Cellphone Games: Where is the Innovation?
While at a conference this week (totally work related), I whipped out my cellphone to play a quick game. Of anything, really.
All the games I have on my phone suck. Texas Hold'em is seriously slow online. Bowling is okay, but the online version either suffers from player drops or serious lag. So what does that leave me with?
I looked on Sprint's download page and was looking at all the "Hot" games like Fantastic Four and Fast and the Furious. I've never played a good movie game in my life, much less on a cellphone. Now, FatF is on the "Most Popular" list, but I wonder if that's because it's been downloaded by a bunch of suckers or if people really do play it. I'm not wasting $6.00 for a time-limited try at it.
Of course there are classic games like Pac-Man and Tetris, but really, how many times can I play those games??
Does the cellphone gaming industry really have a market? Do people really enjoy playing these games?
I don't really want a game that I'll be addicted to, but if I could have a cellphone game that would make me smile when I remember it, it might be worthy six bucks. Where are the games that take advantage of the hardware?
A really slick Simon-Says game with nine pads and crazy sounds would be decent. Dare I say a math game? A text typing game? There was a really awful Dance Dance Revolution game, but you could have one using all the numbers on the keypad and real licensed music. Hell, even a phone number guessing game accessing your phone list would be cool, though probably a very high security risk.
I guess my biggest question is why are develpers and home-brewers trying to fit computer and console games on these things?
What you don't understand is the entire "casula gaming" market. especially here in America... FatF and those movie tie ins might be a "hot" game for a while. But what brings in cash for these mobile gaming company is so called "games of casul gamers".
ReplyDeleteYou would think that people would be tired of palyin Tetris and such simple games. But, take a look at the strategy of Jamdat. They are far ahead of other competitions.
EA, after trying out their IP related mobile games quickly realized how different mobile gaming market is. That's probably the reason why they went out of their ways to acquire Jamdat. And from the look of it, they will keep it as almost a separate entity. Which is a huge thing for EA.
I agree that most games on mobile sets do suck. It's something you can't change as gaming becomes more mainstream. makers of game will only focus on "what sells". A sad, sad time for gamers who want to see more innovation in game design...
Does anyone have any experiences with these games? I would love to hear from someone who has bought (limitedly) Need For Speed or Fast and the Furious.
ReplyDeleteFramerates, graphics, glitches...anything.