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Stop adding games, give us useful apps!

VulcanDragon

Member
Sep 9, 2018
16
16
Columbus, OH
So now they are adding Fallout Shelter to the Tesla, this hot on the heels of announcing Cuphead a few weeks ago. Am I alone in thinking this is a HUGE waste of development effort and money?!? The original Atari games were a clever wink-wink, but this is just stupid now. Who actually plays games on their freaking car screen?!? How about getting those developers working on something usful. Like maybe, oh I don't know, other streaming music apps...because no one has EVER asked for Spotify on their Tesla, right?
 

DDotJ

Member
Feb 28, 2013
742
1,127
California
because no one has EVER asked for Spotify on their Tesla, right?
As much as I would love this, Tesla already has an exclusivity deal with Slacker radio and thus it would potentially cost them a lot to get out of the existing Slacker contract.
"We are unlocking the value in the combination of LiveXLive and Slacker Radio and successfully expanding our reachable audience. We are excited by the subscriber growth we are already seeing and expect to continue to accelerate Slacker through strategic expansion. Slacker's exclusive partnership with Tesla in North America is proving to be a valuable customer acquisition channel and a model that we plan to replicate," said Ellin.

Also, this is Tesla's way of doing marketing. A lot of family friends see the headlines about Tesla adding games to their cars, and they think it is super cool. It generates a lot of attention, and plus it's a fun thing to do while waiting in the car.

And plus they're adding Netflix/YouTube support, which is something people have been asking for a long time.
 
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SMAlset

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2017
8,744
9,358
SF Bay Area
The kids love the games and pulls them into enjoying Teslas and become future owners. I am sure more than one parent or grandparent has been appreciative of having the games on the screen when their kids or grandkids are getting restless while charging for example.

People and other car manufacturers can criticize Tesla for going that route but that's something people mention when it comes to why do you enjoy your Tesla. I personally think we will see other mfgrs adding something like this to their cars. You follow the leader in sales. It's also called appeal to a wide range of people and ages. I think it's kind of smart and you certainly don't have to use the games or easter eggs.
 

Twiglett

Single pedal driver
Oct 3, 2014
2,734
2,660
Austin
Tesla don't do any traditional advertising in the same sense as the old guard manufacturer.
In the same was a many silicon valley companies handle it however is the constant stream of updates, new features, product changes, new milestones reached etc etc.
Games and Fart apps are relatively simple to achieve and generate lots of press.
Sentry was relatively simple as well, just extending the existing dash cam features which in itself was an extension of the V9 changes to AP.
As @DJung mentioned, streaming application has zero to do with programming resources and everything to do with contractual obligations.
For more evidence of that just note that European cars already have Spotify.
 

SMAlset

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2017
8,744
9,358
SF Bay Area
No, you're not. Maybe Tesla's inhouse gamers with so much time on their hands could build a useful game that lets Tesla's QC people compete to find the most flaws prior to delivery.
Robin

Did you ever buy a car? I seem to recall you cancelled your reservation.
 

N5329K

Active Member
Aug 12, 2009
1,863
3,598
California
Did you ever buy a car? I seem to recall you cancelled your reservation.
Nope. Still waiting for Tesla to get its quality act together (or some other maker to offer as compelling a car). I'm not sure which is more likely to happen first. Meanwhile, my NEMA 14-50 is getting lonesome.
Robin
 
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Az_Rael

Supporting Member
Jan 26, 2016
5,602
8,754
Palmdale, CA
I would just be satisfied if they worked on making the existing streaming apps more stable. I now listen to the terrestrial radio station by default (with fuzz outs and all) because it often seems to work more reliably than the Tune-in stream. I gave up on USB music a while ago and haven’t seen if they have fixed that. Using Bluetooth streaming seems to require too much interaction with my phone while driving, so I don’t do that a lot either.

Last time I had a car where the FM radio was my primary form of entertainment was in my 1992 Isuzu pickup. But hey, I am sure more games are a great addition. :rolleyes:


I would also like them to flesh out the voice commands. Let me set the fan speed without menu diving, etc.
 

dmurphy

Woof.
Dec 7, 2018
3,355
4,560
New Jersey - Morris County
I love the games. Both of these look like a ton of fun.

Routinely, either my wife I will run into a store while the other sits in the car and plays either Super Breakout or 2048 now. This'll be even better.
 

SMAlset

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2017
8,744
9,358
SF Bay Area
Nope. Still waiting for Tesla to get its quality act together (or some other maker to offer as compelling a car). I'm not sure which is more likely to happen first. Meanwhile, my NEMA 14-50 is getting lonesome.
Robin

You miss out on a lot of life if you look for perfection. Just saying. My car was near perfect to my eye and I’ve had fun driving it since September. Also haven’t missed the gas station visits. You’re NEMA 14-50 wants you to plug something in!
 

qdeathstar

Active Member
May 17, 2019
2,076
1,647
VB
You miss out on a lot of life if you look for perfection. Just saying. My car was near perfect to my eye and I’ve had fun driving it since September. Also haven’t missed the gas station visits. You’re NEMA 14-50 wants you to plug something in!


Tell me bout it.... toyota and ford are no better at qc at the dealership. Ford returned my truck to me with no power steering and misdiagnosed a battery issue, then fixed it but pointed out an issue with my breaks, misdiagnosed that, attempted a new repair, and misdiagnosed that, and now i’m still waiting.

I think there is plenty of incompetence to go around, and certainly tesla has its fair share.
 

JulienW

Active Member
Jul 7, 2018
2,554
2,783
Atlanta
Just a little odd App Launcher observation. It contains the the Rear Camera and Charging App. However both of these are on the screen right where the App Switcher opens. So why have the same buttons in almost the same place with an EXTRA button press? Looks like they were just trying to fill the App Switcher.

Also couldn't care less about games but no reason why we can't have BOTH. So let's have more games and REAL (3ed party) apps.
 

Sophias_dad

Supporting Member
Jul 29, 2018
930
803
Massachusetts
Seems YouTube and Netflix were said to be coming soon as well today. I’d actually love it so my kids can watch in the back seat and stfu for once

I'd bet those will only work while the car is in Park. I'm pretty sure its against regulations in the US to have a video display within view of the driver that's showing video NOT related to the operation of the car.

Also, given the bandwidth constraints, they might only work tolerably with a wifi signal.
 
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⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️

Active Member
Jul 15, 2016
2,779
4,442
Pacific Northwest
I would just be satisfied if they worked on making the existing streaming apps more stable. I now listen to the terrestrial radio station by default (with fuzz outs and all) because it often seems to work more reliably than the Tune-in stream. I gave up on USB music a while ago and haven’t seen if they have fixed that. Using Bluetooth streaming seems to require too much interaction with my phone while driving, so I don’t do that a lot either.

Last time I had a car where the FM radio was my primary form of entertainment was in my 1992 Isuzu pickup. But hey, I am sure more games are a great addition. :rolleyes:


I would also like them to flesh out the voice commands. Let me set the fan speed without menu diving, etc.
Wow, did this break with V9? I mostly stream from a spare iPhone, that I keep in the car, with my latest playlist on it. I use the USB to listen to the most recent CDs I've acquired and ripped to MP3. I also frequently use slacker, especially when the kids are with me and they want to listen to their favorite foul mouthed rappers. It all works flawlessly.

If they can get the voice commands to work with controlling settings, like Elon said they were working on, that seems like it could solve a lot of the issues with Version 9 that I've read about.
 

Eno Deb

Active Member
Aug 17, 2018
2,603
3,157
SF Bay Area
So now they are adding Fallout Shelter to the Tesla, this hot on the heels of announcing Cuphead a few weeks ago. Am I alone in thinking this is a HUGE waste of development effort and money?!? The original Atari games were a clever wink-wink, but this is just stupid now. Who actually plays games on their freaking car screen?!? How about getting those developers working on something usful. Like maybe, oh I don't know, other streaming music apps...because no one has EVER asked for Spotify on their Tesla, right?
I agree. Spotify is at the top of my list as well (and nobody here has any idea what the terms of the fabled Slacker exclusivity agreement really are). They could also work on many other things far more useful than games you'll never play more than 5 minutes, such as making the USB music player usable, adding a viewer for Teslacam/Sentry videos, finally add waypoints to the navigation system and many others.
 

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