You know that nifty Kongregate Arcade app that launched yesterday, providing a central location for downloading and running more than 300 Flash-based games on Android phones? Yeah, Google pulled it from the Android Market.
Apparently it violated the Market terms, which prohibit apps from actually distributing other apps.
Theoretically, Kongregate could continue to offer the Arcade app if it’s modified so that instead of downloading apps directly within the Arcade, you’re instead presented with links to download individual Flash games wrapped up as APK files from the Android Market. I don’t know if that will happen or not.
But here’s the thing that really sets Android apart from iOS: You can still download and install the full Kongregate Arcade app. You don’t need to root, jailbreak, or do anything that affects that could violate the terms of your phone’s warranty. You just have to visit the Kongregate Arcade web site and either download and install the app using your mobile web browser, or download the app on your desktop and copy it to your phone’s SD card to install using a file browser.
Sure, it’s not quite as easy as grabbing the app from the Android Market, but you know what? That’s pretty much how people have been downloading and installing software on Windows and OS X for the past decade or two and it’s worked out pretty well.
Update: Kongregate Arcade is back in the Android Market, now with 100% less ability to store downloaded games on an SD card.
