Mobile Games 2008 Part 2: Key technologies

Great mobile games aren't about the technology: they're about the games, innit. But the technology IS an important aspect.

Just look at what's happened with DS and Wii, where technology (touchscreen and motion-sensing respectively) was the starting point for some great, innovative games. The fact that it's also the starting point for some rubbish, derivative titles shows that technology isn't the be-all and end-all, of course.

So what tech can we expect to be influencing the best mobile games this year? Having interviewed the top publishers, we've got a strong idea of some likely candidates.

Let's kick off with Glu's Chris White, who harks back to those other Nintendo platforms.

"More and more gamers will find that their latest phone boasts touchscreen capabilities and/or movement sensor technologies," he says. "This will change the way mobile games are played by aligning them with familar existing formats like the DS and Wii. Mobile games have traditionally been held back by phone keypads that are not designed with the gamer in mind. With touch-screen technology mobile will be on a level playing field with dedicated handheld devices."

Meanwhile, he thinks removing the control system barrier will encourage more people to try mobile games, and thus realise how much they've improved in recent years. Gameloft's Gonzague de Vallois also thinks touchscreen will have much potential for publishers.

"Touchscreen is the new hype among handset manufacturers, as we saw at CES. This is good news for Gameloft, as we already have real touchscreen-based games available on-shelf using not only the virtual keyboard, but also the touchscreen features. And we'll continue publishing others."

EA Mobile's Tim Harrison focuses on a different area: technologies that improve the purchasing and playing experiences.

"We've arrived at a stage where the average mobile handset is a very capable gaming device, but unfortunately the average download experience is still pretty poor," he says. "More 3G devices will help, but a bad user interface on 3G is just a faster bad user interface. Platforms like Symbian and UIQ should help to improve the on-device experience as long as developers use the added firepower to make games deeper and more fun rather than harder and less approachable."

He also cites N-Gage as "showing promise" on both the gameplay and purchase/discovery front, and says EA is excited to be part of Nokia's next-gen platform.

Indeed, several publishers are looking forward to the impact of N-Gage this year: "It will hopefully create more of a gaming community for fans of mobile gaming to concentrate on and use," says George Sakkas of Player One.

Meanwhile, Markku Hakala of Universomo/THQ Wireless points out that while initiatives like N-Gage take time to gain momentum, it's still exciting for developers.

"It is very interesting to be a first-wave developer to launch a game targeted specifically for the new N-Gage platform and to see how this new platform affects the perception of mobile gaming," he says. "This kind of initiative is also good in building the mobile games community as a whole."

Meanwhile, David Gosen (who, when we interviewed him, was still at I-play), says smartphone gaming in general will grow in 2008, including Windows Mobile as well as N-Gage.

Several publishers cite 3D as increasingly important, although Vivendi Games Mobile's Paul Maglione points out that this is only for certain genres, such as racing. What about network connectivity though, beyond the N-Gage Arena community?

Maglione sees it as taking off faster in the US, while Hakala thinks the market is "still too fragmented" for networked mobile gaming. Harrison is also cautious:

"Multiplayer, downloadable elements, community - these are all becoming more doable, but we've still got a long way to go before the connectivity business can really fly," he reckons.

In the meantime, some publishers are exploring WAP online games as an alternative - HandyGames' Christopher Kassulke sees this as a "huge trend" in 2008. For many publishers, technological progress this year will be about what the operators do, and the knock-on effect this has for mobile games.

"We care the most about carriers establishing strong subscription-billing capabilities, getting more users onto 3G networks where the deck storefront is faster and more usable, and using methods like MMS marketing offers or preloads of free trials," says Trip Hawkins of Digital Chocolate.

"One of our carrier partners did an MMS offer for a free trial of Cafe Solitaire and got more than 50 per cent to trial, and more than 50 per cent of those to convert. This is especially attractive on a 3G network when the free trial is for a service that will be billed on a monthly subscription basis."

On the hardware side, RealArcade's Jeremy Wells hopes that wider trends with handsets will have benefits for mobile gaming.

"PC/Mobile convergence that makes use of the 'real' web and side-loading. Manufacturers will start to sell phones with docking stations to encourage customers to connect to the web and purchase games, video, music etc. via their PCs."

But to get back to our starting point - that technology is only as good as the games created using it - perhaps Kassulke should have the last word. "No technologies will be important," he says. "Content is king."