How to find and buy games on 3's Planet 3

3 is one of the most innovative UK operators when it comes to mobile games, having launched multiplayer games last year, and offering a mixture of games to buy or rent. Here's everything you need to know about exploring the games options on its portal.

Start by accessing the Planet 3 portal. 3's handsets either have a dedicated button to fire it up, or trigger it from one of the softkeys under your screen. One click takes you straight to the portal. The first thing you'll see is the Today On 3 screen, which tells you what's new across all types of mobile content. Feel free to scroll down and see if any games are featured. To go to the main Games portal, click on the Go To Services link at the top of the page, and from the next screen, scroll down to the joypad Games icon, then click.
Start by checking out what 3 is promoting this week on its main games page. There'll be a couple of new games – Sonic The Hedgehog Part 2 and FIFA 07 at the time of writing. If either strikes your fancy, click on the Info link under the picture to see some screenshots, information, and a rating out of five, based on the views of other 3 subscribers. You can rate games you've bought from this screen too, by clicking the Rate This Game link. If you decide to purchase it, click the Buy Game link to be taken to a screen that tells you the price (£5.99 in Sonic's case) and then click Download Game to buy it.
Like all operators, 3 groups its mobile games by genre. Go back to the main Games page and scroll down to the bottom to have a look at what's available. Genres include Sport, Action, Puzzle, Strategy, Lads and Retro Arcade (we'll save Top Deals and Rent for the following steps). Click on a category to see what games are in it. Three games will be promoted at the top of the page, with a list of others at the bottom. 3 doesn't offer as many games as other operators, which is a deliberate choice to make finding the newest and best stuff easier. Follow the same instructions as Step 2 to buy a game you like the look of.
Now let's have a look at the Top Deals category, which lets you get your hands (well, thumbs) on a range of older games for bargain prices. For example, FIFA 06 is £2.99 at the time of writing. Again, reading about games and then buying them follows the same path as Step 2. It's worth checking this category every week, as 3 sells some games for as little as £0.99 before removing them from the portal.
Now let's check out one of the most innovative features of 3's games portal – its Rent category. Instead of paying to download a game for keeps, this category lets you pay a smaller price for a restricted amount of time. For example, at the time of writing, World Poker Tour is available to rent for £0.49, which lets you play the game for three days. After the rental period runs out, you can choose to rent it again, or if you like it, pay the full asking price to download it for keeps.
One thing we haven't been able to cover here is 3's stable of Multiplayer mobile games, as we were using a brand new Sony Ericsson handset which didn't have any available yet. However, if you're on 3, check out the Multiplayer category for games that you can play over the network against other 3 subscribers. Another feature worth checking out is the 3Gamers community, which can be found via the My Gaming Profile link at the bottom of the main games page. You can change your alias (nickname) to something dashing, and then post high scores to see how you compare to the rest of the country. Don't miss the rest of our growing range of Mobile How To guides.