Released in time to coincide with its similarly-interfaced and elegantly redesigned Website, the Joystiq app aims and succeeds at making sure video-game fanatics keep on reading from their laptops and iPhones. This gaming-info hub has all the content of the Web version in a package that is just as mobile-friendly as it gets.
Opening up the Joystiq app takes readers to a no-nonsense home screen where eight top stories scroll across a featured gallery. Below the scroll, a dozen headlines with links to other stories are on display with only thumbnail images coloring up the screen.
This very basic look, juxtaposing the colorful, large gallery image with the simple black and white on the second half of the page, works well from a design standpoint. It makes the information available feel open and available, and the Joystiq app’s main screen is wisely not overly cluttered.
The search button functions as a catch-all search for everything on the Joystiq page. I entered in a few heavier-duty search terms and results came back quickly and plentifully. Meanwhile, if you’d prefer to browse by system or just comb through the review archive, there’s a “serious” category button included in the app as well. I say “serious” with tongue-in-cheek, but there is a category here for most anything you’d want. There’s even a link to a “Deals” page.
Social Media components haven’t been left out in the cold, either. Users of the Joystiq app can comment just like their Web-viewing friends, and there are buttons to save articles for future reading or tweeting. You can also post them to Facebook, or e-mail them to your friends.
As cumbersome as it can be to read video game Websites using the iPhone’s browser, apps like Joystiq’s are a godsend. That’s especially true of this one, which covers all possible bases with style. If you have even an inkling of wanting to visit a gaming Website, you’d do well to start with the Joystiq app.
