Mobile Games at E3
WGR: Needless to say, mobile games rocked E3. Read more about mobile games at E3 here.
Wireless Gaming Review does a good job both reviewing the new mobile games - mostly on the N-Gage - as well as the convention itself. More thoughts on Mobile Gaming at E3 over at the Feature.
My thoughts are this: my 3650 has great resolution on a great color screen, a kick-ass processor and loads of memory. Yes, the screen's a bit small but it's clear and backlit which makes it much easier to see than my non-SP GBA and I played Sonic on the N-Gage and you forget pretty damn quickly about the screen size, believe me. Basically, besides the screen, the specs for my phone BLOW the GBA away. I have several 3D games for my 3650 already (by small companies) and it's amazing. Definitely great "ooh factor" when you show it off to curious admirers of the phone.
So whether the N-Gage will be a hit, I don't know, but games for Series 60 devices are definitely going to rule. All those N-Gage games above could be played on my 3650 if Nokia decided that it was in their best interest to allow that. There's nothing special about the N-Gage from a hardware perspective that I know of - and even if Nokia continues to push the N-Gage games that are only available with proprietary memory cards, there are going to be plenty of other game publishers who are going to realize the potential of the smartphones for insanely compelling games.
The Java stuff we're seeing now is nice, but those games above REALLY show where the cutting edge of the games are. The people who don't get how big mobile gaming is going to be are just thinking about those little "beep-boop-beep" J2ME games that are so popular now. But the good stuff is coming and it's going to be obvious how enormous Mobile Gaming is going to be.
It's going to rock in a few months time when I can sit in my local Starbucks playing a multi-player 3D FPR against a pal over Bluetooth on my 3650... It's going to make beloved GBA look downright antiquated.
-Russ
P.S. Not to get anyone overly-excited, but on my laptop with a 14" screen at 1024x768 resolution, those screenshots are big by about 20%. BUT, if you are on a similar laptop, I can promise you that the 3650s screens are just as bright and clear as the LCD you're on now.