Java games to be worth over US$3 billion

[boid]

Get your piece of the pie:

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/7990.shtml

[Abuse]

if thats true - then the world truely has gone mad.

When ppl finally realise what an utter waste of money such gimmicks are, I wonder which (if any) of todays mobile manufacturers will suvive the market collapse.

[retrosoft]

if thats true - then the world truely has gone mad.

When ppl finally realise what an utter waste of money such gimmicks are, I wonder which (if any) of todays mobile manufacturers will suvive the market collapse.

Yeah I mean whats the point of playing games at all, we should all sit it in a darkened room all day. mmm

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Pyros]

if thats true - then the world truely has gone mad.

I disagree. I thought the world was mad when people I knew spent huge amounts of money on ringtunes and logos! I never bought a single tune or logo.

But as many of my friends, I do play my cellphone's games now and then, but get bored of them quite quickly. Now all the phones have downloadable Java games and I like the idea of downloading new games when the old ones get boring. Thus far I haven't seen that many games available but definitely will buy when I see them.

What in particular do you think is so stupid about them? We buy PS games for 60 bucks, so why wouldn't you buy a new game for your phone for say three bucks?

[Abuse]

What in particular do you think is so stupid about them? We buy PS games for 60 bucks, so why wouldn't you buy a new game for your phone for say three bucks?

when you put it like that

I think my argument is against mobiles in general -
If you want to make a phone call, then you use a landline (its much cheaper, but a tiny bit less convenient)
If you want to play games, then you go home and play on your xbox/pc/ps2/gc... (its no cheaper, but the quality of the experience is infinitly superior)
If you want to go online, then you use your computer (its massively cheaper, much faster, and the quality and flexibility of the content is far superior)
and if you want to compose ring tones... then you go and f***ing burn in hell you little annoying t***

basically, mobile phones do nothing new, they are simply 10 year old technology in a portable convenient format,
IMHO they have not pushed forward any technological boundaries.

But back on the topic of mobile games.....

I can't see the attraction in playing 20year old arcade games running at 10-15fps on a crappy 1.5"x1.5" B&W screen

Maybe that argument is a little short sighted, in a years time they'll prolly be 30fps on a 2"x2" colour screen

The most troubling[/sad] fact, is that ppls dopamine fueled game addiction is now inducing the need for games even when theyre away from their computer/console.

Another worrying issue, is that while the large proportion of the adult populance has the self-control to limit their addiction to gaming, the child population (at which a large percentage of the games, and mobile markets are targetted) do not have this level of self-control.

[Pyros]

I think my argument is against mobiles in general -
If you want to make a phone call, then you use a landline (its much cheaper, but a tiny bit less convenient)

That depends on where you live. I have heard that in the US mobile phone use is billed insanely (I've heard that sometimes the receiver of a call pays, is that true?). The reason I bought a cell phone in the first place, was that opening a landline account would have costed about ten times as much as opening a cell account and buying a cell phone.  I was a poor student with no such money, so I opted for the cheaper solution. Granted, now the calls cost so much I won't be making any one hour calls but hey if I need to talk to someone for an hour I'll go see them personally. BTW. At the moment I am using a cell phone account which grants me free SMS messages to five selected numbers. As most of my personal calls/messages are to about five numbers, I get to handle these free. My bill only grows when I make a call or when I send messages to someone not on the list of five numbers.

About going home and play with PC... You can't do that if the purpose is to spend the three hours I spend a day commuting to and from work online or playing games. I don't want to carry my PC along just to play some games on the bus.

About playing with 2x2 screen in general... Have you missed the GBA business scene altogether? Even my girlfriend has one! I had Atari Lynx when I was a kid too.

It won't be long till we have 2x2 screen with 4096 colours and 50 fps. With a multitap or online multiplayer gaming that will be plenty. It is with Gameboy, it was with Lynx and it will be for cell phones. And BTW. a standard GBA game costs between 30-60 bucks and people still buy them!

There's one thing I believe is different between mobile gaming audience and PC players. There are still lots of people who think playing PC games is nerdy. Especially lots of girls/women wouldn't think of playing PC games, or even dating a guy who spends hours playing such things. What I have noticed in my acquaintances is interesting: cell phone games are not considered nerdy. The gals who wouldn't touch Spyro The Dragon or Jack Jazzrabbit with a ten foot pole, are very happy to compete with each other who gets the highest score on Nokias Snake II   I believe we have an untapped market segment there just waiting for the games that have been made for GBA for years!

[princec]

Hm, taking Moore's law into account I think we might be looking at nearly a decade or so before we see affordable mass-market Java phones with 2" screens with 4096 colours running at 50fps.

The best idea has got to be a PDA-class device with a built-in phone, not a phone with a built-in PDA, because they've already got the technology at the right level (although Java on these devices is so awfully rubbish it's a major step backwards). Playing games on phones really is a tedious experience but when it comes down to it there's only room in my pocket for one electric toy, and I insist on it being useful primarily for something other than games.

Remember Pac Man on a wristwatch anyone?

It still told the time! :p

Cas

[Pyros]

Hm, taking Moore's law into account I think we might be looking at nearly a decade or so before we see affordable mass-market Java phones with 2" screens with 4096 colours running at 50fps.

Nokia 7210 has 4096 colors with 128x128 pixels, price is about 500-600 euros/USD, space for six Java games.

Nokia 6610 gives same for about 400-500 bucks.

Nokia 3410 gives b/w Java games for 150 bucks.

Siemens M50 gives b/w Java games for 150 bucks.

I don't think price is the issue anymore. We have b/w Java games for less than 200, 4096 color Java for less than 500. Also the game keys are getting more common which makes playing even more enjoyable.

Even playing may seem tedious to some, fact is that the current cell phone games already are quite a hit. I see kids play them all the time, my girlfriend and her friends play them all the time. My girlfriend and her friends do not play PC games (except Win-solitaire once in a while).

So I do disagree strongly about it taking 10 years for having 4096 color Java games with affordable price and animation frame rate. We already have that.

[pepe]

3d hardware acceleration for phones is on the way.
http://www.powervr.com/Release.asp?ID=39

i've heard that some DOCOMO phones already have 3d devices.
Man, can't wait to play a FPS in 128*128 on a 2*2 'screen'.  

[Pyros]

3d hardware acceleration for phones is on the way.
http://www.powervr.com/Release.asp?ID=39

i've heard that some DOCOMO phones already have 3d devices.
Man, can't wait to play a FPS in 128*128 on a 2*2 'screen'.  

Yeah... That is something I'm not that optimistic about. I believe the best cell phone games will be platform games (like Super Mario or Rayman on GBA), birdview adventures (like Zelda on GBA), birdview driving (GTA, Super Sprint, Death Rally (ok that was birdview 3d), 2d scrolling Shoot'em ups (Gauntlet, Into The Eagle's Nest, R-Type, Asteroids), small scale strategy/action games (Marble Madness, Trailblazer) just to name a few). As seen, to make it short, cell phones are a good platform for similar games that sell on GBA!

I mean, let's face it: people pay 100-150 bucks for GBA console. It's not a fad, the thing has lasted on the market for years! Publishers publish all the top games on GBA because it is a profitable market. They sell Tony Hawk, Harry Potter, LOTR, Spyro and all those like hotcakes - for 50 bucks each no less! Think about if people have the ability to play the same games on cell phones, with identical graphics and sound? Imagine if you can download the game with a single SMS message? Imagine it only costs a fraction of GBA games?

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[retrosoft]

Nokia are investing a lot of money in the N-Gage which is still only a series 60 phone (ha only) its a shame that the best content will probably be Symbian and not java

Read here http://www.forum.nokia.com/Nokia_Previews_N-Gage

Oh btw you can get doom for your phone already http://www.wildpalm.co.uk/Doom7650.html

[JasonB]

I can't see the attraction in playing 20year old arcade games running at 10-15fps on a crappy 1.5"x1.5" B&W screen

I could pick holes in the rest of your post, but I don't have the energy.  I just have one comment.  If you've ever been somewhere where a large percentage of the populous use public transport (London is a good example) and watched the number of people playing 'Snake' on their Nokia mobile phones, then the attraction of playing 20 yr old arcade games should be clear.  Considering how boring that game is after a couple of minutes of play, I should think there's a good market for people who want something different.

[Abuse]

The best idea has got to be a PDA-class device with a built-in phone, not a phone with a built-in PDA, because they've already got the technology at the right level (although Java on these devices is so awfully rubbish it's a major step backwards).

heard that somewhere b4.... oh yeah, me

[Pyros]

One day's total...

I bought an issue of a video gaming magazine on my way home. At home I found it had, among all the game reviews, six mobile Java games reviewed! And the reviews said the games were rather good. They were all tested on Nokia 3410 with black'n'white screen. The games also support color screens. This was a big suprise to me to find so many mobile Java games reviewed as normal video games.

Now, I just saw the evening news on tv. This christmas more cell phones were sold in Finland than any christmas before. And the sold-outs were all color screened Java phones!

Things seem just fine as far as I can see for Java mobile game programmers.  

And here's a link to Taito Corp. in Japan, click on the english guidance link: http://www.taito.co.jp/stop/mobile/index.html

[Abuse]

hey Pyros, just out of interest, what were the games?

[Pyros]

Summer Games 2004, Freefall, Penguin Brothers, Highway Racer, Truck Racer and Pinball Castle.

I don't know about the availability of these games abroad, but when I test googled for some of them using search strings like

"summer games 2004" java

there were some links found to them, so go see some webpages if you're interested.

[Abuse]

don't worry, im not *that* interested
just wondered if any of the reviewed games were written by me (they weren't)