Apple pulls Texas Hold'em from App Store
One of the first big games for iOS -- and the only title of its genre to come from Apple -- has been quietly pulled from the App Store. MacRumors is reporting that the classic Texas Hold'em game is no longer available for purchase.
The game was first introduced in late 2006 for iPods. After the iPhone debuted in mid-2007, Apple was rumored to be starting in-house game development based on the successful release of Texas Hold'em. When the App Store launched in 2008, one of the first titles available was -- you got it -- Texas Hold'em. It was thought that the game was developed more as a proof of concept to demonstrate the capabilities of the iPhone platform for gaming to potential game developers. Once the big development houses like EA and Gameloft started creating titles, Apple realized they didn't need to roll their own.
The app sold for US$4.99 and hadn't seen many updates, the last being in September of 2008. There's still a page on the Apple site about the title, although it may not last for long. As a person who spent many an hour playing Texas Hold'em in the garage with the old Macs and Apple posters on the wall, I'm going to miss this classic.
