San Francisco Chronicle

Cellular technologies to help energize mobile-game industry

Ryan Kim
October 29, 2007

The mobile-game industry, saddled with slowing interest, may be poised for a power surge as developers start incorporating new advanced cellular technologies into their products.

By using touch screens, GPS, high-speed data networks, bigger processors, cameras and motion sensors, game developers see a potential to push the mobile-gaming business forward creatively in a big way.

"We're very bullish on the future of mobile gaming," said Gonzague de Vallois, vice president of publishing for Gameloft, the second-largest mobile-game publisher. "There won't be one miracle solution, but it's going to be a combination of all these things."

The challenges for the mobile-games industry have been numerous. With a variety of phones, configurations and operating systems, developers sometimes have to write 100 different versions of one game, just to ensure wide distribution. Writing for so many configurations often limits how robust a game will be.

Publishers also have had to work through carrier partners to showcase the games on their menus, which have limited real estate to describe a game. The difficult discovery process, marked by endless clicking through tiny menus, has made it difficult for titles that don't have a recognizable name like Tetris to succeed.

The hardware also is a limiting factor for more ambitious games. Some titles that have been ported over from consoles are hampered by simplistic graphics and awkward user interfaces that have to rely on a phone's basic keypad.

The iPhone, which is opening up to third-party development in February, holds special promise for the game industry. Publishers and developers see new experiences that can be brought about through the device's touch screen and motion sensors. The fact that games can be side-loaded onto the iPhone's large hard drive means developers can also look forward to building bigger, richer games than before.

"The iPhone is a great device that will guide the industry with its touch screen," said Barry Cottle, president of EA Mobile, the world's largest mobile-game company. "We're going to see Electronic Arts work more with manufacturers to make a greater game experience."

Despite rosy projections a few years ago, mobile-gaming growth has slowed significantly. M:Metrics, a Seattle research company, reported the number of subscribers playing games has hit a plateau in the past year. After seeing some solid growth in 2006, the number has stalled at about 5.4 million users in August, only slightly up from a year earlier and down from a peak of 5.7 million subscribers in December 2006.

Seamus McAteer, a senior analyst, said mobile-game developers need to put out more games that resonate with users, who don't seem enamored of the latest crop of games.

"We're at a time where the free ride is over," McAteer said.

The slump comes as traditional video games, both console and handheld, are enjoying a banner year. Fueled by the innovative Nintendo Wii and DS hardware, and the software on the Xbox 360, the traditional video game industry has generated $9.4 billion domestically this year, up 47 percent from the previous year, putting it on pace for the biggest year in video game history.

Companies like Hewlett-Packard are trying to push mobile gaming forward using advances like GPS, Bluetooth, infrared and Wi-Fi. The world's largest computer-maker released new developer software called Mscape, which allows designers to create virtual games that can be played in the real world using a smart phone. Imagine a treasure hunt game where gamers search for virtual prizes that are discovered through GPS or Bluetooth.

Phil Stenton, technology and lifestyle-integration manager at HP Labs, developed a shooting game in which players target aliens that appear on their cell phone screen depending on the user's GPS position.

"This is really providing an extra palette for games designers to extend the genre," Stenton said. "If you think about the Wii, it's gotten people off the couch. What we're attempting to do is get people out of the house."

Other technology companies like Synaptics of Santa Clara are working to get their touch technology into gaming. The company is able to turn a numeric keypad into a touch screen, allowing for easier game navigation.

GestureTek, a Canadian company now based in Sunnyvale, has sold 2 million games in Japan using its camera-phone technology. By registering movement using the cell phones cameras, game developers have been able to create Wii-like motion-sensing games such as snowboarding, bowling and boxing, that don't require an accelerometer motion chip.

"This is an easy way to make a phone like a Wii," said Yoshitaro Kumagai, vice president of Asia operations for GestureTek.

Nokia, the world's largest phone manufacturer, has signaled it is serious about pushing mobile gaming forward. After introducing two unsuccessful handheld video game-centric cell phones called N-Gage, the company decided in August to update its N-Gage brand by turning it into a gaming platform that can run on many of its top cell phones.

The platform allows developers to write one sophisticated version of a game that will run on many of its powerful Series 60 phones. Games made for N-Gage are clearly advanced, rendering 3-D graphics and multi-player online with ease, something most handsets have trouble pulling off. The N-Gage platform also features a better discovery process that allows users to see reviews, user comments and demos of games before they buy.

"N-Gage is bringing mobile gaming to a whole another level," said Paul Whitaker, head of games for Nokia America, which is based in San Francisco. "It's not just the graphics, it's the connectivity and the community. We're raising the bar of what mobile gaming can be."

E-mail Ryan Kim at rkim@sfchronicle.com.

 

About GestureTek Mobile
GestureTek Mobile is a world leader in gesture-based user interface for mobile devices and the inventor of the patented, award-winning EyeMobile Engine.  EyeMobile Engine is the world’s first software-only solution that uses the existing camera on a cell phone or mobile Internet device to provide people with the ability to interact with their device using gestures. By shaking, rocking or rolling the phone (or making hand motions in front of the phone) users can answer a call, play mobile games, scroll menus, navigate maps, view images and documents, browse the web, enter text messages and do anything else they would normally do on their mobile device, without pressing buttons.  Licensees of GestureTek’s patents or technologies include Sony for the EyeToy, Microsoft for the XBOX 360 and Hasbro for the ION Educational Gaming System.  GestureTek Mobile’s award wins include the 2008 Mobile Innovation Global Award, the LAPTOP Magazine ‘Best of CTIA’ Award and the NATPE++ Award for the Hottest Mobile Application.  Games powered by the EyeMobile Engine have been recognized by the BREW Game Developer Awards, the International Mobile Gaming Awards and the IGN Editors Choice Awards.  GestureTek Mobile developed the first gesture-recognition software to be embedded in NTT DoCoMo phones in Japan and provided the software for the first gesture-controlled mapping application on a cellphone.  EyeMobile supports many handsets on the JAVA, BREW, SYMBIAN, WINDOWS MOBILE and DOJA platforms. Applications are available for over the air download on the Verizon network.  Full developer tools are available on the Qualcomm website.   A catalogue of turnkey games and applications for multiple platforms are available from the GestureTek mobile site. GestureTek Mobile is a business unit of GestureTek Inc., pioneer, patent-holder and world-leader in computer vision control for presentation and entertainment systems.