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Opinions on The Future of Mobile
Gamasutra's usual weekly Q&A has industry responses about the future of mobile gaming. From the article: "The interesting thing about the prospects for cell phone gaming is that we as an industry do not yet exist in the hearts and minds of the consumer. When asked about mobile games, the average person on the street does not yet know they can play games on their phone, and the ones that do confess to playing 'a few card games or something like that'. There have been early successes and anomalous successes in mobile, but hardly anyone has done anything of sustainable consequence to the consumer, or the marketplace. -John Szeder, Mofactor, Inc"
I know I may be the minority but I am very aware of they types of games that are available to me on my cell phone. I am just not interested. I am an avid gamer and have been for the past 15 years, but when I am at home I'd rather play my PS2 or XBox, and when I'm out, if I am by myself and bored, I'd sooner read a book or a newspaper than play a game on my cell phone. It may sound shallow but as a working professional, I think I'd actually be embaressed to whip out my Gameboy Advanced on my lunch break.
I stopped developing for PDAs for the love of the larger games that could be written for desktop systems. Some smart folks will develop a decent games-accessible interface for mobile systems. So, what happens when we can start writing the big games for tiny systems?
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Sure, some features of cell phones are good, some aren't, but I think that people are trying too hard to just add features to be different. I mean, do we really need cell phones that can take pictures, play music and games, and surf the Internet? Especially when such features are usually of low quality?
If I want mobile gaming, I'll grab the latest handheld from Nintendo. Their games are much better than anything I've ever seen on a cell phone, not to mention that they won't drain the batteries on my cell phone, causing me to miss a vital call when the batteries run out.
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Cell phone gaming HAS taken off. Just not in the US. Take a look at some of the stuff they get over in Japan. I think a large part of it is the fact that US phones basically suck. The only good game I ever played on one was before the advent of color screens and it was a Roguelike. Over there they have Final Fantasy 7: Before Crisis, Shining Force, and, although I don't have links for them, Dragon Quest/Warrior and a bunch of other REAL games. Many of them are sold in chapters or installments, typically for around 500 yen. When I see crappy half-assed pinball games going on US phones for $5, the distance between the two standards really starts to show. I'D pay $5 for a FF7 prequel I could play on my phone when I'm not busy doing anything else. I'd pay $5 for Shining Force! But we don't have those. I really wish we did, or at least things LIKE them. Not until then will cell gaming really take off.
Honestly, I hope this industry fails, dies out, disappears, etc. I know that my cell phone is as powerful as a Gameboy Advance, but I really, really don't want to be playing games on it. A numberpad is a poor interface for gaming, and if you try to add gaming controls then you just end up adding a lot of clutter that interferes with silly, non-gaming activities like dialing numbers or talking to people.
Frankly I'd prefer manufacturers to spend their time making cheaper, more durable phones with longer battery lives. A smaller environmental footprint would be nice, too!
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What happened to the "good old days" of cell phones doing just one thing is that they are the engine for a revolution. The personal computer of sci-fi, a little box that connects you to everything and that you keep on your person, is here, now. It's the cell phone. What PDAs strived to be, cell phones ARE. They are a ubiquitous mobile computing platform, an indespensible part of people's lives, and their integration of new technologies will only grow.
Granted, at this point in time, I think it's a poor idea to add games to cell phones in general. There are certainly exceptions, though. I have Puzzle Bobble and Boggle on mine just in case I'm ever bored and don't have or don't want to whip out my Nintendo DS.
But look at what cell phones are, at their base. Originally, they were just a communications tool. Now they are also a personal organizer. They're on the verge of becoming an internet appliance.
Mark my words, cell phones will drive the adoption of personal mobile computing to the masses. Hell, they're already more powerful than some of the first PCs. They might even surpass PCs one day for Joe Average, who might just get a docking station to plug his phone into when he's at home for a larger display and full-size input.