It is the most editorialized question in the mobile gaming industry: What exactly is wrong with mobile gaming? Mobileindustry.biz’s Mark Clapham wrote his views concerning the issue.
Clapham begins his editorial with some optimism:
“Mobile phones and MP3 players represent a new frontier for electronic gaming. With high resolution screens and a solid chunk of processing power available, these mobile devices are potent platforms for games, offering the potential to put them in the hands of consumers who would never dream of owning a home PC or dedicated games console.”
The editorial continues to break down the problem with mobile gaming into “Control Issues”, and “Fingers and Thumbs” saying:
“While the numeric pad on a phone may be an almost universal device that we’re all well used to by now, it isn’t the best way of controlling a platform-jumping character or steering a firing reticule. A numeric pad is designed to be used in brief bursts, to enter a number or type a short text message, and is built for those deliberate, firm key presses.”
“Game and Match”
“This tension could be resolved in a number of ways. Handsets could shape themselves into something closer to a conventional game controller or handheld console, with wider buttons on either side of the screen and on the side of the phone, allowing for comfortable two-handed play.
“Alternatively, phones could carefully stick to the kind of games that have proven successful on mobiles to date. Although it could hardly be said to use the capabilities of modern handsets to the full, a game like Snake is ideal for mobile play because it works on a simple choice of periodic presses of one of two buttons - go left or go right. Games that eschew fluid, continuous control in favour of these simple, occasional jabs will continue to work best on handsets that offer only traditional phone buttons as a control method.”
Read the full article here.
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