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The State Of Cellphone Gaming

Thanks to IGN Wireless for their new column discussing the current state of U.S. cellphone gaming. The article starts by saying: "Post-E3, several magazines and sites have taken to dismissing the cellphone gaming scene - saying the Game Boy Advance has nothing to worry about... But we're talking apples and oranges here, fellas. The markets cannot be compared, nor should they be." It goes on to highlight titles like GameLoft's Splinter Cell and JAMDAT's Pitfall!, and further comments that: "It's pretty pointless to buy a phone that cannot play the kind of games you like, and then complain that cellphone gaming sucks."

9 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean, seriously... why play games on your cell? As if the battery didn't last short enough as it is, you wanna waste more of it on a full-color screen? Just get a GBA and be done with it.

    Oh, you want the best of both worlds, eh? Well, maybe Nintendo will produce a cell-phone addon for the GBA. Wouldn't that be neat?

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
    1. Re:Why? by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "I mean, seriously... why play games on your cell? "

      Because it's in my pocket all the time and sometimes I find myself needing a little entertainment?

      There's nothing insightful about saying that you don't need something like everybody suddenly went crazy or something.

      "Oh, you want the best of both worlds, eh? Well, maybe Nintendo will produce a cell-phone addon for the GBA. Wouldn't that be neat?"

      Yes it would.

  2. It's a phone, not a gaming machine. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "It's pretty pointless to buy a phone that cannot play the kind of games you like, and then complain that cellphone gaming sucks."

    Let me see if I understand this:

    - I've had 3 cell phones all with games.
    - The only games that could be portrayed really well were simple turn based games that had no real action.
    - I have a Game Boy Advance.

    I can't say that the state of cell phone gaming sucks? There may be a phone out that that's a shining start as a game machine, but until it's the type of thing that is widely accepted by the market, it is not the type of thing to tilt the state of gaming into positivity.

  3. Great by Sevn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How long before the mothers and outraged crazy
    people and politicians latch on to games on
    cellphones as attention robbing devices that cause
    people to walk in front of buses and drive off roads
    and slaughter their classmates with uzi's. It's only
    a matter of time I'm sure.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
  4. Why? Cell Phones are Free. by Schezar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can get an awesome cell phone for free. Anyone can. It won't play decent games or browse the web in full-colour, but it... MAKES PHONE CALLS. Well, mind you.

    Just about every cell company offers a free or nearly so phone when you sign up with them. Now, why would I spend $200 or so on a "better" cell phone to play a handful of games, when I can take the free phone and play games on my GBA?

    The only people who will buy these things are upper-class twits with money to burn. As such, the games designed for them will cater to this demographic, and no good games will be produced.

    Now, what someone should do is design a cart that makes the GBA act like a cell phone.

    --
    GeekNights!
    Late Night Radio for Geeks!
  5. And another note... by Sevn · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been noticing that the same type of people that
    make sure to talk as loudly as possible when they
    are on their phones at the supermarket, or the
    movie theater are the same people that play games
    on their phones and say things like:

    "COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! YES! SCORE!!!!!"

    or

    "JUST ONE MORE POINT! JUST ONE MORE POINT!"

    Even more loudly then they normally talk on their
    phones in a bid for attention.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
  6. Admit it: cellphones are toys! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every time someone correctly points out that drivers should concentrate on driving instead of talking on their phones, they are inundated with slashdotters claiming that cellphones are an indispencible part of doing business. That they are serious tools. And then slashdot runs a story like this about using cellphones for videogames and I realize that all those people who vigorously defend cellphones as an essential part of life and a serious communications tool are really just bullshitting us. Cellphones are toys. They are yuppie trinkets. And even though cellphones are known to distract drivers and cause accidents resulting in death, yuppies and other techno-crazies will cry like children if you threaten to take their toys away from them.

    People, leave your toys at home and concentrate on driving.

  7. 'Smartphones'+emulators by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What a fine combination, i must say that c64 rick dangerous is the best game i've played on a celly, or maybe stuncar racer... Besides than that irc anywhere is a major plus too, cuts calls and sms. Oh yeah i'm writing this from a nokia 3650..

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  8. Re:Admit it: cellphones are toys! by jpsst34 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Word up, yo.

    My fiancee and I are both software engineers. I think that would make us fairly techno-savvy people and we like gadgets. We don't have a mobile phone, though. (See, I even use the proper term 'mobile' because cellphones are a subset of mobile phones.) We don't need one. We have a phones at our homes. Sure, I can see their true, valued use in emergency situations. But why do I need some turkey next to me on the bus yelling, "Yo! You gonna be at Luther's crib tonight? What? What?" And why did I almost get hit head on last night on Silver Lane by a woman in a minivan who was (1) on the cellphone, (2) eating, and (3) digging in her purse as she drove straight towards me on my side of the road?

    Bollocks to mobile phones! If you play games on your phone, take pictures with your phone, or shoot video with your phone, then come see me and I'll show you where to put that phone.

    HELLO!? WHAT!? NO, I'M AT THE LIBRARY. NO, IT'S RUBBISH. YEAH, LIKE A PRISON. CIAO!

    --
    How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?