'Zombie School' iPhone App Booted From Apple's App Store

Controversial app let users shoot zombies in a school setting.

ByABC News
July 21, 2009, 4:18 PM

July 22, 2009— -- It seems almost a weekly occurrence now that a new Apple iPhone application whips up a media maelstrom.

This week's application disaster is "Zombie School," an app of special hot-button status for its controversial -- some would say distasteful -- treatment of school violence.

The app's premise, as articulated by its developer, Retarded Arts, is this:

"Your local campus has been infected by the Zombie Virus!!! Every one is infected!!! Will you run or will you fight to eliminate all the Zombies... You have the control over the Zombie shooting tower that your supporters have made you. Starting with a single bow and arrow start eliminating the Zombies. As you progress, you can buy Grenades, Gun or even upgrade your bow to shoot double or triple arrow at a time!"

The application had been available for 99 cents in Apple's App store last week, but is no longer available there.

Apple, which didn't immediately respond to ABCNews.com' requests for comment, has not explained why it pulled "Zombie School" from its store.

But the application's thorny subject matter presumably had something to do with it. In an email to ABCNews.com, the developers of "Zombie School" acknowledged the sensitive nature of their application but contested the notion that it was in bad taste.

"We fully agree that violence should be kept out of school but the game never was intended to invoke this concept," the developers wrote.

The developers argue that Apple excised the application not out of concern for its message but out of fear of a public backlash. As proof, they cite the fact that "Zombie School" had been approved for more than a week and that it was only removed after tech blogs began covering it.

"They (Apple) approved it and the game went on sale on July 12th 2009," the developers wrote. "This shows that neither us or Apple, clearly, thought that this game would be related to school violence."

Retarded Apps, though, despite their current stance, indicated it would demonstrate extra caution with future projects.

"Because of this controversy, we will now make sure that our future games are miles away from anyone relating it to serious problems like school violence," they said.

But theirs isn't the only app to court controversy. Here are a few more that ran into problems.

The tech community couldn't believe it when it appeared that Apple had approved a salacious iPhone application offering up photos of nude women.

In late June, Macenstein, a blog on all things Apple, wrote, "Today, the iTunes app store became a man." The tech site CNET took another tack: "Apple goes topless," it declared.

But it looks as if Apple's affair with X-rated content wasn't meant to last.

Developer Allen Leung had proudly told Macenstein, "We uploaded nude topless pics today. This is the first app to have nudity."

Leunge may have made one boast too many. The application, "Hottest Girls," which had been available to users of the iPhone and iPod Touch, was soon pulled from the store.

"Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said. "The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content.

"This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store."

The application previously displayed photos of women in lingerie and bikinis. But earlier this week -- about a week after Apple unveiled a new operating system that includes parental controls that could filter out explicit content -- the developers took off what was left of the clothes and turned up the heat on their product's content.

Neither Apple nor Leung immediately responded to requests for comment from ABCNews.com.

The program displays a black and white picture of a baby with the sound of crying. Users shake the iPhone to stop the crying until Xs appear on the eyes of the baby. The company behind the app, Sikalosoft, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Apple offered an apology soon after it appeared, the same day the App Store reached 1 billion downloads.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the game was "deeply offensive" and should not have been approved for sale, according to The Associated Press.

"We sincerely apologize for this mistake," Kerris said in a statement.

Apple told him it was turned down because it didn't contain any user-accessible functionality, he said.

Macia said he adapted the app in March so that it's now an E-Book of P.T. Barnum's "Art of Money Getting." But he's still waiting for word from Apple.

"Their process -- why they approve stuff and why they don't -- is really a black-box type of thing," he told ABCNews.com.

Still, Apple's vague process has not stopped Macia from trying, and failing, again on another app. He learned in January that his game "Prohibition 2: Dope Wars" had also been rejected.

In the game, users pretend to be drug dealers in New York City trying to make as much money as possible in 30 days by trafficking illegal substances.

Macia said Apple rejected him because it violated the company's guidelines for developers.

In its Software Development Kit (SDK), it says that "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

But Macia told ABCnews.com that it's not like iTunes and the App Store don't contain any potentially offensive material. "The iTunes store has so many songs and movies about cocaine and killing people," he said.

And the number of farting applications easily exceeds 100, he added. "I find 137 farting applications objectionable," he said. "I find that a lot ruder than a game."

Macia went back to the drawing board, changed the name of the game to "Prohibition 1: Bootlegger," replaced the names of drugs with the names of alcohol and went back to Apple.

This time, the company approved it. Encouraged, Macia successfully submitted another game "Prohibition 3: Candy Wars," set in a future in which candy is illegal.

Since he'd scored with two games that were only cosmetically different from the original one that had been rejected, he tried once more. But, no such luck: It got the thumbs down again.

Apple told the developer it was "inappropriate sexual content," according to PCWorld.com.

But MGD Development Director John van der Burg said, "Watching an episode of Baywatch on TV shows a lot more than iBoobs. Besides that, iBoobs is just a 3-D model and not even real."

The developer behind "Slasher" was also told his app was out of line.

Created by Josef Wankerl of Austin, Texas, the app displays a kitchen knife on the screen and plays the "horror" sound when you make a stabbing motion with the phone or iPod Touch.

He said it appeared August 6 but was yanked August 7.

Apple told him it violated the part of the guidelines that objected to "obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content," he said.

"I have no problem with people objecting to 'Slasher.' After all, everyone has their own personal taste. I do have a problem with the App Store refusing to publish 'Slasher' because they don't like it," he wrote to ABCNews.com in an e-mail.

He also said it bothers him that other approved Apps could also be seen as obscene or offensive. "Bar Fight Bottle," for example, lets you pretend to smash a bottle with your phone and other apps serve as pretend pistols, shot guns and ray guns.

He said he improved the app and was told, upon resubmitting it, that it had been approved. But despite weeks of e-mails, the status still says "Removed from Sale."

"I thought there was a decent chance they would reject it but it was a chance I was willing to take," Vance told ABCNews.com. "I was disappointed."

He said Apple told him the app was defamatory. But Vance disagreed and decided to let the company's CEO know about it.

Surprisingly, Jobs wrote back: "Even though my personal political leanings are democratic, I think this app will be offensive to roughly half our customers. What's the point? Steve"

Vance wasn't entirely pleased with the company but was impressed by the CEO and took it as a good omen, he said.