Oh Apple.. you are such a fickle taskmaster when it comes to the App store. On one hand, it’s brilliant. On the other hand, their approval process can be draconian and bizzare at the same time. Recent case in point: the Commodore 64 emulator by Manamio. It was declined, resubmitted, approved, published, and then promptly removed.
The reasons for its woes aren’t quite what you might expect. While we would have guessed that the initial reason to reject the app was for being a emulator designed to run ROMs, it turns out that the issue is that the SDK prohibits programs that run a code interpreter. The author had originally put the C64 BASIC interpreter in, was told to remove it, and did… sort of. Rather than removing it entirely, it was tucked away in the app, accessible through a couple of simple keypresses – an easter egg, of sorts. Some bloggers discovered that it was still in the application, spilled the beans, and Apple dropped the banhammer.
The good news: the author is removing the offending bit of code, and once he does, the app will most likely be back. Then maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to get your game on once and for all.
[via MacWorld]