Loose Threads: Will the Zeemote be any good?

If there's one major thorn in mobile gaming's side, it's the issue of control. Those fiddly little buttons and thumb-sticks (thumbscrews more like) were just never meant for gaming, and though they do a good enough job and often developers come up with clever workarounds, it's easy to see why Zeemote came up with the Zeemote.

But even in the face of such an obvious problem coupled with an innovative solution, it's hard not to have reservations about the Zeemote and its potential popularity. A couple of weeks ago, we asked you lot if the Zeemote will be any good - your responses were less than buoyant.

First to the discussion was the ever faithful danskmacabre with a decidedly downbeat slant:

"I can't really be bothered carrying around a remote for a mobile phone. Kinda defeats the purpose of it being a mobile. The thing is, I only really play games on mobiles for maybe 10 minutes at a time when I'm waiting around for some reason, so I'm not gonna carry around some controller just so I can play better games on my mobile. If I wanted better gameplay, I'd take my DS with me (and I often do)."

It's true that the Zeemote probably won't help mobile gaming to become a replacement for the PSPs and DSs of this world, but that's not to say it couldn't help mobile gaming on its own terms. Hidden Away held the negative momentum steady:

"I'd rather use the Zeemote (if I did get one) at home. I reckon it'll make you look as bad as shouting "Objection!" or "Scissors!" into the DS while out and about. I don't think it'll gain that much popularity amongst developers (but, what do I know?)"

Well some pretty big developers have expressed an interest, but that will count for little if nobody buys the thing. Mandark could be a potential customer, it seems, but only if it's going very cheaply:

"It's hard to see it being a mainstream success. Is it just a kid's toy? It will also be important to bundle it with handsets as very few will buy it as a separate purchase unless it's priced something like 50p."

We agree, pricing will be crucial to the Zeemote's success but surely about �5-10 is more realistic? SetsFireToPoshHammer, at least, thinks it's a good idea:

"It's a cool, clever but ultimately impractical add-on. I think it probably will work quite well, but sadly I doubt sales will reflect that."

As the discussion closed it fell to Accelorata Jengold to offer any real support for the device:

"I'd buy it, but I bought the Virtual Boy and the original N-Gage so..."

Ah, a pocket gaming connoisseur. Well then, here's hoping that the Zeemote is a more worthwhile spend than either of those other purchases when it's released.

Elsewhere on the forum, a previous Loose Threads topic of discussion, 'How can mobiles be better designed for playing games?' flared up again with new member Evie adding:

"I think pretty much any phone (ok newer ones with a good display, enough memory etc, etc, etc, wink) could be a good game phone provided that enough thought has been put into designing the user experience of the game itself - especially including the keys that are used during the game and how this fact is communicated to the user."

It's certainly a different angle than has been pursued thus far. Anyone have anything to add?

And so, on with next week's topic:

Which third-party licenses does the PSP need?

We expect this one (about which there are more details to be had in the forum) to be overflowing with comments, requests and demands by this time next week, so to make sure you don't miss the ensuing stampede, click 'Track It!'

And remember, our forum is always waiting with open arms for new posters, so don't be shy.