Auntie touts e-babysitting ... and no £15,000 in-app purchase shocks

The BBC's kiddie TV wing, CBeebies, has turned out a "free" collection of mobile games for parents happy to let Captain Barnacles and the Alphablocks rear their children. The games, bundled into the CBeebies Playtime app for Android and iOS, come from the broadcast side of the corporation so are funded from the television …

[Andy Mc]

146 MB?!?

[tin 2]

They managed to get it down to that by efficient coding and advanced data compression techniques.

[MrXavia]

Its the media that takes the space...

as any developer knows, it should never be the program that takes up the space, but the associated media(pictures, sounds, textures etc..)

[Ragarath]

Errr turn it off?

no in-app purchasing (to stop young ones quietly racking up extortionate bills)

Why not just turn it off?

[theblackhand]

Re: Errr turn it off?

Have you not read the articles in the <insert newspaper of dubious repute of your choice> about the poor, unfortunate souls that try to turn off or password protect in-app purchasing only to be nagged by little Jonny/Chelsea that they NEED it and so it is enabled to let the parents have a few minutes peace?

The evil app developers that force parents to use these games to babysit their children should be blah blah blah...

[Moktu]

Excellent

That's this afternoon's meeting taken care of.

[IHateWearingATie]

Nice

This will be appearing on the Nexus tablet at home very soon. An app is much easier than setting up the Cbeebies website for the little'uns.

[Richard 22]

Flash?

" but the Playtime app is more akin to the Flash content littered around the BBC's website."

The Cebeebies website ditched flash around the start of the year to allow it to work on iPads etc. I shall certainly be downloading this later - kids apps full of adverts really annoy me, since there's a lot of accidental presses, and plenty of apps which don't properly remember where they were when you return to them.

[Xyra]

Re: Flash?

We've found the iPad guided access in iOS6 to be a godsend for this. Allows you to lock the iPad to the app running (pin to unlock) but more importantly you can draw boxes on areas of the screen which then ignore presses - stops all the accidental advert presses!

[Neil Barnes]

I look forward

to the video games review!

[Ralph B]

Shurely shome mishtake?

> Windows Phone and BlackBerry users will just have to play with their children in the traditional manner.

Windows Phone users won't have any children, will they?

[andy 10]

Re: Shurely shome mishtake?

But unlike Android users at least they've had sex...

[Graham Dawson]

Re: Shurely shome mishtake?

Nice little jape there old chap. Did it take you all year to come up with that one or was it a spur-of-the-month thing?

[BorkedAgain]

Re: Shurely shome mishtake? - @andy 10

I'm not sure it counts if you're doing it with yourself...

That's no thumb... --->

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Digusted

That the BBC is wasting tax payers money on this new fangled computer frippery instead of making proper programs where nice little old ladies solve crimes very slowly - preferably with flower shows

Yours dribbling slightly

Major Daily Telegraph (retd)

[Chris G]

Re: Digusted

I'm with you Sir!

Children should not be allowed to wasted their precious years of development playing with electronic communications devices when they could be doing sterling work up a chimney or getting themselves a sound work ethic and a sound flogging to boot pulling carts in a coalmine to give the ponies a rest!

PS Does (Retd) stand for retired or retarded?

[Richard IV]

Re: Digusted

The Torygraph will, of course, be totally ignoring this story as it's the A Level results day special fruity schoolgirl pullout.

Clever Auntie...

[disgruntled yank]

Re: Digusted

Quite. What will happen to America's Public Broadcasting System with these shows? They'll have to put on more fundraising drives to fill the time.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Like amazing

The Beeb is getting dynamically investign upwardly in the new multi-cloud centred media-opolis

ciao

Crispin Community Catalyst

Silicon Roundabout busshelter

[hplasm]

Re: Like amazing

มาลัย (which means "Garland of Flowers" in Thai)

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor author.

Doesn't have a car thus cannot imagine that people might drive their children about and can only partake in so much chitter chatter and count the cars games for so long on an extended journey.

[Great Bu]

Re: Poor author.

You don't need to listen to your children in the car on long journeys, just get one of those roof top child holders from halfords (that's what they're for, isn't it ? So you can put the back seats down for the luggage ?)

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear BBC,

I recently purchased your Iggle Piggle mobile game. I was disappointed to find that it consists of extracts of David Cameron's party political broadcasts. I had not expected the content to be so infantile.

Mrs Trellis

North Wales

[Anonymous Coward]

The BBC shouldn't be entering markets like this, I don't mind competing with others but how can I compete with free.

They don't ask for money they demand it and in return dominate the news, media and now apps.

[Andrew Davenport]

How About...

Parents getting their backsides off Candy Crush and spending some proper time with their kids playing proper games that involve talking to one another rather than pushing the responsibility onto innate devices that have ZERO educational value?

And yes I am a parent!

[IHateWearingATie]

Re: How About...

Can't tell if this is real or in the line of the comedy torygraph comments earlier...