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."

Why?

[Randolpho]

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?

Re:Why?

[kryptoknight]

You're more likely to carry your cell phone everywhere and not a GBA. A cell phone is also smaller than a GBA. In addition, the battery life of cell phones nowadays is quite good actually.

Also, cell phone games are convenient when you're stuck waiting somewhere but don't have a book or magazine [or GBA] onhand . I play ms. pacman and a tetris clone on my cell phone.

Re:Why?

[PainKilleR-CE]

I don't have a colour screen on my cell phone, but it takes far less of the battery to play games than it does to make a phone call. Of course, I only play games on it when I'm on my smoke breaks. If I'm going somewhere besides work and I think I might be spending some time waiting I bring my GBA SP. There's certainly no need for my phone to have anything more than it's cheap Othello clone, either.

Re:Why?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"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.

Re:Why?

[PaleZer0]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see two gb versions in the next generation... Look for a partnership between nintendo and another company for a great gb/phone combo, as well as a traditional cheaper gb from just Nintendo. Kind of the like the Gamecube/Q thing. I just hope that it would make it to the states if they did do it. (yes, this is all complete speculation)

It's a phone, not a gaming machine.

[Anonvmous Coward]

"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.

Great

[Sevn]

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.

And another note...

[Sevn]

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.

Admit it: cellphones are toys!

[Anonymous Coward]

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 ar

Re:Admit it: cellphones are toys!

[jpsst34]

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?" An

Re:Admit it: cellphones are toys!

[Zed2K]

But I guess eating, putting on makeup, searching through cd's, reading the paper, and disciplining your kids while driving are all ok. Right?

Why? Cell Phones are Free.

[Schezar]

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.

Re:Why? Cell Phones are Free.

[kryptoknight]

The only people who will buy these things [color cell phones that can play games]are upper-class twits with money to burn. Actually with slashdot being a geek site and all, many of us will fork over the money for the latest and greatest of gadgets including cool cellphones. We like to be on top of technology.

On top of this

[TaraByte]

It looks like they are being reasonable with the prices. $3.99 for a cell phone game is a lot cheaper than $39.99 for a GBA game. Sure GBA is a lot better, but it isn't 10x better.

Re:On top of this

[Schezar]

Heh heh... GBA games are $15.00. Wait a month and buy them used. They're certainly 3.759x better than those cheesy cellphone games.

I've never paid full price for a GBA game.

'Smartphones'+emulators

[gl4ss]

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..

Cell Phone Gaming

[dsouth]

Sometimes a picture is worth 1000 words:

sprintPCS A600 w/gamepad [time.com]

Not sure if the games are any good, but I love the idea.

Dismissed?

[__aafkqj3628]

I still like the fact that I can play the classic Doom on my Nokia 7650.
Now, if I could just find a Quake port...

The iPod

[RadRafe]

Nobody else mentioned it, so I ought to:

Phones aren't the only mobile devices with games. They have company in the iPod [apple.com]. Second-gen iPods had one game, Brick (which is really Breakout [gamespy.com], the old Atari coin-op engineered by Steve Wozniak), and the new third-gen iPods have three: Brick, Solitaire, and Parachute.

I haven't fiddled with a new iPod yet, so I don't know what Parachute is; but it might be that very old Mac game where you had to parachute into a moving hay-filled sleigh or something. Solitaire [akamai.net] loo