An Addict Warns: Beware iPhone Game Apps

You don’t have to be a gamer to become an iPhone-game addict, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate. The apps follow an established recipe for great games: “They're easy to learn but difficult to master.” As a gaming system, the gadget doesn't have the sophistication of a Nintendo DS, but “you carry it everywhere, and it's always connected to a vast storehouse of cheap, addictive games.”

That’s led Manjoo to play in the supermarket, in the waiting room, even in the bathroom, he confesses. Playing on “stolen time—away from my computer, where I have other things to do”—is a guilt-free experience not possible with PC games. And he’s not the only one: the popularity of a tank game called iShoot helped its maker quit his job, and the Flight Control app has seen 700,000 purchases since March.
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