May 7th, 2008 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Gaming Gear | 1 Comment »
A few days ago, we received one of the first Zeemote’s. For those that are not aware of the Zeemote yet, it’s a nunchuck like analogue stick specially designed for the mobile phone…
We received the Zeemote JS1 “thumbstick” in a fancy little box that got us excited right away. Once we popped it out and fired up the first mobile game, Sonic pt. 1, the Zeemote instantly showed it’s power.
After pairing the mobile game to the Zeemote (which has to be done every time you start a new game), the Zeemote works directly and shows no lag at all. The Sonic game even showed us that it has been optimized for the keypad so much, that we felt like the game was limiting the control abilities we have with the Zeemote connected.
We also played some other games that where sent with the controller. Regretfully they didn’t all work on our N73 (hence, they where N95 builds), but the ones that did work gave us a good feeling where the JS1 excels and where it’s just plain obsolete.
The Zeemote clearly excels in mobile games that require constant fast action. That could be racing as well as platform games and perhaps even casual games like Zuma. In puzzle games, the Zeemote seems just obsolete. For example in Puzzle Fantasies, that was sent with the device, we felt that the keypad was a faster and better way to play.
When it comes to the device itself, the size is really good. It’s about as thick as the N73 I used it on. This means they fit nicely together in my pocket. When using the JS1 for the first time, I was surprised about the excellent grip. The outside has a rubbery like coating that is ideal for sweaty hands. The only real problem is when using the “C” button. It’s a bit too clumsy. It’s even pretty hard to move inside a game and use the “C” button at the same time.
Another thing that I found missing, was a simple Symbian application that would allow me to “replicate” the device buttons to the JS1. If that was possible, any mobile game on my phone would instantly be enabled to use the Zeemote.
So, if there would be a JS2, what would we like to see in it’s design? A better “C” button would be lovely. Perhaps it could be placed under the analogue stick, so you could press it just like on Sony’s Dual Shock controllers. Perhaps there could also be an accelerometer installed to add motion gaming. No wait, that should be more like a JS2. A round steer like joystick which would have the accelerometer instead of the analogue stick. Aaaargh, the device clearly leaves us with a load of ideas on what could be the next big innovation from this company.
So, after two days of playing, we are really satisfied with the device. As so, we would like to recommend all mobile game developers to take a look at the Zeemote SDK, and start adding support for the device in upcoming mobile games. At the same time, we would love it if sales channels would list Zeemote JS1 support with the games.
I signed up with them todayas it looks like a great idea.