you view the list of achievements in portrait mode. Many of them have so little text that you don’t need the whole length of the screen in landscape mode.
I would say OpenFeint have a clear overpass lead in this one. Why? Simply because there seem to be much more titles support it rather than GC, at least from the games I played.
I really also fancied how you can actually earn scores and achievements while offline not to mention the account integration system is darn user friendly.
The SDK costs $99. Lame. Even Symbian doesn’t cghrae for their SDK, as far as I know.
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