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The Rise of Casual and Mobile Gaming
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:05 PM
from the puzzle-games-still-popular dept.
from the puzzle-games-still-popular dept.
HardcoreGamer writes "The New York Times has a lengthy article about the simple pleasures and growth of casual mobile gaming. Trends show that 'more and more people are playing simpler, quieter types of electronic games on the Web, cellphones and hand-helds.' The growth in lighter, less time- and resource-intensive games (like those by GameLoft, Jamdat, and WildTangent) is spurred by the ability to play anytime, anywhere, as much as the rising development costs and production times for a traditional game. A wireless game can cost $40,000 and take a few months to develop, while full-fledged PC and console games can cost $5 million to $10 million and take years to deliver."
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The Rise of Casual and Mobile Gaming
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too busy.. (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.pogues.org/)
Maybe next time.
Casual Gaming (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.redwolf.c...on/auth_sbszine.html | Last Journal: Tuesday September 06 2005, @08:29PM)
Re:Casual Gaming (Score:4, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Thursday November 11 2004, @05:39AM)
Re:Casual Gaming (Score:4, Informative)
I know it is not quite the same level of not resource intesive but it runs on what now is a fairly old system. And can be found new in a tin on ebay for under 10.00 including shipping.
I find that un modded, or on a server where you get insane reload rates etc. it is great for a pop in and play 5 minutes scenario. My biggest problem with it is that it takes about a minute to get started so unless I have 5 or ten minutes it's not worth the time.
Of course I find I need about that much time to get into Frozen Bubble so it is really not that far off.
Also Sim City 3000 is fun and sub 15.00 on ebay(including shipping). I find games like that an addiction though, and cannot just pop in for 5 - 10 minutes. I always end up for at least an hour but YMMV.
I would say the QuakeIII was the best invetment I ever made in gaming. With the mods it covers a broad spectrum of feels (of FPS so a narrow spectrum overall). And it is great to jump in frag a few people, get fragged a few dozen times and then go to bed (I suck).
Re:Casual Gaming (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.livejournal.com/~pxtl)
Games can be simple and quick and episodic but still have depth in their play. I've been waiting for a handheld version of Z (yes, it is planned). Most often the "handheld fun" games are extremely repetitive and mind-numbing. I like a game to be simple and easy to grasp, but still mentally-challenging and preferably multiplayer. Yes, they do exist. C64, NES, and SNES are full of those. Remember Spy Vs. Spy? Star Control 1? Simple, easy, but deep games - and games you can challeng another player in - which is the true test of a game (IMHO) - its easy to make a game where you jump a single player through hoops - making it both fun and balance for two players is a real trick.
Simple Games are Fun (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Sunday September 12 2004, @10:55PM)
I have friends that only play simple puzzle/breakout style games, flash ones generally.
They are perfect time killers, no in-depth tactics or plot to worry about. Beating a high score is about as deep as they get, and then you can just walkway from them when your bus arrives.
Re:Simple Games are Fun (Score:5, Insightful)
They often have really addictive gameplay, as after even a few moment playing you can easily grasp the games premise and controls, and be happily playing along. That doesn't mean that they don't have strategy; I'm still getting better at puzzle games like Tetris to this day even.
Some old classics: Frogger, Breakout, Space Invaders, Tetris, Pac Man...
It's too bad that new games are often forced to have good graphics. From what I understand, console manufacturers are reluctant to carry 2-dimensional sort of games as they see each game as a way of presenting the console; thus, when they sell a 2-d game they think that every person who sees that game will think that 2-d graphics are all that console is capable of. It's really sad; we're probably missing out on some really quality games that way.
Re:Simple Games are Fun (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Sunday September 12 2004, @10:55PM)
I was shown this by a guy that had a real life coin op machine. (you probably know this already, but its not often one gets to talk about classic game strategy)
--Spoiler warning--
Shoot them from the left to right in columns rather than rows. They have to move farther and farther across the screen and advance downwards slower.
Re:Simple Games are Fun (Score:5, Funny)
May the good 'ol days come back! (Score:4, Interesting)
Can't wait to finally get a PDA+PCS cell phone device! I'm cooomming precious!
Part of the culture now (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.agendi.com/)
Lunch time comes around and you can hear the happy tones of popcap games in the hallowed halls of the business world.
Long live work-place recreation.
Re:Part of the culture now (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, I can't say a word. I work civil service where my career goal is to TOTALLY beat Freecell. *sigh* 26,341 more games to go before I can retire.
and... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/journal.pl?op=list&uid=100904 | Last Journal: Saturday September 20 2003, @09:32AM)
Isn't for everybody (Score:4, Insightful)
But for many other people, I can see how these casual games would be so appealing. Many are simple, easy to grasp concepts*, like Tetris or card games the users already know. I knew a girl who was incredibly hooked on Snake. Or Nibbles, whatever its called. Anyway, I'm rambling, so umm... err... GRENADE! Run! =)
* not that Nazi-killing is all that confusing of concept either
No More Toilet Reading (Score:3, Insightful)
PDA + Retrogaming (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Friday June 18 2004, @06:11PM)
simpler games (Score:5, Funny)
It's called... Spank The Monkey
"Son! Don't do that, you'll go blind!"
"Dad...I'm over here..."
Re:simpler games (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday February 15 2007, @09:19AM)
Re:simpler games (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:simpler games (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Eh, who am I kidding. You just keep enjoying the single player mode.
More innovation in smaller games. (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://benrady.com/)
This is similar to the innovation that occured back in the first few years of gaming (Atari, Nintendo, etc...), where the systems were simple enough that one or two people could make a game with a fairly limited budget and still have it be really good.
Pros and Cons (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.synthstrumental.tk/)
I'm a "Wario Ware" addict. It's a Game Boy Advance collection of no fewer than 210 (actually more) little tiny games with little tiny five-second time limits. The goal is to see how many you can get through before you lose four times, as the games get faster and faster.
As you can imagine, they're not particularly complex. However, the fast pace of the game (a full set in Red Pig Mode only takes five minutes or so) and utter lack of depth make the game perfect for those little breaks between classes.
When I actually have time, however, I prefer the more complex games. Advance Wars is one of my favorites; Golden Sun is also up there. But they take a time dedication I don't usually have.
It's simple why the minigames are taking off: video games have become more accepted among the adult population. (Just ask my Dr. Mario addict mother.) But that adult population generally doesn't have time to get truly involved in a game- so the simple-but-still fun games, so perfect for coffee breaks, are getting played because that's what people have time for.
I prefer the more complex games, but I rarely have time to actually play them.
Re:Pros and Cons (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://doghole.blogspot.com/)
I think for many it's less a question of time and more one of inclination.
For example, I'm 31 years old and cut my gaming teeth on the Atari 2600. Most of the games on that machine were simple, like the ones on cell phones. Over time, as systems advanced and I aged with them, games became more and more complex in gameplay [if not themes]. For adults who never got into videogaming while it was still for kids and "gamers," it's a lot harder to jump in and try out the hottest new games for the current consoles. There are not only more buttons (remember when we just had one?) but the designs of many modern games make assumptions about fundamental gaming skills that only a well-designed tutorial mode can overcome. These assumptions are either true in the case of long-time gamers or undaunting to a young person who still assumes that s/he can learn and be good at anything, including any video game.
A perfect example of this is Neverwinter Nights. I can't imagine someone unfamiliar with RPGs trying to sit down and play that game without reading the manual at least a couple times and probably referring to it constantly while trying to play. On the other hand, people with RPG experience can [just about always] play it right out of the box and really only need to refer to the manual for specific character attributes/skills. While someone might indeed be interested in sitting down and playing NWN for an hour or two a couple times a week, the learning curve is such that busy non-gamers would probably quit rather quickly because their first 10 or more sessions would be spent just trying to get a handle on how to play the game.
Pac-Man, on the other hand, is understood easily within the first five minutes of play.
My mother, too, is a puzzle fan. I bought her a Gameboy way back in the day so that she could try Tetris. She loved it and I've been replacing/upgrading her Nintendo handheld ever since. She likes Dr. Mario, Columns Crown and the like but even Chu Chu Rocket is presenting her with some difficulty because it takes a little more time to learn and gain skill. On the Atari 2600, my grandmother liked to play...but only Casino because, again, the learning curve was small since she already knew about card games.
I'm rambling now, so on to what I think might be my point: As the population that has been playing videogames for years continues to age, there will actually be a decline in the popularity of the more simple games. I think they're experiencing a surge now due simply to the fact that such a large percentage of the population has access to PCs and cell phones where playing videogames for most is a by-product of having equipment that is by and large being used for other purposes. In 20 years, I can envision nearly everyone waiting in an airport terminal playing the future equivalent of a Gameboy and playing all kinds of complex videogames due simply to the fact that those people will be more likely to have grown up with videogames...whether or not that's a good thing is another issue entirely. :)
reinterpreting the classics (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.ridiculopathy.com/)
This BREAKOUT [ridiculopathy.com] clone is pretty funny. It's got a shot clock so if the game goes too slowly, weird things start happening.
I know a guy working on something he calls "Grand Theft Wagon: Oregon Trail" complete with squirrel killing side missions.
Spaced Penguin (Score:3, Informative)
(http://mike.van.lammeren.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 10 2003, @11:10AM)
Nokia says: "It's all lies!" (Score:3, Funny)
Interactive Vs. Non-Interactive (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.juddnet.com/)
I think you can compare this to non-interactive media, like TV and movies. Movies are expensive and time consuming to produce, but are long, in depth, and have generally have a polished look, while TV shows cost less time and money to produce, lack the polish of movies, and aren't as in depth.
Compare this to video games. Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 (will) have considerable polish, cost millions (i think), and are longer and in depth. Tetris is cheap to produce, lacks polish, but is short and fun anyway.
The point is, if TV and movies are any indication, complex and simple games will both become popular, just filling different niches.
Nice title (Score:5, Funny)
Oh yes... I play casual games all the time. I play lots of different games as they're all the same to me. I get everything I want out of one, "finishing" it, then I move on to the next. Sometimes I play a couple games at once over a certain period of time, trying to get a feel of which one I want to play more.
Not only that, but I just got into "group gaming," where I get to meet a bunch of other gamers like me and we play each other in groups of 3 or more. You should have seen this one time when we all played the same game, like 3 of us at once. We were logged in at different consoles but it was fun nonetheless.
If I ever find the right game, I want to try tantric gaming, so I can get more of a lasting and satisfying and "close" experience when I play. But that demands I find the right game that I can trust and stay with for a longer time than I'm used to. I just don't know if I have that kind of time and patience.
And to other casual gamers, make sure you are careful. Don't buy games that aren't shrink-wrapped or you might infect your system with a nasty virus!
C64 games on mobile devices... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.dailyhaiku.com/)
Wizard, by S.A. Moore and Steven Luedders, and release (eventually) by EA in the mid 1980's is one of the best climbing games ever. It runs like a dream on my 300Mhz Axim with Pocket 64 from clickgamer.com. It's 171K in D64 format and the developers would probably -LOVE- getting a single dollar from this "property". In general C64 games run very well on modern mobile devices and fit the screen dimensions nicely too.
To be honest, I'd rather play a well crafted C64 game (like Wizard's Crown or the abovementioned Wizard, or any text adventure) on my Axim than even think about a modern game that'd use a great deal more memory and resources to battle nicely rendered gorillas...
It's just amazing, really, how much the C64 programmers got out of the hardware, and how effectively the emulator folk have translated that to the mobile market.
Druid:
http://www.c64.com/detail.php?gameid=10
Is a fantastic game.
Trust me, if you can find a C64 emulator for your platform then by all means explore some of the forgotten gems of the past.
-dameron
The direct-to-video of computer gaming... (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.krisjohn.net/ | Last Journal: Friday January 19 2007, @01:58AM)
So it's not just in Japan (Score:5, Interesting)
Here in Japan, games on cell phones have been around since before the first Java enabled phones came out two years ago, but they've really exploded since then. It used to be that before, when you saw a high school kid on the train mashing the buttons on their phone, they were entering a mail with their super fast thumb-typing . Now, it's more likely that their playing a game of Tetris. It never occurred to me that it would catch on in North America though, cos the average Tokyoite spends 2 hours a day on the train, sleeping or staring off into space, but Americans mostly commute by car, which requires both eyes and at least one hand to do safely. I think it'd be interesting to see how usage patterns differ between North Americans, Japanese, and Europeans.
Doom (Score:3, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Thursday May 22 2003, @06:59AM)
Retro Games (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday September 24 2001, @12:56PM)
Love the trend...but not the games (Score:3, Insightful)
Go to shockwave.com or popcap.com or any of these kind of sites and what do you see: worm eats things and gets longer games, click on the colored objects and have the items above them fall down games, retro scrolling shooters with the same batch of power-ups. Are we doomed to forever play endless rehashes of these same concepts?
In short, there's a big gap between these uninspired retreads and the hardcore gamers' games, and that gap is largely empty and unexplored.