Mobile Gaming Forecast

Gamasutra featured a very relevant piece about the future of mobile gaming. It's actually a compilation of viewpoints made by Quang Hong. Here area few selection impressions I found relevant about the very questions "What interests you most about the prospects for cell phone gaming, and what innovations and trends do you think all game professionals should keep a close eye on in the mobile gaming market?"

I think the last thing to keep an eye on would be the prevalence of 3D applications. I personally don't think 3D really has a place on mobile (except for the “wow!” factor), but will wait to see where the consumers fall on this issue. It just seems to me that many big companies look at mobile as a natural extension of console. That concepts that work in their current medium will transfer directly to this new one. I don't believe this is the case. (Nick Smolney)

The interesting thing about the prospects for cell phone gaming is that we as an industry do not yet exist in the hearts and minds of the consumer. (John Szeder, Mofactor, Inc)

am most interested in the uniqueness of mobile devices and how they can be used to enhance gaming and make it different from fixed gaming. When people think about cell phones, they think about community and moving around. This leads to different types of multiplayer (given shorter play time and less bandwidth) and the possibilities of location-based games. Most people think of location-based games as these hardcore mobile games, but they do not have to be (Anonymous)

Why do I blog this? among all the statements presented in this article, I picked up those 3 points because I find them close to the reality. Mobile gaming will work if 1) it's not taken as a follow-up of game console (then 3D mobile games are a wrong path) 2) it should be taken as a new and unique phenomenon still to be understood in order to create new gaming experience 3) cell phones unique features (voice, geolocation, ptt, bluetooth...) could be seen as a basis to meet this end.