Cellphone Entertainment, Yes, but Carriers Shy From X-Rated

December 21st, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

With new functions to send e-mail, take pictures and listen to music, the mobile phone has turned into a portable minicomputer. But the operators of phone networks are resisting new services that proved very popular on the old personal computer: pornography and violent video games. More …

Korea: Cell-Phone Games Become Big Business

December 21st, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | 1 Comment »

Some of us may take a nap, read a newspaper or listen to music on a bus or subway train. Kim Tae-gyun, 28, an employee at a semi-conductor company, spends his time killing monsters, hitting winning homeruns or playing poker.

Advanced handsets with wider and colorful screens enable users to enjoy various mobile games. That is, unless he is interrupted by a phone call.

“Since I carry my cell phone with me all the time, mobile games are fun, and more than good for killing time,” Kim said. He usually plays mobile games for more than an hour each day and downloads two or three games a month at a fee of 2,000 won each. More …

Greg Costikyan on the Future of Mobile Gaming

December 15th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

The future of mobile gaming depends on breaking out of simply making arcade-classic retreads, and on developing an infrastructure that supports multiplayer. Greg Costikyan knows games.

An accomplished fantasy novelist, old school board game designer, and online and mobile game designer, he’s also worked as a gaming consultant and was Unplugged Games’s Chief Design Officer. Recently, Costikyan started working for Nokia Research. I interviewed him by phone, where he spoke from his home office in New York City about the latest ideas in mobile games, and why their success as a business is holding back their full potential for the mobile platform. More …

Dude, Ring Me Up A Game

December 3rd, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Forget the PlayStation Portable and ditch that GameBoy. Kids might be pining for those hot portable gaming systems now, but the real future of mobile gaming could already be in their pocket.

Today’s kids are mobile experts, utterly comfortable with tiny screens and capable of typing with their thumbs faster than many adults can on a keyboard. They’re also huge consumers of wireless phone service, the fastest growing group of cellular users and the heaviest users of minutes and data. Pair those characteristics with today’s handsets–big, bright color screens, on-board memory and high-speed data connections–and you’ve got a recipe for gaming nirvana. Mobile gaming is taking off, and thanks in part to the influence of kids, promises to be a boon to wireless vendors. More …

How the toy industry is being outplayed by video games this holiday season

November 30th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Left unfettered, Anthony Konieczka, 9, would happily thumb away at his Game Boy Advance or PlayStation2 from the minute he gets up to the moment he crawls into bed, 14 bleary-eyed hours later.

Anthony’s basement in Naperville, Illinois, is stocked with traditional toys

Hackers find cell phones next weak link to exploit

November 30th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Early this month, several Web sites began offering software promising ring tones and screen savers for certain cell phones.

But those who downloaded the software found that it turned every icon on their cell phone’s screens into a skull-and-crossbones and disabled their phones, so they could no longer send or receive text messages or access contact lists or calendars. More …

Wee Wireless Warriors

November 30th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

In the past, telecom for kids didn’t get much more complex than two tin cans connected by a length of string.

But, times have changed. Children have become voracious consumers of cellular communication and today are the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the mobile telephone world. As the overall cellular marketplace nears saturation, young consumers are bringing new blood–and new bucks–to service providers. More …

Mobile Gaming: Latest Wireless Cash Cow

November 30th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

Online gaming has become possible because of recent technical advances in cell phones, such as the advent of high-resolution graphics, multiplayer features, Bluetooth connectivity, and color screens. However, the quality of the gaming experience is not as rich as that found with current game consoles, but instead is comparable to 1980s video games.

Wireless carriers are finding online gaming via use of cell phones to be the latest cash cow to boost revenues. "Carriers have been surprised that wireless gaming is even more lucrative than ringtones," Ken Hyers, a senior analyst with market research firm In-Stat/MDR, told TechNewsWorld. Online gaming, where users download video games onto their cell phones and then test their skills, is helping wireless carriers raise revenue in two ways. More …

Cellphone games becoming more complex

November 17th, 2004 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Trends | No Comments »

As I waited for a flight in the airport the other day, I pitted my trivia skills against an array of tough competitors, racing to answer sophisticated questions about movie director George Cukor, Vietnam’s Hamburger Hill and foie gras (goose liver).

I was staring not at a board game or a computer monitor, but rather at the Lilliputian face of a wireless phone, connected to an online game with invisible but real opponents.

According to many analysts, this kind of mobile gaming is playing an increasingly dominant role in cellphone use. There is a boom of interest in and sophisticated offerings of wireless games, with yet more dazzling graphics and complex play to come. More …