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'Smurfs' Village' Warns of Real-World Cost for Smurfberries

by Terrence O'Brien on December 21, 2010 at 02:15 PM

Smurfberries Cost Real Money
Capcom wants to remind you that Smurfberries cost real money, as do other items in the company's popular iPhone and iPad game 'The Smurfs' Village.' The free game has added pop-up warnings, notifying players that in-game purchases cost actual dollars and cents, which get charged straight to your iTunes account. This might seem a bit unnecessary, but it turns out that inattentive parents were giving their rug-rats the game to keep their little cry-holes shut, and the kids were racking up charges by making in-game buys. In as little as two taps of their tiny fingers, they could smack their parental units with up to $100 in charges for a wagon full of Smurfberries.

Purchases usually require that a user enter an iTunes password, but, if the user has already done so in the prior 15 minutes, the purchases will go through. 'The Smurfs' Village' is hardly the only app that will let users rack up massive charges through in-game purchases. Other games like 'Tap Zoo,' 'Bakery Story,' and 'Trade Nations' also make their profits this way, but 'Village' became the focus of parents' ire following an AP story highlighting how simple it was to inadvertently purchase Smurfberries.

Tags: apps, capcom, gaming, ipad, iphone, smurfs, TheSmurfsVillage, top

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