For all you middle-aged, BlackBerry-toting, neck-tie-wearing executives who were wandering around the CTIA Wireless I.T. show floor last week, let me interrupt your reminiscings about the wonders of wireless e-mail and tell you one thing: Today’s wireless games are really pretty freaking cool.
I mean, wireless e-mail is great and everything, but have you seen the games that are available to wireless subscribers today? I’m just as excited as the next guy about getting more work done, but for 20-somethings such as myself, it’s all about the games.
OK, it’s true-phone games are nowhere near as cool as the games for Xbox or PlayStation 2. Halo this is not. In fact, most phone games aren’t even as good as the games for Nintendo’s little Game Boy. It’s a phone, after all.
But when you think about where wireless gaming was two years ago-black and white and lame-today’s crop of titles is truly spectacular. The wireless gaming industry has really stepped up to the plate and impressed me-me, a journalist who is paid to be skeptical.
In between all my work during the show last week, I managed to set aside a few minutes to try out some of the games on display there. Some were so-so, others were pretty good, and some were really pretty impressive. So why don’t you finish up your e-mails, put down your BlackBerry and put on your old-man reading glasses and let me take you on a little tour of the gaming side of San Francisco’s CTIA Wireless I.T.
First up is I-Play’s The Fast and the Furious game, based on the 2001 movie of the same title. This is really your basic racing game-drive a car around a track and try to beat the car you’re racing against. One notable thing is that it’s a 3D game. (For you non-gamers out there, this means that you can see everything that’s around your car, which makes it more fun.)
The game itself was pretty entertaining, but I’m not good at racing games in general so I spent most of my 10-minute demo time crashing into walls and trying to figure out how to turn around. Needless to say, I didn’t win the race. Although the controls were a bit sticky, the graphics were great and I was pretty impressed overall.
The next game I got to try was Mobliss Corp.’s Brady Bunch Kung Fu. It’s a 2D fighting game (meaning you can only see the fighters’ profiles) but I like fighting games, so I thought it was pretty good. Plus, the whole point of the game is to have different characters from the Brady Bunch TV show fight each other, which is just intrinsically funny and entertaining. Not as entertaining as wireless access to your sales force automation application, it’s true, but entertaining nonetheless.
Brady Bunch Kung Fu is basically Street Fighter with Marcia, Greg and Peter instead of Ryu and Vega and the rest. You try to punch and kick your opponent more times than they do you. The gameplay was pretty quick and responsive, which is what you need for fast-paced fighting games. However, the sounds during the game seemed to lag-I felt like all the grunts and screams were coming from someone else’s game, not mine. I also kept accidentally quitting the game because I was mashing so many different keys. But I did like the game quite a bit, mainly because fighting is cool.
Probably the most interesting game I played was Digital Chocolate’s MLSN Sports Picks. This application crosses the line between a game and a social networking service, and is an example of the kinds of innovations you can have in the wireless arena.
MLSN Sports Picks combines elements of fantasy sports and trivia games. You basically try to predict who will win a game-be it a football, baseball, basketball, etc.-and you’re ranked based on how close your guesses are. You can invite friends in to play the game with you, and you can send them text messages from inside the game. (For example-“ur team lost, u owe me $100, pay up now, i know where u live.”) It’s a pretty neat way to stay in touch with friends and play games at the same time.
But that’s just three games out of literally thousands that are today available to wireless subscribers. And there’s more on the way. Just take a look at some of the gaming-related announcements coming out of the show last week:
- Jamdat Mobile Inc. scored a deal with Amaury Sport Organization to make a racing game based on the Dakar Race.
- Gameloft said it would sell a real-time multiplayer 3D version of its Asphalt Urban GT racing game.
- Indiagames announced a deal with Universal Pictures to make games based on the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. The company also said its Serenity game, based on the Universal Studios’ movie of the same title, will support Immersion Corp.’s VibeTonz touch feedback technology.
- Namco America announced its new Pool Pro Online game, which the company said will allow users to text message their competitors and play ranked, head-to-head games.
- Electronic Arts unveiled its new mobile game lineup, which includes Harvest Mania, Word Whomp, World Class Solitaire, Squelchies, FIFA Street, Def Jam and SimCity.
- In-Fusio announced it would make mobile applications based on the Halo franchise from Bungie Studios.
- I-Play extended its licensing relationship with the SNK Playmore Corp. to make The King of Fighters M2 and Metal Slug Mobile Impact.
OK, that’s it. I’m done. You can whip out your BlackBerry now. I’m going to go back to my Brady Bunch Kung Fu game. That stupid Marcia-it’s always Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. I’m totally going to paste her one.
