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Games Entertainment

Bandai to develop online games for cell phones 53

Posted by Hemos from the tekken-4-on-my-cell-phone-display dept.
whostudios writes "There's quite an interesting story on CNN about Bandai and cellular service provider NTT Mobile Communications Network (NTT DoCoMo) teaming up to develop online video games for cell phones. From next month, the two companies will begin preparing around 20 of Bandai's gaming titles to run on NTT DoCoMo's new "i-mode" cellular handsets which the carrier is jointly developing with Sun Microsystems, representatives at the companies said today. "
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Bandai to develop online games for cell phones More

Bandai to develop online games for cell phones

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  • > If you ask me, pagers are the most worthless hack

    I've resisited getting a mobile phone for a very long time ... when I'm not working I don't
    want people to be able to get in touch with me, but I could settle for a pager.

    It seems to me that very few people actually *need* mobile phones, people who are acting like their phone is a toy are doing that because their phone is a toy to them.

    The reason that I like pagers is because I can just put it in my pocket, and not have to look at
    it unless I want to ... theres nothing more frustrating than talking to a friend, and getting interrupting by them being phoned up in the street.

    I like toys as much as the next man, but do we really need to be in contact with the world 24Hrs a day? (Forgetting Doctors/Nurses/Firemen/Tech Support/etc).

    Steve
    ---
  • Although, I doubt if this type of technology will make it to the US... Maybe it will though.

    I mean, For me, I probably have more fun playing video games "on the go" Then I do at home. A gameboy, or graphing calculator (ti8x are the best :) Can be so much fun to play, and now you could play not only multiplayer, but multiplayer with anyone in the world (provided they have the same phone, and service)

    One thing I'd have to ask, however, is how much is this going to cost? I mean, Cell Phone calls arn't cheap, and I'd be willing to bet that the charges on this would at least be similar to the old charges of AOL, a couple bucks an hour, if not more.

    Still good for a quick game of tetris though :)
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
  • Well, you can already merge the cellphone and the pager, and soon the palm piolot as well... If you ask me, pagers are the most worthless hack

    technology I'v ever seen, I mean, if you ignore the cost issue, theres no reason to page someone when you can just ring up there cellphone.

    But, or course there *is* the cost issue, and people need to live with that, new CDMA cellphones in the US usualy have pager capabilitys, I don't know what there using in AU (GSM?), but I'd bet you could find one with a pager...

    I heard about some company licensing the palm OS for a cell phone, that would rock, I think you can get a pager card for the palm as well
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"

  • Massively Multiplayer Games (Score:3)

    by Biff Cool ( 18858 ) on Tuesday September 21, 1999 @01:56AM (#1670080)
    Great now I just need someone to realease a multiplayer version of Druglord for cellphones.
    Now I can sit in a subway with a pager, and cellphone, and complain to the guy next to me about how unbelievably expensive cocaine is.
  • I think there is a market for just about any portable prestiege type electronics. Here in new york not only does everyone you meet have a cell phone and a pager, but every kid under 10 has a fake cellphone and fake pager so they can pretend they are grownups or something. Its gotten to the point where several of my friends carry multiple cell phones and those motorola walkie talkies. Why would you want multiple cell phones? to avoid conversations like "how come you got the foo 9000, the bar 7109 is better", If you have both the foo and the bar its an instant one up!

    The point is that not many people really need most of the electronics they buy, unless you are a doctor on call nobody really needs to contact you anywhere in the world at a moments notice. Most people don't really need a palm v, they could accomplish the same task with a notepad and a 25 cent bic pen. The same urge that compels people to buy the nokia 50001, the damn things play midi music instead of ring, have better graphics than my desktop and can be networked using their iR ports, is the same urge that will compell people to buy a cell phone with ultima online and everquest built in, just to say that they have it.
  • Why is it any more dangerous to have a portible gaming system that is capable of online wireless gaming then one that is not? I mean, somone could try to play GameBoy while driving, but they won't. beacuse almost all games require two hands.

    Just beacuse people like to talk on the phone while driving dosn't mean that they are any more likely to play games on there cellphones then they would be on there game boys, or palm pilots
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
  • Well, I'm not bored with tetris, and nither are very many other people. Millions of people have monocrome gameboys, with 8-bit 10(?)MHz CPUs. they seem to be fun, If you can't have fun with simple games anymore, that's to bad. Many people can. Two player tetris on the Gameboy or a graphing calculator is very fun, and I would love to be able to do this over a CDMA network. To bad Cellphones arn't as widespread here in the US as they are in other industrialized nations :(
    "Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"
  • I don't think the GB is a crummy product, I love it. If some other company could have come up with one that had better games, not neccasarly better technology (as the Sega handheld proved) then they could have a market share of the handheld market. But now it's harder because of Nintendo's goldmine, Pokemon. The GB is FAR FAR FAR from dead because of Pokemon. And you can bet that the GBA will have a Pokemon game for it. They promote the GB because it makes them money, simple as that. The GBC is really good, and the GBA sounds to be better yet.
  • Cell phones have had games for quite some time. I have a Nokia 6120 phone with several games built into it.. I think the 5120 has them too.
  • It was meant to be a pun.. ;-P

    I still stand by the statement that this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard of.. ;-P
  • "For the low low price of $0.15 a minute you too can play tetris against your buddies anywhere* in the US!

    * Additional charges may apply. Void in Tennessee, Redmond, and all precincts with the word 'cotton' in their titles. $0.15 charge is a 3 month introductory rate, whereafter users will be charged a $59.99 monthly fee for our TeleTetris package...

    Etc, etc... Isn't technology spiffy? :)
  • I've got to say, I've got my heart set on a Nokia 7110, but if a phone comes out with Tetris, I'm getting that instead (assuming I don't have to phone anyone to use it).

    Then you should try Benefon io [benefon.com]. It has Tetris, Space Invaders and Minesweeper. And it's rather nice phone too... :-)

  • Things like this are from confused companies that don't realize the future is 1 unified thing. A color palm-sized PDA that can do cell-phone/paging, wireless or wired or ethernet internet, play games and mp3s, gps, and all the typical pda stuff IN ONE PACKAGE. without SWITCHING BS cards into BS slots. although a BS slot should be there just in case i left out some BS technology.
  • The only problem I have is how to carry it. It's got to the point where you need a utility belt or man bag to carry your cell phone, pager, wallet, keys and PalmIII.

    Chatelaines. The wave of the future.

  • There is a device called the GBGETTER. It sends out signals and anyone else with a GBGETTER is warned. The people can then play whatever game with a link-up cable
  • All the people commenting about how the games on phones concept sucks because people can't even drive and talk much less play games are off base because they don't know Japan.

    In Japan, nobody drives, and you spend alot of time on trains and waiting for them. When you don't have to concentrate on driving, you have time to kill, and this idea fits right in.

    In the big cities, pretty much *everybody* carries a phone and most of the teens carry MD players, too. I predict that MP3 will make it into the phones there next.

    Collin
  • Why we need this? Here are 2 possibilities:- 1) Fashionable - As some posters have pointed out, mobile phone is becoming a fashionable accessory, especially among young people. Here in Japan, this is especially true. People put stickers and straps (lots of them) of their phone. Some even painted their phone or replace the front panels. And phones with games are just so much more fashionable than one without :) 2) Long distance travel - It is not uncommon for people in Japan to commune an hour by train to work, each way, everyday. This adds up to a lot of time spent on the train. Gaming on their phones will be just another to kill the time. To some of you, this is just a gimmick, but to many other people, it is just the next step for their phone improvement :) Maybe time for me to pick up a new phone now ;)
  • I dunno how good Quake 3 is gonna look on that little screen. :)

  • Great,so now the jerk cutting me off in traffic because he is on his Cell phone might be just playing a game!

    But Seriously, why do we need this? If I have a cell phone and a cell modem can't I just link up via my laptop and frag away? I'm not sure this will catch on.I'd be very interested to see one though.

  • Well. I always supposed that some time in the near future I'd be carrying my Palm V, pager and cell phone all wrapped into one little gadget. But I never thought the manufacturer would throw in a Nintendo...

  • wheres the link to the nice story?

  • thanks (Score:1)

    by Yarn ( 75 )
    I tried looking on the main page, but I'm not used to CNN's format
  • If you've seen the Virtual Memory Unit on a Dreamcast, the newest screens on a lot of cell phones are like this. This give a lot of leeway and the possibility for some interesting developments! Granted the distractions it will cause will be nothing short of intensly irritating, but anything that has a chance at advancing multiplayer gaming can't be all that terrible.
  • The lesson to be learned from this is never to submit stories when you've just arrived at work... but anywayz, this should have been the link. [cnn.com]

  • GBA is already using a cell (Score:3)

    by m3000 ( 46427 ) on Tuesday September 21, 1999 @12:45AM (#1670105)
    The Game Boy Advance is already planning a feature similar to this. You can connect and play against other people through your cell phone. Read about it here [ign.com]. (about midway through it)
  • it's http://www.cnn.com/TECH/ptech/ Yeah that was pretty dumb, not you, but who ever the posted the this bit of news.
  • Although this sounds like a neat thing to have. Will employers not buy these kind of cell phones for their employees. Wouldn't want anyone abusing their cellphone surfing the web or playing some sort of online game. They have the computers covered, so I guess they will have to move in to some other sort of productivity booster.

    BTW I did love the comment about being cut off by someone that was on his cellphone playing a Bandai game. LOL!

  • But Seriously, why do we need this? If I have a cell phone and a cell modem can't I just link up via my laptop and frag away? I'm not sure this will catch on.I'd be very interested to see one though.
    It's not aimed at you. Here in Ireland you can't walk 50 metres down the street without encountering someone on a moby; these phones are already riddles with features. And given that most of them already have screens that are bigger than the keypads, it's inevitable that games be added. It's just one reason to pick a Nokia (say) over an Ericsson.
    I've got to say, I've got my heart set on a Nokia 7110, but if a phone comes out with Tetris, I'm getting that instead (assuming I don't have to phone anyone to use it).
  • Here [cnn.com] is the actual link to the story. I don't know why he only put cnn.com instead of a direct link.
  • This is an utter waste of time.. It'll probably be expensive and no one is really interested. Well me at least as one; is not interested. I don't see the point in it.. If you wanna play a game of quake just wait till you get home.

  • Re:I'm probably being stupid but (Score:3)

    by BradyB ( 52090 ) on Tuesday September 21, 1999 @12:47AM (#1670111) Homepage
    Here's that link [cnn.com] you requested!!
  • Now that, would be a game worth having on a cell phone.
  • Believe me, it's just not my day.. here's the link [cnn.com] ...
  • it's http://www.cnn.com/TECH/ptech/ [cnn.com] Yeah that was pretty dumb, not you, but who ever the posted the this bit of news.
  • Although most people seem to be against this idea I was wondering if any of you were developing games?

    I have just downloaded a WAP toolkit from Ericson and the possibilities are great.

    I think the US is way behind Europe in mobile phone usage when it comes to add on services (SMS, data services, etc) there will be a huge market for games, gambling and other phone based services in the near future.
  • How rediculous. There are enough morons out there with a phone stuck to their heads. Wake up and look around. It's a cool world out there, y'know.

    Signed, an irrate commuter stuck listening to conversing monkeys... ;>

  • Most people don't seem to be able to drive while talking on a cell phone, much less playing some game, much less playing the same game while interacting with other people. I can see this as positive in that it should cause these people to drive into trees and stuff, eliminating some of them and their annoyance. I'll stick to landlines thank you.
  • same .. Australia is very similar. Way too many people will cell phones as a fashion accessory / toy rather than useful tool.

    The only problem I have is how to carry it. It's got to the point where you need a utility belt or man bag to carry your cell phone, pager, wallet, keys and PalmIII.
  • Head on over to freshmeat and search for 'dopewars'... I'm pretty sure its just an updated version of DrugLord... Although I may be thinking of DrugWars. Anyways, it's multiplayer and fun. Nothing like selling drugs and pimping girls against the rest of my family on a LAN
  • Why do you need a cell and a pager? My Nokia 5100 series does everything I need, and why don't I have a pager? Because it's a waste of money, if someone needs to tell me something, they call me, if I forget to turn my phone on they can leave a voice or a text message. And I don't need to worry about battery life, I ony recharge every, oh, 3 weeks to a month...
  • People can't handle driving and using the cell phone at the same time. How in the HELL do we expect them to handle games in addition. And don't tell me that it won't happen. Some looser is going to be on his cell phone in the car playing a game in traffic and hit me. At that point road rage will take over and I will promptly beat him with said cellphone.
  • Talking on cell phones will be next year's favorite thing to bash in the name of ....>>

    Any REAL data on when/where/if people in said category have more/worse/more frequent accidents?? Or it is all just hotair and bullshit. While you're weaving all over the road while watching some soccer mom talk on the phone are you listening to the CD @ 110dB or just thinking about loading your gun and if so are we all safer because of your pending rage???? Don't like being forced to evesdrop on the commuter next to you? Then don't - slap on some headphones - or is that another group of people who should be banned?

    People are annoying - even you - so get over it. What's next?? Complaining about how loud people talk face to face while you're scarfing down your muffin and latte??
  • I agree that as many Japanese commute by public transport in the big cities, they have plenty of time to fiddle with their phones. Also I've seen many young people (usually girls... (or is it that I'm usually looking at girls and so I notice more?)) idley fiddling with their mobile phones in restaurants... scrolling through phone numbers... comparing their musical call tones. So it would seem likely that games would have a market here.

    With regard to mp3s on phones, it sounds like a cool idea, but I haven't seen any mp3 players in any of the electronics store (I'd be grateful to be contradicted ;-). Whether this is because MD is still so big, or a result of pressure by the Japanese music companies, I don't know.
    (Having said this, I guess there could be some imported Rio's in Akihabara..?)
  • Why would we want to see a game on a Cell phone? Communications devices are not suited for games. I predict that this will flop horribly. I see NO ONE who would like this beside's the 14 year olds that have cell phones to look cool.

    Not to mention, it scares the hell outa me to think that I may be in an acceident someday becouse someone was chatting with their wife while playing tetris AND driving down the road.. ;-P
  • This is great, now the normal ass holes who just miss hitting me (sometimes) will plow into me for sure now! How cool... Seriously, 99% of the people out there don't seem able enough to talk on the phone while driving, what makes you think they can play a game while driving? The engineers of this product must not have to drive often...

    Seen on a bumper sticker: "HANG UP AND DRIVE!"

    My favorite bumper sticker: "Keep honking, I'm reloading!"
  • BTW: Benefon IO have had Tetris for some time now. (www.benefon.com)
  • It was four years ago at a sci-fi con. It only had four megs of ram, set up to play Marathon. Kept crashing because it ran out of memory.

    J.

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