The Pocket Gamer Podcast Episode 88 - Netflix Games, Amazon Luna, and phones as controllers
On He-Man, Batman, and an Unhinged man
How do you go about your regular game night? And what counts as a "mobile game" these days? This week's (New and Improved!) Pocket Gamer Podcast is once again a duo discussion between Will and me, where we go from Batman to He-Man and everything in between.
Will takes us right into it with the recent trend we've been seeing, which is mobile games launching on TV. It's not as bizarre as you might think, because Eterspire will soon be playable on Apple TV (although that does raise questions about how its controls are going to go).
If it's going to be mirrored onto a bigger screen, how good your hand-eye coordination is will determine how well you play. But if it's using your phone as a controller, how would that work? This brings to mind one of the mobile peripherals our editor-in-chief Dann reviewed called Playtiles, which sticks an adhesive onto your phone's screen to give it a more tactile controller feel.
That said, we use Netflix's Unhinged as a good example of a creative way to use your phone as part of the actual game you're playing on your TV. It's a tool you use as an actual phone to get through the game, and it's an interesting concept that we may or may not see more of in the future.
In terms of couch co-op, using phones as controllers might have a Switch-esque purpose, especially with the likes of Batman: Caped Crusader - Chronicles, where you team up with your friends to help solve crimes in Gotham City. Does it still use phones as peripherals more than as actual platforms? You be the judge!
Before we end, though, we wrap up with Masters of the Universe: Legends Unite, which, this time, uses a mobile game as a tie-in to a film. It's another kind of approach that's different from the previously mentioned projects - we just wish there was some way to grab an in-game code from the film after watching it on Amazon Luna. We can dream, can't we?
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