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Friday 2 July 2010
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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10: one of our five cool gaming smartphones...
Sure, the App Store may have two billion titles (perhaps a slight exaggeration), and the iPhone remains the tech poseur's handset of choice, but quietly and determinedly, the competition to provide a smartphone with true next-gen gaming potential is hotting up. Google's Android platform is now attracting some serious attention from both indie developers and major games publishers, and fascinating alternatives like Samsung's Bada and the Linux-based MeeGo are pulling in plenty of formative interest.
So which of these new devices should you consider if you're after an iPhone alternative? I put the question to several game makers as well as mobile industry veteran Julian Jones, who now advises iPhone developers on transferring their titles to emerging smartphone platforms. Here's what we all came up with...
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Wednesday 19 May 2010
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More people now play mobile games rather than read on their daily commute, according to a games publisher. Photograph: Trevor Smith/Alamy
A growing number of commuters are abandoning books and newspapers in favour of mobile games, according to research announced today. Okay, so the research has been carried out by Popcap, a social gaming publisher that has something of a vested interested in the market, but nevertheless, the figures are reasonably interesting.
Based on a survey of more than 1,500 adults, the company discovered that more than a quarter of Brits aged between 16-24 are playing mobile games rather than reading to pass the time on journeys. That's compared to just 11% a decade ago. There's no breakdown into specific gaming platforms as yet, but the figure takes in mobile phones, smartphones and handheld consoles.
I think we need to test this with some anecdotal evidence: on your commute to work this morning, how many people were playing games? I haven't noticed a drastic increase, but then I live in Somerset and tend to travel offpeak, so I'm hardly in the middle of commuter hell.
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Tuesday 9 March 2010
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IGF Awards - the indie gaming Oscars...
Every year the wonderful Independent Games Festival takes place alongside the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to highlight the best work from the indie community. As part of the event, there's a dedicated mobile component, with its own indie game awards ceremony, and to celebrate the fast-approaching event, Apple has created a special IGF page on the App Store, where you'll be able to download the finalists, and a few other honorable mentions.
Honestly, any of these are worth downloading, especially as they're all under two quid. But if I had to pick a couple, I'd go for the winner in the Technical Achievement category, the eccentric staircase navigation sim, Stair Dismount, or of course, the victor in the Best iPhone Game section, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, a beautiful action adventure title in which you play a mystery solving arachnid.
You can find the App Store IGF section here.
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Monday 8 March 2010
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Pocket Creatures: an interesting change in direction for an ex-Crytek employee.
Every Monday from now on, I'm going to try to package up all the mobile, iPhone and Android news into one convenient post - that way you'll know exactly how to waste your commutes and lunch hours for the next five days...
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Tuesday 9 February 2010
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Broken Sword: Director's Cut: as captivating now as it ever was. Though perhaps not for Coulrophobics...
It's been a while since our last dip into mobile gaming, so here's a selection of recent iPhone and Java titles for your transportable gaming pleasure. I've been helped by Jon Mundy over on Pocket Gamer, who's suggested his own favourites from the last four weeks. You may have already sampled these, but just in case...
Oh and feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments section!
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Thursday 28 January 2010
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Yes, I've played - and rather enjoyed - Galaxy on Fire on the iPhone but there is only one space trader/combat game that counts. Yes, Elite could finally be arriving on the iPhone/iPod Touch. Ok, so it's the C64 version rather than the BBC and nothing is confirmed yet but this could be good news for retro gamers everywhere. One worry is how the controls will map to the iPhone. After all this is an emulated version of the C64 version rather than a new and updated port for the iPhone. Another worry is the one that troubles all retro games - once the nostalgia wears off are you actually left with a game that stands up today. Personally I'd rather see a version of Elite sequel Frontier on the iPhone but the original will certainly do for now. Continue reading...
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Thursday 21 January 2010
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The Game Boy version of Tetris. The game is now a 100 million seller on mobile phones...
Two little mobile game-related snippets that cropped up today. First, EA has just announced that its various mobile iterations of Russian legend Tetris have reached over 100 million paid for downloads since 2005. That is a lot of oddly shaped blocks being stacked into confined spaces. I wonder how many of those 100 million gamers have wasted culiminative hours of their lives, desperately thinking, "I just need the long thin one, I just need the long thin one!"
The falling object puzzler, which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year (do inanimate intellectual properties celebrate? I guess not), is also massive in Japan where mobile content provider G-mode has been distributing Tetris titles since 2001. "Just this past year alone our 'Tetris League' game in Japan has been played nearly 100 million times," says Takeshi Miyaji, president of G-mode in an enthusiastic press release which finally manages to mention Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of the game, in the fourth paragraph.
Fortunately, although he made little money from his masterpiece for the first few years of its rampant success, the rights reverted to him in 1996 and he now manages The Tetris Company with early US licensee Hank Rogers. Rogers told PocketGamer:
"1.2 billion people on the planet have handsets, so that leaves another 4.8 billion who don't have handsets, and therefore don't have access to Tetris... so I think there's still a lot of room for us to grow. To double in size, actually."
And with a grasp of mathematics like that, I'm sure the only way is up. Anyway, here's a fun fact about Tetris from that press release:
According to researchers, the Tetris game is an excellent tool for neuroscience research and has been used in over 30 scientific studies. Research published in 2009 in BMC Research Notes found that study participants who played Tetris showed increased brain efficiency and, relative to controls, an increase in brain tissue.
Also, as Homer Simpson discovered in one memorable Simpsons skit, it's great for teaching you how to effectively load your car with many times more crap than it should conceivably be able to hold.
Anyway, on to another classic mobile game - Snake...
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Wednesday 18 November 2009
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Dictator Defense: wonderful Tower Defense-style strategy fun from Digital Chocolate...
I haven't covered mobile games on here for a while, not because there's nothing interesting going on – far from it – but because juggernaut-like releases such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon's Age and Modern Warfare 2 have been taking up all my gaming time. Regular readers could probably do with a break from Infinity Ward's blockbusting FPS, though, so here's a quick dash through some interesting new and forthcoming titles…
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Tuesday 1 September 2009
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GTA: Chinatown Wars - committing major felonies on an iPhone near you this autumn.
Rockstar has announced that it's bringing GTA: Chinatown Wars and the music creation app Beaterator to the iPhone and iPod touch. The former was originally released on the Nintendo DS to huge critical acclaim earlier this year, while the latter is due on PSP and PlayStation Network at the end of the month. Both were originally created by the Rockstar Leeds studio and will arrive on Apple's handsets this autumn.
There's no word yet on any new features, but it looks like we can expect reasonably straightforward conversions of both titles. It would be fun to see a version Chinatown Wars that exploits some of the functionality of the iPhone, perhaps texting you with drug deals throughout the day - though this could lead to some tricky misunderstandings. With Beaterator, though users will be able to share their tracks with others via the Rockstar Social Club, there must surely be a way of getting the best user-generated music onto the iTunes Store...
Whatever the case, it's another indication that iPhone is now being fully integrated into publisher release plans. EA has so far led the assault with high profile translations of Sims 3 and Spore, but 2K Games is doing well with Civilization Revolution; as is Lucas Arts with Secret of Monkey Island.
The question is - how will official titles in familiar genres fair against specifically-designed iPhone lookalikes? Chinatown Wars is likely to be priced in the £5.99 region, but it'll be up against established mobile variations such as Gameloft's Gangstar: West Coast Hustle (£3.99 - and full 3D!), Apex Designs' Payback and Tag Games' Car Jack Streets. Will brand loyalty carry across into the less predictable iPhone sector? Oh okay, with Chinatown Wars I think we know the answer.
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Monday 10 August 2009
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The iPhone has changed the market for mobile games advertising.
Last week, Sony was forced to remove an in-game advert from its futuristic shooter, WipeOut HD. Gamers vociferously complained that the first PS3 title to contain advertising material took much longer to load up when the offending ad was installed. Not a successful first step into this controversial new domain.
Over in the world of mobile phones, however, the 'mobile advertising platform' AdMob has just served its one hundred billionth ad.
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Tuesday 7 July 2009
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PR
Neil Davey: This mediocre movie tie-in is only redeemed by its multiplayer options
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Wednesday 17 June 2009
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Circuit Strike.One: should look familiar to you Geometry Wars fanatics.
It's another of my sporadic assaults on the Java and iPhone gaming scenes, this time featuring four excellent recent releases and a selection of recommended titles from my friends at Pocket Gamer...
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Friday 15 May 2009
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The Sims 3: this time they're angry
Wondering what to do with your iPhone this weekend? Already listened to the latest Tech podcast? Have no fear - it's time for another mobile gaming round-up, this time almost entirely dedicated to Apple's handset. Now all I have to do is sit back and watch this zoom to the top of the 'Most Viewed' list!
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Tuesday 28 April 2009
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Friday 17 April 2009
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Alice has just reminded me that Habbo Hotel creators Sulake have released a new "pocketsize" virtual world, for mobile phones. The hugely successful Finnish company, whose Habbo has over 129m accounts registered, are currently beta testing Bobba, available for the Nokia N-series and the iPhone. At the moment, information is thin, but the screenshots suggest an avatar-led social space, in which players can create their own spaces and chat with other users.
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