Cell Phones the Next Frontier for Video Games
Starting this fall in the USA, cellular subscribers will be able to do battle via their phones while exchanging trash talk on instant message services and checking video scoreboards that track the performance of other players.
''The Holy Grail of what we are all aiming at is where you can play a game on a robust color screen, and you are playing not just someone in your immediate vicinity, but you, in Los Angeles, could play with me in New York,'' said Edwin Philogene, a manager of product marketing at Ericsson.
The future of wireless gaming is expected to dominate next week's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It's the largest trade show in the country for the burgeoning, multibillion-dollar industry, which some analysts predict will rival the movie business in revenue within four years.
The availability of fast-moving, multiplayer games on cell phones will depend on speedier wireless data transmission, which carriers plan to introduce gradually this year, beginning with a few markets this summer.
In the months ahead, game makers promise that legendary titles like ''Tetris'' will join a staid realm now ruled by memory games and ''Snake,'' in which players chase a black dot across the display screen.
Top cell phone makers such as Motorola also intend to boost the number of color display screens on the market by the end of the year, hoping to lure consumers already used to the richness of Nintendo's Game Boy handheld platform.
Gamer Ed McGlothlin, who spent 45 minutes playing ''Snake'' on his cell phone last month during his lengthy graduation ceremony at Florida State University, said he can't wait for a decent wireless game.
'''Snake' is really not that interesting,'' said McGlothlin, who also runs a fan Web site called Gaming Intelligence Agency. ''My phone's got 'Memory,' 'Snake' and 'Logic,' and if I am looking for diversion, I don't want to remember stuff.''
At E3, game developer THQ, which opened a cell phone software division earlier this year, will demonstrate a version of ''Tetris'' designed for the latest generation of Motorola phones. The two companies are negotiating a contract that will let Motorola customers play THQ games on their phones.
''You will able to play your friends on it and be able to use that phone to download other games and get upgraded versions of those games, or to get a multiplayer version of those games,'' said Douglas Dyer, a general manager at THQ.
In March, Motorola debuted two Java-enabled phones that allow a diverse array of video games. Users can log on to a Motorola Web site and use a special cable to download titles like ''Minesweeper'' for free.
''The research we did showed that people _ business users, anyway _ wouldn't readily admit that they were interested in gaming,'' said Motorola spokesman David Kurt. ''However, when we actually followed people around, they demonstrated that they were interested in gaming, at least when they were in down time.''
Other industry players are moving to cash in on the growing popularity of wireless gaming, which the firm Datamonitor predicts will be a dlrs 6 billion worldwide industry by 2005.
_ Cellular carrier Cingular plans to launch a cell phone-based, video game option within two months where subscribers can play, chat and follow the scores of other players.
_ Tech giant Qualcomm is betting on a new platform called Brew that enables users to download games via the cellular airwaves.
_ Ericsson has teamed with Sony to develop wireless gaming technologies while joining other manufacturers to devise standard specifications for software.
_ Eidos, creator of the popular ''Tomb Raider'' video game, is jumping into the mix by partnering with Nokia to develop five titles for its phones over the next two years. The first title is ''Gangsters,'' a Mafia strategy game already available for Windows that's expected to be released for cell phones this fall.
They're all following the lead of Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has been offering games through its I-mode service for about a year and claims the service has become one of the most popular hobbies in Japan. Also at E3, Nintendo will hype its Game Boy Advance, which marries its Game Boy technology with multiplayer ability and is due out June 11.
Finnish company G-Cluster will use E3 to launch a similar device, and Cybiko of Bloomingdale, Ill., will announce a wireless hand-held computer designed specifically for pre-teens.
SOURCE: Associated Press
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