subject: Online Gaming Through Mobile Phones [print this page] Online gamesOnline games. Theyve been around forever. Ever in the early Usenet, people have been itching to checkmate, blast and frag others. Mustve wanted a release from the raging flame wars back then.
One of the first online games I remember was chess. Too bad, I didnt know how to play it. Luckily, games like Doom and Red Alert later came with an online play function, giving us countless hours of team matches in the college dorm room.
As I grew older, the evil game developers decided to come up with new games to fuel my game addiction. MMORPGS like Everquest and EVE Online were born. I remember my Galaxies account as the first time I ever needed a credit card. Apparently, so did millions of other nerds, who never left their basements as a result (fortunately, I played in the attic. Ha! Take that fellow geeks!)
Those were the days when us gamers were shunned like lepers. Games were for geeks and nerds in their moms basements (at least I played in the attic). Then Flash came along. Thanks to our fellow geeks in Silicon Valley, games like Farmville, Mafia and Restaurant City became mainstream, games that our girlfriends would actually want to play.
With a whole range of online games now available, is there anything left to try? Then I looked at the phone clutched in my hand.
I confess Ive always been addicted to mobile games. As a true gamer, if I cant get my fix on the PC, theres always the phone. I cant remember how many hours Ive wasted on Nokias pixilated Snake while in the subway, or how much aliens Ive blasted in Space Impact during math class. Not content with making me miss my station or failing Algebra, these evil developers are now bringing online games to smartphones.
In fact, a lot of the games on my iPhone now require a Wi-Fi connection. Take that Air Hockey app. Instead of playing with the AI, the game allows play with other users online using Wi-Fi. Other games allow cross-functionality, and a lot of headache. I thought Farmville was restricted to the PC. But now my wife borrows my phone now and then, to check on her stupid green pixels (i.e. plants) using the mobile version.
By far the coolest games have to be the online shooters, and Im not just talking about a phone version of Counterstrike. They require players to actually hunt the target in the real world, and snipe them using the phone. I think this only works with the iPhone though, since it requires GPS to track players movements.
Online games are no longer limited to the keyboard. Whether you own an iPhone or Blackberry, you can expect more online games to crop up soon on your mobile. I wonder whats next after that? Cross-platform online gaming? If so, sign me and my PC, iPhone and PSP up!
by: Mariecarz David
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