Guitar Hero III Mobile was launched on 30 handsets at the end of February 2008, among them the Motorola V3 RAZR and the Sony Ericcson 810. That is only the beginning however, as the game is set to be made available to even more handsets in the next few months. Many mobile gaming users were understandably a little bit disappointed at this staggered launch since it meant that there was no guarantee that their particular handset would have been supported when the game was made available. Hands-On Mobile did encourage excited mobile gaming fanatics to check with AT&T for availability information for their particular mobile phones.

Actually this rush to get their hands on Guitar Hero III Mobile hardly comes as a surprise given the company’s offer of a respectably large selection of bonus songs for early subscribers. Users who managed to sign up by March 1 received the standard start-up song package that comes with every purchase, in addition to the playlist for the month of March. This includes songs such as “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, and “Search and Destroy” by Iggy Pop. Users who didn’t manage to make the March 1 subscription period cutoff had to make do with the standard start-up song package until April, when they finally gained access to the selection of bonus songs for that month.

In addition to the excitement offered by the game itself, signing up for Guitar Hero III Mobile on the AT&T network lets you take advantage of the Java platform that allows a few upgrades to the BREW version of the game. This is the same version that is currently available on Verizon phones and comes with slightly larger and clearer graphics, as well as a novel new function that you may or may not find welcome depending on how good you are: the phone will vibrate every time you miss a note!
Finally, the songs included in Guitar Hero III Mobile will now reside on your AT&T phones, which means that aspiring mobile gaming “guitar heroes” don’t have to download them for every game!

In one sense the term ‘casual’ when used to refer to mobile gaming is a bit hazy and ill defined. Many of the games that fall under this umbrella term have virtually nothing in common with each other, apart from the fact that they offer relatively simple user interfaces and game play. Some of the examples and genres of games attributed to this category, such as web games and spinning plate games like Diner Dash, or even games such as Bejewelled for example, do not really fit into the definition of “casual games” in the strictest sense of the term, simply because casual games do not necessarily have to be low tech releases in 2D that are lacking in any type of narrative whatsoever. For better or for worse however, that is what casual gaming has seemingly come to mean for many in the mobile gaming industry. This is akin to saying that all games that feature 3D graphics and are appealing enough for people to play them for hours and hours at a time define “hardcore” games.

One other popular misconception going around in mobile gaming circles is that casual games had its origins in the DS and the Wii. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the fact is that casual games have actually been in existence since the earliest days of the games industry, although of course they were called arcade games back then.
It is important to remember however that these early arcade games weren’t merely shoot-’em up and beat-’em up types of games. If you were to look back at some of the most popular arcade game releases of the era such as Tetris, Mahjong, Pong, Mr Do, Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man, their primary appeal to players was that they allowed players to get started on a game with very little in the way of special skills and complicated instructions. In most cases, all it took was a few coins and the player was well on his way to short, intense burst of enjoyable game play through very simple and visually attractive interfaces.

It appears then that the much of the potential success of the mobile gaming industry–particularly the casual games–lies in the ability to draw from the immediacy and features that contributed to the type of rewarding gaming experience provided by these early arcade games, and recreate it for today’s mobile gaming platforms. The established gaming companies such as Namco, Sega and Capcom already have the skills and know how that made the early arcade games such huge hits. Adapting those qualities for the current crop of mobile gaming titles will surely result in a whole new generation of successful releases.

The contract signifies the first time that the MotoGP license has been granted worldwide exclusive rights to a single publisher across all the current gaming platforms.

This new contract will, in effect, take over from Sony PlayStation’s existing arrangement to publish titles on their own platforms. It was only in 2006 when MotoGP 07 was released for the PlayStation 2, and was widely considered to be a worldwide hit.

Initial Capcom plans for this new arrangement involves publishing new titles for various platforms that will be based on the 2008 MotoGP season, including versions for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, the Wii, PC and the PlayStation 2. Plans are also underway to develop mobile gaming versions.

MotoGP is of course known the world over as THE premier motorcycling championship, and is comprised of 18 Grands Prix events that are held all over the globe. It is a veritable “who’s who” of the motorcycling industry and includes all of the leading motorcycle manufacturers in the world, among them Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, Kawasaki, KTM and Aprilia. All of these companies provide only the latest and best in motorcycle engineering for the cream of the crop of motorcycle riders in the world. Some of the riders expected to join in the 2008 MotoGP are Casey Stoner, who is currently the World Champion, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa and Shinya Nakano from Japan.

The 2008 season will also see a few newcomers to the International circuit such as Jorge Lorenzo, who is the reigning 250cc World Champion, and James Toseland from the United Kingdom. Toseland is the World Superbike Champion of 2007.

Capcom is understandably optimistic about the new licensing contract, saying that exclusive licensing rights will give them more leverage in producing a host of exciting new MotoGP based mobile gaming titles, as well as for all of the other platforms. During the recent announcement of the licensing contract, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe, Mark Beaumont, said that they “are very excited” to have entered into the long term partnership with Dorna Sports. Beaumont feels that with MotoGP in the reins of a single worldwide publisher, the mobile gaming community can expect all of the upcoming MotoGP based releases to be just as exciting and as authentic as the actual event.

Dorna Sports CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, is equally optimistic about the arrangement, saying that Capcom has already proven its worth in developing gaming titles that perfectly captures the essence of MotoGP. Dorna Sports is the exclusive holder of all commercial and TV rights to the MotoGP championship.

Of course as impressive as that may have sounded then–and still now as a matter of fact–this claim was little more than hype. The gaming experience provided by these early mobile gaming devices left no doubt in the player’s minds that they were still dealing with a fairly rudimentary technology that had little–if any–resemblance to “intelligence”, artificial or otherwise. Clearly, the next logical step was a means for players to interact and play games with other real, live human players.
To be sure, there were certain technologies that theoretically allowed players to play against other people in real time, but the technological compatibilities between the mobile devices of different manufacturers made this very difficult to utilize.
With the arrival of bluetooth however, it seemed that real-time, multiplayer gaming experiences have finally become a reality. The COO of Mauj Telecom, Arun Gupta, has expressed optimism about the future of blutooth, saying that games such as these represent the next wave in mobile gaming. Mauj Telecom is a wireless mobile content provider that recently launched a well-received range of multiplayer bluetooth mobile games that allow gamers to play against and alongside each other in real-time.
One of the main advantages of bluetooth technology is that users do not even have to do anything in order to establish connections between different bluetooth devices. All that is needed is for both devices to come within range of one another, and both can then interact and communicate with each other automatically.
While earlier versions of multiplayer online games allowed users to play against each other, they could not do so in real-time simply because it took a considerable amount of time for the devices to respond to each other. Furthermore, these older devices used either the Internet or the GPRS or General Packet Radio Service to connect to each other, which offered slow connection rates of only 10 to 60 Kbps at most. Users also had to pay for the use of the Internet.
While these slower speeds were adequate for games that did not require quick response times–such as chess for example–they simply did not do for games where immediate response to an opponent’s partner’s actions were necessary.
Bluetooth on the other hand, provides connection speeds of 100 Mbps, allowing a whole new level of interactivity in mobile gaming. This superior speed–which is 1000 times that of Internet connections–results in virtually zero latency or delay, which simply means that any actions of the other players are displayed on screen instantly. Other benefits of bluetooth include superior audio-visual quality, and the elimination of connection charges on the part of the user. All that is needed is for users to keep at a distance of 15 to 20 meters of the other players.
With bluetooth technology becoming more and more commonplace, the future of exciting and truly interactive mobile gaming releases seems assured.

This move by Digital Chocolate seems fairly logical, and echoes the actions of a few other games developers and publishers that have begun to explore the possibilities offered by multi-platform casual gaming. Among these other companies are PopCap Games who has recently expanded their operations to the mobile gaming platform, and I-play, who recently introduced their new ‘triple-play’ strategy. The common thread behind all of these developments seems to be: why restrict truly great original games to one platform when they can be released on the mobile gaming, web, PC, and Live Arcade platforms as well?

Digital Chocolate’s company founder Trip Hawkins, recently explained that as far as his company is concerned, it is as much about boosting sales of their mobile gaming titles as anything else. Hawkins said that the key to continued growth in the mobile gaming industry is new marketing methods and content that attracts new users into the fold. He also said that the marketing opportunities provided by the web, along with classic Internet methods to pull in new customers, are the perfect ways to do just that.

Along with other mobile gaming developers, Digital Chocolate has been figuring out ways to attract new gamers over the past few years. In 2007 for example, the company launched Tower Bloxx as a Facebook application. Since then, Tower Bloxx has been installed by almost 800,000 users.

Hawkins said that Digital Chocolate has invested considerable resources into finding ways to create mobile gaming content with social value and viral spread in the industry. Besides the aforementioned tie up with Facebook, the company has also been involved with WAP sites, and text and MMS campaigns, as well as offering “Get More Games” links from within its mobile gaming releases.

Hawkins goes on to say that while it took some time for Digital Chocolate to figure out effective ways to generate promotion through the PC and the web, the company is now well on its way to making this a reality. Indeed, the PC version of Pyramid Bloxx seems to have made the transition to the big-screen format quite well, and with the link to the mobile gaming version included, it is very likely that stronger sales of the mobile gaming version will result.
One of the things that these PC games have in its favor is that they are available as free trials. This is one of the main reasons why games such as Bejeweled have been such a big hit on the mobile gaming platform. Hawkins feels that this approach will allow them to develop more original titles that have a fair shot of becoming mobile gaming hits, in essence making them an effective tool into bringing more people over into the mobile gaming world.

In one sense the term ‘casual’ when used to refer to mobile gaming is a bit hazy and ill defined. Many of the games that fall under this umbrella term have virtually nothing in common with each other, apart from the fact that they offer relatively simple user interfaces and game play. Some of the examples and genres of games attributed to this category, such as web games and spinning plate games like Diner Dash, or even games such as Bejewelled for example, do not really fit into the definition of “casual games” in the strictest sense of the term, simply because casual games do not necessarily have to be low tech releases in 2D that are lacking in any type of narrative whatsoever. For better or for worse however, that is what casual gaming has seemingly come to mean for many in the mobile gaming industry. This is akin to saying that all games that feature 3D graphics and are appealing enough for people to play them for hours and hours at a time define “hardcore” games.
One other popular misconception going around in mobile gaming circles is that casual games had its origins in the DS and the Wii. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the fact is that casual games have actually been in existence since the earliest days of the games industry, although of course they were called arcade games back then.

It is important to remember however that these early arcade games weren’t merely shoot-’em up and beat-’em up types of games. If you were to look back at some of the most popular arcade game releases of the era such as Tetris, Mahjong, Pong, Mr Do, Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man, their primary appeal to players was that they allowed players to get started on a game with very little in the way of special skills and complicated instructions. In most cases, all it took was a few coins and the player was well on his way to short, intense burst of enjoyable game play through very simple and visually attractive interfaces.

It appears then that the much of the potential success of the mobile gaming industry–particularly the casual games–lies in the ability to draw from the immediacy and features that contributed to the type of rewarding gaming experience provided by these early arcade games, and recreate it for today’s mobile gaming platforms. The established gaming companies such as Namco, Sega and Capcom already have the skills and know how that made the early arcade games such huge hits. Adapting those qualities for the current crop of mobile gaming titles will surely result in a whole new generation of successful releases.

Each particular mobile gaming platform has their own share of fans and detractors, and while each one admittedly has their share of strengths and weaknesses, at the end of the day the decision to go with any one mobile gaming platform is largely a matter of personal choice rather than any inherent advantages or disadvantages each one has.

In terms of game releases for mobile gaming, the range of options is no less overwhelming. As many different mobile gaming platforms as there are out there, the number still pales in comparison to the absolutely astounding range of games developed by the mobile gaming industry. It is common to see dozens and dozens of games for a particular platform, and many games that first saw light on one mobile gaming platform has probably already been ported to another platform, or in some cases even been rewritten from the ground up. Compatibility is the name of the game, and the days of single platform games that only work with their chosen device are long gone. In order to remain competitive in the mobile gaming industry, mobile gaming developers simply must strive to make their releases compatible across as broad a range of different platforms as possible.

Different mobile gaming devices have their own methods for loading games. At the present time, there exists no universal format for games that will work with all mobile gaming devices. Mobile phones like the iPhone K808 for example, uses its WAP capability to allow the user to download mobile games into his or her unit. Other mobile phones on the market have similar procedures for downloading games and this has worked fairly well for that particular platform in general. With this method, mobile phone users will not have to be limited to the games that came with their mobile phone. Once they have outgrown these games or possibly beaten them, they can simply download a few more games and it is as if they have just bought a brand new mobile gaming device.

The Nintendo DS is by far the most popular dedicated handheld mobile gaming device at present, having sold a staggering 64.8 million units as of the end of 2007. The DS features two LCD screens (one of them being a touchscreen), a built-in microphone and even Wi-Fi connectivity.

Aside from the Nintendo DS, possibly the most popular mobile gaming device is the Play Station Portable or PSP. The PSP is actually the first dedicated mobile gaming device to utilize an optical disc format. Called the Universal Media Disc or UMD, this is the PSP’s primary storage media. The most distinctive features of the PSP are its exceptionally large playing screen, its ability to handle a wide range of multi-media formats, and its ability to be connected to the Sony PlayStation 3, as well as other PSPs. The PSP also offers Internet connectivity.

Mobile gaming is simply indispensable in situations such as the one described above, and many people have used them for that very purpose over the years. It can serve to make a long trip far more bearable and the hours have a tendency to just slip by when you are absorbed in one. Some people even utilize mobile gaming while they are waiting for long lines to clear, or in bus terminals, airline lobbies and virtually anywhere there is a lot of time to kill.

One of the best things about current mobile gaming technology is that you do not have to be limited to the games that are currently on your phone. If you feel that you have gotten tired of the games that you have, it is a simple matter to download one or two new ones and you are in for a new round of mobile gaming enjoyment.

That being said, the current crop of mobile gaming releases is really quite impressive, and there should be enough to keep even the hardcore gamers out there suitably entertained for hours and hours even with the entry level mobile phones on the market. The range of mobile gaming releases covers everything from ball games to adventure, action to horror, and for those who like to work their brains as much as their fingers, there is even a large number of quizzes and puzzles on offer that have been specially designed for mobile gaming.

The gaming industry as a whole has truly come a long way since the days when all the options for mobile gaming came by way of dedicated handheld gaming consoles. Today, with mobile phones having been a common accessory for people from virtually all walks of life for some time, it is only natural that mobile gaming has made the transition into this platform as well. The mobile phone market is comprised of everyone from high-powered corporate executives to students, housewives to professionals, and all of them are potential customers for mobile gaming.

Of course the mobile gaming has recognized the potential of this untapped market, and they have therefore begun to focus their attention and marketing efforts into drawing in these crowds with a host of mobile gaming offers that are easy to access, easy to download and provide a generally more enjoyable mobile gaming experience.

And why not, after all? The current crop of mobile gaming releases includes everything from puzzles and word games to TV and movie games, from space adventures to sports, from pulse pounding racing and driving games to well-loved arcade classics, and many more.

If you have never had the opportunity to check out these mobile gaming releases yourself, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how far the industry has come. Many of the games feature stunning 2D and even 3D graphics, and they generally provide a pretty formidable alternative to the games that are designed for gaming consoles. Of course, there is still a long way to go as far as directly competing with the quality of dedicated devices is concerned, but the improvements that the mobile gaming have experienced in recent years are really quite impressive to say the least.

A large part of the mobile gaming industry is dependent on mobile phones. While all that consumers typically expected from their mobile phones before was the capability to make calls and perhaps a few other communication related services, nowadays mobile phones are expected to provide excellent mobile gaming performance as well.

One of the best things about mobile gaming is the absolutely wide range of resources for anything from games to information, and even updates and hacks. Whether your mobile gaming of choice is a mobile phone or a dedicated handheld mobile gaming device, there is always some new web site or another where you can download new games and new software updates and enhancements. As far as information on mobile gaming is concerned, you can also find many web sites and online magazines that feature game reviews, blogs, and news.

In this Internet-friendly age that we find ourselves living in, it is natural for us to automatically turn to that very source for our every need to the exclusion of other more traditional avenues of information, such as magazines and other specialist publications. However, these are still very viable sources of information, and to totally disregard them as irrelevant would be a little bit premature. Magazines are still a great source of information with regard to mobile games updates, news and reviews, and they have the added advantage of portability.

Finally, do not discount other living breathing human beings as sources of information. Other mobile gaming enthusiasts that you may know or have just met can provide you with some really useful bits of information that are simply not available anywhere else. Talking to other mobile gaming enthusiasts also gives you the benefit of gaining information in a language that you can easily understand.