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DoCoMo, Sony To Create Mobile Phone Game System
A developer writes: "Sony and DoCoMo announced they will jointly develop on-line games worldwide. Sony, Motorola and JVC have greatly invested in a new Sun Authorized Java Virtual Machine which is also being used in the new Amiga computer. Founder of the UK based Tao Group and ex-Amiga developer Mr. Charig just returned from Japan for the launch of DoCoMo`s new Java technology based i appli service. Interestingly Tao demonstrated its technology running on the Dreamcast a year ago as well and recently it was announced that Sega is going to make games for new set-top boxes and mobile phones. BTW every C, C++, Java or Vitual Assembler written Amiga/Tao application can be executed code identical on top of other operation systems as well including Linux. :)"
edhak also points to this BBC article on the possibility of worldwide handheld wirelessly distributed games, and gloats "Wipeout on a mobile!"
I played something like this as a member of the Oxford Guild of Assassins; they just call it the Assassination Game. I believe that some other variants are known as "Killer".
PC, wired InterNet connections were stymied by
expensive national telcos, limited infrastucture,
and english-based apps. In the US wireless is
stymied by a lack of a national standard.
It remains to be seen whether US customers will
be swayed by the rather limited user interfaces
of wireless compared to the decent PC stuff they
get now. In Asian cuntries the wired stuff was
worse.
This is the last straw.
I'm never getting in an automobile ever again.
Jesus.
I though drivers were dangerous when they were talking on the phone, but this is ridiculous.
Anyone know where I can buy a tank or APC?
--Shoeboy
"For those who don't know it yet"? Please.. C# is just one language that "powers" the .NET platform. Another language is Perl.. And VB.. And C++.. And get this.. Java. Java is no more history with .NET than it was with J++ a few years ago. J++ on the other hand *is* history. I firmly believe C# and .NET *will* be big things and yeah, they probably will eat away a little bit from Java, but kill Java? No more than it will kill Linux.
Who cares about lack of Java VM's in the browser? That has nothing to do with running Java on Microsoft operating systems. I've NEVER used a Microsoft VM (other than testing) for running Java on Windows - Sun's and IBM's VM's are *SO* much better.
It's silly to compare Java to Delphi since Java is far more successful than Delphi ever was. In fact, I'd guess Java is the most successful language ever, next to VB maybe..
Funny how Slashdot used to be full of people talking about "the death of Java" in past tense. It's pretty amazing how Java keeps finding new homes these days.. First it was applets in the browser; bad Java VM's and even worse coders who gave Java a bad rep ruined that. Then there was the servers, which worked great (maybe the coders are better, at least the VM's are) and now there seems to be something of a comeback of Java to the client side with digi-TV and cellular Java.. First Symbian, then Siemens, then Nokia, Sega, Sony, Motorola.. I'd say Java is about as far from dead as can be - and this is DESPITE Microsoft's furious efforts to kill it.
There's a funky discussion eGroup on this topic
:)
What do you think of this?
Pervasive Gaming - Always on. Always under the spell.
Pervasive Gaming is a suggested next generation RPG (Role-Playing Game), to use net enabled mobile devices with a location-based element. Pervasive Gaming is live role-playing gone berserk, potentially invading everyday life at every turn of the corner.
Consider this short gaming scenario: In everyday reality Avi is a system guy at a small start-up in Tel-Aviv, however in game-reality he is a member of the Israeli Shaper's Hypno-Clique, a group that uses manipulative mind control techniques to disrupt technological advances and convert members of other cliques to it's cause. Anticipating another boring day at work, Avi uses his mobile phone to switch ON gaming mode, grabs something to eat and heads to the office. Just before lunch time, Avi receives an email from his Clique's HQ, saying that a rival faction are now holding a meeting in a coffee-shop not far from where he is working [using location-based services authorized only to game players.] Avi takes an hour break from work and heads there. On his way, the game server beeps Avi that Ilya, an old game enemy of his and a former defector from the Hypno-Clique, is in the area [Avi has previously planted a tracking bug on Ilya, remote-uploading it stealthfully to Ilya's game-profile on his mobile without his knowledge, using the game's bluetooth options.] Avi takes a sharp turn and heads in an alternative route to the coffee-shop, while downloading a hypno-bomb from the hypno-clique's servers to use later...
The above scenerio spans technologies which in some shape or form are already available, and should be popularized in around 2 years - Mobile internet usage should spread with the deployment of GPRS and similar networks, LBS (Location Based Services) Technologies should also be deployed, and the Bluetooth standard for close-range interaction between electronic devices is also destined to hit gold.
Sounds cool? Let's Talk
You are at a red light
>wait
You are at a red light
>wait
You are at a green light
>look
You see three people crossing the street while talking on cell phones and a man with a white-tipped cane.
>go north
You have killed 3 pedestrians and avoided the blind man, for a total of 300 points.
Indeed - so you go for visually simple games where you don't need to fit a lot of information on-screen at once. It's a limitation (as is the keypad; text adventures aren't going to be fun with SMS-style typing), but it doesn't mean you can't do games at all. Certainly it's a lot less limited than Game-and-Watch's fixed graphics.
I very much hope that the screens won't shrink with the phone. Certainly there are devices coming this summer which forego the keypad in favour of a bigger, touch-sensitive screen. They'll be expensive to start with but I believe that's the way forward.
Not that I'm likely to get one. I don't want people to be able to interrupt me with phone calls!
Oh, and could the Slashbots stop with the weak traffic accident gags now please? Thanks then.
--
This comment was brought to you by And Clover.
I s'pose its a total accident that this bears a striking resembalcen to what little is known of EA's project Majestic??
PC gamer did an article on this EA stealth project a few months back.
They have soem kidn of media auhtoring system thatballwos them to easily customize and scale the game utilizing everything from fake web pages to mid-night phone calls.
Otehr then that its all pretty hush hush
Sun's got a bunch of info at JavaSoft.com if you wanna switch from the consumer angle to the developer angle...
Sorry, officer, I couldn't have noticed that red light -- my arse was being whooped by some level 35 paladin from Australia...
If you open yourself to the foo, You and foo become one.
Is there a story that could possibly have more?
rr
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Cell phones are everywhere. Seems like 1 out of 3 cars are driven by someone chatting away on one. (by percentage driving cell users probably cause less accidents than drunks, but as a gross I'm positive it's many more) I expect at some near point you're cell phone will be not just _a_ but _the_ combination of phone, PDA and entertainment center on the go.
I'll stick with playing games on a larger screen, since I like larger screens games better.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Justin Hall (of Gamers.com fame, among other things) predicted this would happen a while back, and offered up some insight into its ramifications. Imagine the whole (unwired) world taking part in a series of games that never really end, only evolving over time. The Internet introduced the concept to a large degree (Everquest, anyone?), but the mobile Internet makes this a truly personal experience. Pick just about anyone on the planet out for a match of Quake 3 Arena at wireless broadband speeds, or role-play with friends anytime anywhere. A whole new way of interacting with people is introduced, and over the next couple of decades it'll prove itself to everyone just how revolutionary the idea is.
Blue skies... Barthie burgers... girls.
BTW every C, C++, Java or Vitual (sic) Assembler written Amiga/Tao application can be executed code identical on top of other operation systems (sic) as well including Linux. :)
You could say the same thing about regular Amiga apps, not to mention Win32 apps, MacOS apps, SNES apps, Gameboy apps, System16 apps etc etc. Emulation is pretty much a given for most platforms nowadays.
And as long as your target has to interpret/compile what you give it, you might as well give it something well-standardised, eg. C/C++ source. If you're set on producing bytecode, why not compile to Java bytecode? Or just pick an arch at random, compile to that arch, and use existing emulators on other platforms?
I'm trying to give up cynicism, but isn't this just inventing stuff for the sake of it?
Leave it alone! It would spin in its grave at this announcement, if it hadn't been turned into an undead zombie by the evil Tao / Eyetech / Fleece-the-customers Moss conspiracy.
Does my bum look big in this?
Oops... Acoustic insulation isn't designed to block out light. That's the problem with trying to post too fast...