MGF 2008: New mobile games showcase

Amid all the industry shoptalk at Mobile Games Forum, it's easy to forget about the main thing: the games. Thankfully, the conference had a developer showcase at the end of the first day, with some new titles being shown off.

We apologise for the lack of screenshots for these, as we were too busy scribbling to take photos, but for now you'll have to make do with our first impressions. Rest assured, we'll be chasing up shots and more info in the coming weeks...

Powerboat Challenge (Fishlabs)
Fishlabs kick off with its new 3D boat-racer, which is possibly the first mobile game where you get to 'pimp your boat'. It's packed with nifty watery effects, with reflections and ripples and the like. Apparently it looks even better if you have a handset with hardware-acceleration. There's a lot of bumping with rival boats too, as you try to steer between buoys on your way round the tracks – and there's a Boost function too.

Heli Strike (Fishlabs)
We've seen this already, but Fishlabs showed the game working with the Zeemote Bluetooth controller, which we've written about before. It provides an analogue joystick and fire buttons, connecting with your phone via Bluetooth to control the game. Fishlabs boss Michael Schade says all Fishlabs' games will be Zeemote-enabled from now on.

Just Cause 2 (Progressive Media/Eidos)
Due out later this year, it is based on the upcoming console game of the same name. It's an isometric action game with open-ended environments, and the chance to run, shoot, parachute around, and most importantly blow lots of stuff up. It looks good – my first comparison was Digital Chocolate's Mafia Wars Yakuza game, which augurs well.

Football Pro (TAG Games/Sports Pro Games/Smoking Gun)
This comes under what TAG describes as 'persistent casual' games – casual mobile games with a persistent online aspect. It's like a Tamagotchi sports star, so you choose a sport and select your character's basic physical attributes, and then have to become a World Class Superstar. And it involves your player interacting with AI-controlled managers powered by the game engine.

They showed off a football version at MGF (Football Pro), with ten training mini-games to play to develop your player's skills, including a penalty shootout, tackling and so on. The online component is a website that goes with the games, with other people managing teams – so if you're playing the mobile version, you'll want your character to join the most successful teams on the website.

There'll be a monthly subscription to play Football Pro, although there'll be a free trial version available to see if you like it. TAG also plans to put micro-transactions in future versions, such as being able to upgrade your player's boots and so on. It'll work on more recent Java phones – those running the MIDP 2.0 profile. It's certainly intriguing.

Football will kick off the series (ho ho), but TAG also has an American football version in demo. Real Madrid have already signed up to have a skinnable version, and there's scope to do other versions around special events, like Euro 2008.

Treasure Arm (Tequila Mobile)
Nominated for this year's IMG Awards, Treasure Arm is a casual game where you have to move a mechanical arm to pick up keys and open locks. It reminded me of the kind of game Digital Chocolate might make, which is a compliment. As you go on, you get power-ups to help you on the increasingly complex levels.

Each level takes 1-2 minutes to play, so designed for short bursts, and the difficulty ramps up the more you play. It looks like it could be really fun, although the concept makes it sound a bit simplistic.