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How To Download Kongregate Arcade: Does the "Do No Evil" Mantra Still Hold True?
Well yes, this statement is a little harsh, considering I'll only be discussing one particular issue, but I think it's about time to reevaluate whether Google's mantra of "Don't Be Evil" is really something they abide by. Let me first say that I have nothing personal against Google and that I think they've made some incredible products and have helped to mold the industry I am currently involved with today. Google has helped set the groundwork for the growth of the technology sector, the acceptance of things like social networking and making data more readily available, etc. And as you can see with my other posts, I passionately love all my Google related accounts and products. What I am trying to say is - is it fair Google to say it's not evil? Companies run under very many motives - many of which are driven by things like the bottom line and market saturation of their own product (aka monopoly). Are these motive not evil? Isn't the goal to force people to use your product so you have greater market share and higher profits? With this being said, an since Google is obviously one of these aforementioned companies, is it safe to say that Google isn't being evil. Now onto the matter at hand: Kongregate Arcade. For those of you that don't know what Kongregate is, it's a GameStop-owned website, home to thousands of independently developed flash games. Yes, they host games that you might have seen on other sites like AddictingGames.com or some other variation of that URL, but they added a new spin to flash games. To make these web games a little more exciting, Kongregate founder Jim Greer introduced "achievements," which added a hint of community building that drove user retention through the roof. Think of Xbox achievements for flash games. Yeah, it's pretty cool when you get to compare your skills across multiple games against other people online. Or...maybe that's just me. In any case, this was years back when I first started playing on Kongregate in 2008 and then slowly lost interest. I found myself interested more and more in mobile applications and mobile social gaming, a space that is heavily fragmented, but is also home to big hitters like Zynga, Glu, Gameloft, etc. Mobile games are much easier to play when you're on the go, especially in transit for long public transportation rides like on BART, Caltrain, or ACTransit/MUNI if you're in the SF Bay Area (this is also why games like Angry Birds have had so many downloads - that's where the people are). So naturally, you'd think this was a good place for Kongregate to insert themselves. That's where Kongregate Arcade comes in - essentially an arcade of flash games only available on your Android device because it supports flash and flash-based browser entertainment. But can you find Kongregate Arcade in the Android Marketplace? Even with all that FREE flash game glory? Simply put...no.
Why is that? Well according to Greer in a recent article written in VentureBeat, "Google said the Kongregate Arcade app behaved like an app store, violating the non-compete clause in Google’s terms of service agreement." That's a load of BS. What do you call the default Amazon Music App that comes as a pre-install that you CAN'T uninstall (easily) from your phone, or what about the Amazon Kindle store that lets you buy books directly from their virtual bookstore. Yeah... Well, let's think about this a bit more. Lately, Google has had a couple things on their mind to get back in the spotlight. Something along the lines of - "perhaps we should launch a suite of social-based web apps like Buzz/Wave/Profile that helps Google users (and ONLY Google users) interact with each other on a more social basis, kind of like that social network site Facebook". And when they saw Facebook firmly plant its stake in social gaming with the integration of Zynga games, it only aggravated Google more, something like "HEY! we want to be a good social gaming platform too!" And that's why I think Google banned Kongregate Arcade - because they were thinking about their non-existent social gaming platform to launch in response to Facebook. Yes, Google is facing hard times, but their entire no evil mantra and push for "open source" everything doesn't approve of this marketplace ban. I can see why iTunes would do something like this since they're stood by their super "walled garden" approach for years, but Google, come on Sergey/Larry! Give us flash games! I know you want this social gaming niche for Android all to yourselves, but what about Android being an open source partner for the independent developer crowd! It's so not like you and that's 13M active gamers you're leaving out in the cold. Well thanks to the nature of the Android OS, it's still possible to download the Kongregate Arcade app - AT YOUR OWN RISK! Well, it's obviously a real app and not some scam, so please feel free to download as necessary. If you're a Kongregate fan and want these games on a native app in your phone, follow these instructions: Disclaimers: this will not work if you don't have Android 2.2 (Froyo) and you don't have the Adobe Flash player 10.1 installed. but if you do...awesome! 1. Navigate to http://www.kongregate.com/android(if it doesn't automatically work as the website indicates, you can download the .apk from the website on your computer and install manually) If that's too hard, let's do it this way: 1. Navigate to http://www.getjar.com/mobile/53364/kongregate-arcade/
(for those of you that don't know getjar, it's a trusted publishing platform which acts as a mall for mobile downloads)
2. Select your phone as it prompts you so you get the right download
3. Opt to send a text to your phone with the link
4. While you wait for the link, you'll have to allow "unknown sources" for now
(it's not that scary, companies like Glue do it all the time to secretly let out alpha/beta app releases)
4a. Go to settings
4b. Go to applications
4c. Check the "Unknown Source" box.
5. Go to your text and to the link to download, ignore the advertising link
6. After it downloads and installs, go back to your applications and uncheck the "Unknown Sources" box And there you have it. It wasn't that hard...and now you have Kongregate Arcade to play flash games to your hearts content. If you too think that Google is becoming a little more like Apple has traditionally been in its walled garden approach, I'd like to know your thoughts too! It's rare for Google/Android to flex its might muscles against independent developers because it poses some kind of threat to the native app store, but hey it might mean Google Games is coming out soon. Let's just hope it's a bit more polished than Google's attempts at socializing.
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