FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
Mobile Phones and Wireless Devices
Mobile phones now have enough computing power to play decent games. Unfortunately, it has proven difficult to find a reliably profitable business model. The public is reluctant to pay much money for games on mobile phones. Skins and ringtones account for most of the money being made in mobile phone content at the moment. But the worst thing about developing for mobile phones is the utter lack of standardization. The screens are all different sizes and color depths; the processors are different; the operating systems are different. Even the layout of the buttons is nonstandard, making it difficult to be certain what user interface design is convenient across a range of phones.
However, mobile phones and other wireless devices such as the Nintendo DS do have one distinct advantage over traditional game handhelds: Wireless devices permit portable networked play. Players can compete against other people while riding on trains or waiting for an appointment. Setting up a networked game on mobile
phones usually requires making a deal with a cellular service provider. Also, unlike dedicated game machines, for the most part, phones do not require a license from the hardware manufacturer. Anyone can write a program for a mobile phone, with one exception: Apple's iPhone.
