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The Wireless Arcade
KeelSpawn writes "Techreiview has an article on Wireless gaming through handhelds. Quoted from article: "They don't have fancy 3-D graphics, but video games for handheld devices stand poised to capture a huge U.S. market. Why? Because we all have to wait." There are a lot of "Small" games that could be great time killers in lines if ported to cel
phones, and made multiplayer, and cheap. Perhaps something like the Game Boy's Pokemon Crystal, but with hooks to play perhaps the people within X miles of you ;)
I must say this is something I have been wanting. I bought a Palm VIIx about a year ago, when the big promotion came out from Palm. I used the thing fr HOURS the first month, MINUTES the second month, and then barely at all after that. Wound up cancelling service as soon as was possible under the terms of my contract. The thing is, with high-speed internet at work, an Airport network at home, and dial-ups available while on the road, there was not much that I had left to do with a wireless unit which only did low-tech, no-color internet.
But if it had been able to do wireless gaming, I suspect I would still be an owner and an enthusiastic user. Even without the graphics, even without sound effects, the ability to play new games all the time and to play against real people is compelling.
Yeah, I'm gonna sound like a snob, but I'd really like to read a book while waiting instead of turning my brain off for yet another Tetris clone. Trouble is, many of the books I'd like to read are too big to fit nicely in one of my pockets. If only I could put them in a palmtop or cellphone... Sure, this method of entertainment is clever and cool, but geez, I play enough games already.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
...while waiting in line, on the subway, on hold...
...
:-)
10) Pong
9) Backgammon
8) Nethack
7) Poker
6) Bomberman
5) Scrabble
4) Hearts
3) Columns
2) Go
and
1) FreeCiv
that would make me want to wait on long lines.
-Max
Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken.
I think this article was missing some fundamental problems with wireless games on PDAs... graphics do not matter THAT much, but they certainly do matter... in anything other than a text mode role playing game.
I think anyone who uses a PDA, especially a PocketPC based platform, is well aware of the machine's hardware capability. There is just no excuse for not making some games that look half way decent, and are interesting.
It is really a damn shame when my (formerly) $500 Casio E125 with a 16-bit color screen, a 150mhz MIPS processor, 32 megs of ram, and a 256 meg flash card can't produce a single game comparable to a game on my $69 Game Boy Advance.
Has anyone seen Microsoft's Entertainment Pack for PocketPC??? That hing is a joke, it is like a video game rendition of Office Space.
The article is right about one thing, adults are somewhat ignored by the market. I don't think that is the problem with PDAs, I think software developers just think there a) are not enough of them out there and b) people just use them as a rolodex.
These same marketeers have to sit on a subway car during rush hour in Chicago and they will realize nearly one in three yuppies has a PDA.
Once we have a game that is fun to play, then we can talk about wireless. Its the old chicken before the egg scenario here folks.
I don't read or respond to AC posts