I picked up my first Android phone a while ago and I've been extremely happy and surprised by what modern smartphones are capable of. I had a smartphone previously, but it was well over 3 years old, so it would almost be considered a smart 'dummy' phone today. In any case, getting this new phone has opened up a whole new world for me that I had never really given much thought about before. I'm late to the game I, but phones running Android, IOS, or Windows mobile are just pocket computers. And...beyond that marvel to me, computers run games, usually really good looking games and of all crazy varieties. Firing up this phone the night I got it, I hit up the Android marketplace. It's NEVER been so easy to just browse games instantly and try out so many free or pay.
I was checking out the marketplace, which had a UI that was much easier to use than I had expected. I realized one of the top free games was "Angry Birds." This is the fabled game that has stolen headlines for the last 6 months for how amazing and addictive it is. I would guess the attention is more around the cost of development relative to the download and retention rate by consumers. In the end, yes this game is a lot of fun, but for hardcore gamers it just a time filler when you're mobile and don't have much else to occupy you. When I was on the road traveling for work, I would turn on the game and play while at dinner or waiting around at the airport. I received quite a few comments by random strangers at how much they enjoy the game, or called it addicting.
GDC 2011 is coming up next week, and although the focus will be on game development specifically, I wonder if new news around mobile gaming and devices will pop up. Microsoft has built their windows mobile 7 platform to integrate with Xbox Live, and I think this is excellent. This helps them attack the market in the best possible way. They can hit the casual gamers and yet still offer games or just game add ons to their hardcore market. I personally would have loved to try a Windows phone 7 but they are not yet available for Sprint wireless. It's Microsoft's loss, and its quite odd that they skipped the opportunity to attack cellular markets that still do not have the Iphone(Sprint and T-Mobile) . Lets also look to Sony. They have a huge grasp in the mobile gaming market. The PSP has been an incredible advance in mobile gaming. Sony is planning to release a newer version of the PSP and it looks to be quite the device. However, a rumor to shadow all this though, is that Sony supposedly is working to release a PSP phone. There have been images shared over the net, but as far as I can tell, Sony has not come forward to acknowledge anything.
Finally we hit the mega mobile gaming winner, Nintendo! I remember the original gameboy from the late 1980s. Spinach green side scrolling love. Nothing could beat it, back then. Today however we have the Dual Screen, better known as the DS. The device is simple and very fun and versatile, but Nintendo really showed it gaming poignancy through the great library of popular games developed for the DS. The latest Nintendo version of the DS soon to be released is the 3DS. This will be a 3D mobile gaming device. You won't need glasses, the device will somehow be able to create 3D images through the default screens without add ons. It seems interesting, but I'm still fine w/ my current DS version.
Just as in our console, PC, and other standard gaming, mobile gaming has a plethora of options. My personal level of mobile gaming is purely casual. I will hit a game for 5 minutes or less just to fill time when I'm in transition or just bored and away from a PC or book. I'm not one to get an itch and just dive into Angry Birds while I'm sitting at home. My guess is that the majority of gamers are in this space, so I have a guess that mobile gaming will turn less from dedicated devices and more towards the mobile phones we have in hand. Major hardware and software makers in the world have already come forward and stated that mobile phones are the new PC and will be the future of personal computing in the world. I'm excited to see how technology advances for both the HW and SW side beyond gaming.
Why doesn't Sony just make the PSP able to phone calls, then build everything on top of that? On most airlines now, you can get a wifi connection with your smartphone. If you can make a mobile mmorpg (mmmorpg?) that can work on a crappy connection, I think a lot of WoW addicts would play it when they're forced to get out of the house.
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