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Cell Phone Firms Call on Gamers

Posted on: Monday, 15 May 2006, 15:07 CDT

By Daniel Miller, Ventura County Star, Calif.

May 13--LOS ANGELES -- Gone are the days when playing a video game on a cell phone meant squinting at a monochrome screen to fiddle with a simple game with no sound and little plot.

Mobile phone companies are offering far more advanced handsets that can support complex and detailed cell phone video games, and companies are targeting "casual gamers" with these new capabilities, said officials for Sprint and Nokia.

New games and handsets were among the gadgets featured this week at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, a three-day video game trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center that ended Friday.

"For casual gamers, the issues are where are the games and how the user can get them on the phone," said Simon Etchells, head of strategic marketing for Nokia.

Etchells said that casual gamers are those people who enjoy playing video games on their cell phones while on the go, whether it is a short gaming session during a bus ride home or a longer experience during a lunch break. Cell phone games often cost from $3 to $8 and can be downloaded directly to handsets.

"We are looking to having much more mobile-oriented games," Etchells said.

Kim Nordstrom, producer of the cell phone game, "The Da Vinci Code 3-D," said that with 600 million gaming-capable mobile phones on the market worldwide, cell phone video games cannot be ignored.

"All cell phones are getting more advanced, and people want to use them for more than talking on their phones," said Nordstrom, a producer for the developer SouthEnd Interactive. "People want a multifunctional tool."

Sprint has created the Game Lobby Lounge for gamers who subscribe to its wireless system. The virtual lounge is a social network, which allows users to communicate with each other, rate games and share tips, said Kris Davis, manager of games for Sprint.

Davis said that Sprint uses the game ratings provided by the game lounge's 1.3 million members to shape content.

"The unique thing is, we focus on what our customers say about games, not necessarily what is selling the most," Davis said. "Our customers really like it. Relying on customer feedback helps us prioritize games."

Although new technology allows developers to create graphically rich games, simple games often become hits with consumers because cell phone gaming is often a casual experience, Davis said.

For example, "Sudoku Deluxe," a version of the logic-based puzzle game, is the highest rated game in the Game Lobby Lounge, Davis said.

Another puzzle game, "Tetris," is the top-selling game.

"It's the simplicity of the game. It's simple fun," Davis said. "A really good game can be picked up easily."

Davis said that he expects the recently launched "Super Pac-Man," a game developed by Namco Networks, to be very popular. The game, which is an update of the classic "Pac-Man" game, was displayed at Namco Networks' trade show booth.

"I appreciate cell phone games," said Andrew Bilyk, an associate producer for the video game company Black Lantern Studios. "There is definitely a market for it."

Bilyk, who on Thursday tried out cell phone games at Namco Networks' booth, said that he expects it to be awhile before the cell phone gaming market hits a ceiling.

According to Etchells, the market for advanced cell phones with gaming capabilities is expanding significantly, with no signs of slowing down.

Nokia delivers video game content to phones with the N-GAGE environment, a gaming standard that will begin to appear on most Nokia handsets.

"We are giving the industry the tools to make great mobile games," Etchells said.

ON THE NET: http://www.e3expo.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Ventura County Star, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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S, NOK,

Source: Ventura County Star

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