Amazon Stops Selling 'Active Content' Games in Kindle Reader's Store

Once upon a time, you could play Scrabble on your black-and-white Kindle readers. Or chess or sudoko, or even solve New York Times Crossword Puzzles. Amazon's Kindle Store had included 500 slick Java-based "Active Content" downloads...

Electronic Arts even produced Kindle-specific versions of Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Battleship, while Amazon created original games with titles like Every Word and Pirate Stash — and even a choose-your-own-adventure game named Dusk World.

Amazon soon moved into color touchscreen tablets, where there are many more games to choose from. But while any old downloaded "Active Content" will still work on their black-and-white Kindle readers, Amazon has now stopped selling it in its Kindle Store, reports The Digital Reader: The feature launched in 2010/2011, and was essentially abandoned by 2014 when Amazon launched the Kindle Voyage. Amazon decided to not support Active Content on its then newest ereader. Later Kindle models also lacked support for Active Content, and that meant it was only a matter of time before Amazon also removed the section from the Kindle Store.

And now one of the last remaining holdovers from that crazy time when ebooks were new is now gone.

There was a time, back in the early ebook era, when everyone was throwing really cool ideas up against the wall to see what stuck. Enhanced ebooks, for example, got tried a dozen times in around 7 years, and failed to find a market every time. Augmented reality ebooks was also tried several times, and for the most part failed because the tech wasn't there (AR was always going to be a niche product, but it's time will come). Digital textbooks were tried and failed several times because students could see they didn't make economic sense, but then publishers found a way to force them down students' throats (site licenses)...

And now Kindle Active Content is joining all the other formerly great ideas in the ebook graveyard.

There's only one app I want on my Kindle.

[Anonymous Coward]

An RSS feed reader. Maybe Gmail too.

My wife will be annoyed...

[stevel]

My wife plays Solitaire on her Kindle. She loves it so much that I had to buy a "refurbished" 6th-gen Paperwhite when hers died (later generations didn't support Active Content.) At least then I was able to re-load the game from the Kindle store. I gather this means that I won't be able to do that again.

Re:

[Khyber]

As long as you can find an old device that supported such stuff, you should still be able to download and install it.

KOBO e-Reader

[DrYak]

Meanwhile, KOBO e-Readers:

- haven't blocked side-loading Linux QT applpications.
- come with Solitaire (Klondike, Freecell) and Sudoku pre-installed out of the box.
- are still going to be produced in the foreseeable future, even after Rakuten acquired Tolino too.
(Rakuten has announced they will just keep making parallel Android and Linux QT version of their hardware branded Tolino and KOBO respectively)

The only drawback:
- For DRM, the KOBO and Tolino lines (as well as almost any other Android e-Reader) use Adobe Digital Edition, which is used virtually everywhere else (public libraries, schools, nearly all e-book shops, etc.) BUT NOT on Amazon.
So if you're addicted to Amazon's collection or are already locked in with a large collection(*) it might be problematic to switch. But for anyone else like me, it's "Yeah, so what ?" (I get most of my e-books through a couple of local public libraries).

--

(*): Though in that case, you might be interested in looking if there's a plugin for Calibre that can extract Kindle's DRM.

Figures

[Presence Eternal]

The Voyage was when they stopped it? Wasn't that the model that was so stupidly expensive it was accused of existing purely to provide decoy pricing?

Re:

[Presence Eternal]

My mistake, I think I was remembering the Oasis.

And good riddance

[Dunbal]

Some of us want a reader to be a reader. I don't want to pay extra for a bunch of shit/capability I will never use. If I want a tablet, I will buy a tablet. If I want a desktop, I use my desktop. Enough of this attitude of trying to make the "gadget that does everything" that ends up sucking at everything. Recognize the benefits of specialization, and move on.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

The reader is obviously already just a computer running e-book oriented launchers etc. They commonly have news and store functionality, which is generally browser-based.

I rooted my nook simple touch, and it made it much more useful by supporting formats that the original software doesn't. It also has a fast mode thitat lets you get super lo-fi graphics with a fairly swift refresh rate so that you can use applications (including games) that don't work any other way, which you toggle with a tiny app. And it's

Re:And good riddance

[Presence Eternal]

Yes. The thing stopping an e-ink reader from being more tablet like is not the processing capability as such, but that the display risks damage if you try to crank the refresh rate too hard, especially if you use modes that don't do periodic blanking.

Here is a good video about the displays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Re:

[Dunbal]

That's fine if you want to play around with your device. But when you start wanting to make the ultimate device, you find out you need a bit more memory, or you need a faster CPU, which means you need a bigger battery, etc etc etc. I'm perfectly fine with a reader that has minimal functionality, like my ancient Kindle. I must have at least 500 e-books on there and I still haven't come close to filling it. The battery lasts days. It's very light. It's quite rugged. That's all you need from a reader. If you n

Cross functionality

[DrYak]

That's all you need from a reader. If you need more, then you're not looking for a reader. Which is also fine - tablets have their niche. Laptops have their niche. And desktops have their nice. Perfect.

...except if your niche is some weird unusual case like "I'd llike to be able to type text on a eInk screen (because I find those easier on the eyes)".
In which case your case is so rare that there are basically only a couple of companies catering to you for a very expensive price (and usually crappy feature set).
Or your basically hack your way into it (install productivity application and support for a keyboard on your eReader, or a driver to make is usable as a monitor for your computer, etc.) in which cas

Kindle is PERFECT

[Cyberax]

Kindle is a perfect eReader. It doesn't distract you with notifications, applications and other crap. Just pick it up and continue reading a book without any distractions. It's also very light, has a crisp black-on-white text and a battery that lasts for several days.

Amazon, please make sure you don't ruin it with unnecessary features.

Re:

[Presence Eternal]

I'm rather pissed off at them for deciding page turning buttons were unnecessary features on the mid ranged models. God damn the touchscreen obsession that got foisted on the consumer electronics market during the Windows 8 era.

Re:

[Applehu Akbar]

I'm a heavy user of the Kindle app on iPad. Same ebook functionality, and I can use the hard keyboard arrow keys for turning pages. It beats carrying around a second device just for reading books.

And can a Kindle access library book borrows through Libby/Overdrive, plus documentary videos on Kanopy?

Re:

[Presence Eternal]

The point of e-readers is not that they can show you books, but that the display functions analogously to paper. They do not strain the eyes even during prolonged periods of reading and suffer no visibility issues even when illuminated by direct sunlight. LCD panels have issues with both of these factors.

If you want a single device to read books on I'd suggest any smartphone with an oled display and reading in dark mode with white text on black background.

Re:

[Applehu Akbar]

I can read on the Kindle app all day long without "eyestrain." And yes, I find white-on-black mode significantly easier on the eyes.

Synchronization with my iPhone is another big advantage over the Kindle device. I don't carry a tablet everywhere, but if I unexpectedly find myself waiting in line for something (which in Covidworld happens a lot more than it used to) I can whip out my phone and read on in my current ebook from my automatically saved place.

Re:

[Cyberax]

I'd been using an iPad for books before. But it's just sitting on my desk now untouched with a layer of dust on top of it. Kindle is just that much better. You can use your own library manager by connecting Kindle to a computer or you can use Amazon's own borrowing library.

And not having video on Kindle is an actual plus.

Re:

[HiThere]

Personally, I haven't even considered a Kindal since Amazon proved that they could remove already purchased content. And they did it with 1984, as if they wanted to be as brazen as possible.

I know they had legal reasons, and were obliged to do that, but they proved that they *COULD* do that. They designed that feature into the system. Anyone who would trust them after that ... well, you've been warned as explicitly as possible. 1984.
What was Wilson Smith's job?

Re:

[Cyberax]

You can manage your content yourself and use Kindle as a dumb reader.

Play online free: HTML5 URL (they have java also)

[gavron]

Free Battleship, Yahtzee, Sudoku, Pacman, etc. See links on left of:

https://www.battleshiponline.o... [battleshiponline.org]

E
PS I use abp + ghostery + other things and none have issues with this site.

All Ereaders are not kindles/paperwhites/oasis

[bobstreo]

There are a few companies selling android based, 300 PPI E-ink devices. With the Google Playstore builtin.

Which means you can just install apps like the ones Amazon has just abandoned. I wouldn't bother installing netflix or vlc, but
you could install your favorite alternate e-reader or a real browser.

Many of those devices are also capable of using Overdrive/Libby and *Gasp* (commit the ultimate Amazon affront of being able to) read epubs.

I'm still trying to decide if I really want one. I have a couple old android tablets around I usually use.

some

[Dale512]

I had a choose your own adventure style book on my Kindle that would be impacted by this. It had its own mapping and everything on one of them. It was really slow and in some ways a pain, but it was really neat and I wish more stuff like that could have been done.