Baby Shaker iPhone Game Taken Down

There really is something wrong with the Apple App Store certification process. While you read about designers complaining about their apparently legitimate apps getting rejected, you also read about Apple having to take down a game because it outraged organizations throughout the country.

The game in question, “Baby Shaker”—which is definitely outrageous—isn’t even revolutionary nor interesting. What’s so engaging about shaking a virtual baby until it stops crying? What’s so visually-catching about line-art drawings of a baby, when the game’s developer Sikalosoft simply puts red X’s over the virtual babe’s eyes to represent death?

Now, why would Apple allow this kind of game to show on the App Store? Had Sikalosoft found a way to trick the certifiers at Apple? Or was someone within the App Store team basically running on automatic, deciding that the game met all of Apple’s criteria for certification, without realizing what kind commotion a shaken baby would cause.