Business & Games: The Blog

That's a tidbit of an interview with Andy Nulman, for The Hollywood Reporter.

An interview that you should read, if only because it presents a clear and logical view of what's wrong with the way mobile phones are made. Granted, this is coming from a person developping Family Guy mobile games but let's not go there.

Basically, Nulman hits the nail in the head, with a few statements such as:

"In my opinion, most mobile games are bastardized, shrunk-down versions of things that work better in bigger formats elsewhere -- on TV and computer screens. But because cell phones also have screens, developers try to replicate in a smaller format what works so well in other places. Hey, just because it has a screen doesn't mean that a cell phone is a tiny TV. I think that, as the market matures and becomes a bit more savvy, you'll see people making games for mobile devices that are completely unique and have no connection to what's going on in other media."

"Have you ever played Madden on a cell phone? You need a neutron microscope to see what you're doing. I have two kids who play Madden at home on a 42-in. hi-def flat screen set with Dolby sound. Now that's an experience. Can you imagine what it would be like for them to then go to the 1-1/2-in. screen on their cells and play Madden? Give me a break."

He then points out that there's no such thing as a hysterical fan base for mobile phones, and naturally so. Having ran into the genre various times and having friends who work for the "machine", I can only use one word to describe mobile games. Insufficient.

Everyone played them. Maybe you were on a bus, maybe you were at work, trying to slack although your admin found your hidden copy of FreeCell. Doesn't matter. At some point, you ran into a mobile game that was actually based on a decent idea. And didn't you think "This would be alot of fun on a big screen" ?

It would sure be and this is going to happen until developpers stop producing second rate copies of games that worked when played on a real platform. You love your phone, it's great but when would you take it over a console, for gaming purposes?

There's another bit of the interview that I found interesting:

"THR: What would attract a gamer to that sort of game? I mean, you know very well that there's a lot of competition among developers for the space on the cell phone deck. Which is one of the reasons you're making a "Family Guy" game. It's a recognizable name that will attract gamers to it. What's going to attract gamers to something that lets you guess car colors?
Nulman: Probably nothing. And that's OK because we don't want gamers. I mean, gamers are a nice niche, but the other slice of the pie -- the slice of cell phone owners who aren't gamers -- is a lot bigger. We want to open up the market to people who never bought a single game in their lives. What we're hoping to lead is a massive revolution in what you can do with your mobile phone as a gaming device."

It sounds like a noble plan and, well...it's highly unlikely it'll work when you're trying to serve rehashed stuff on a minuscule screen, stuff that a gamer wouldn't touch unless they were in a subway with no handheld console on them. 

Bottomline, I guess we'll have to wait. It's rather likely the next gen (I hate that expression) of mobile games with draw heavily from the 'community hype', despite Nulman's otherwise excellent point. Still, however it may turn out to be, there are reasons why mobile games aren't generating any kind of craze and the interview lines up some of them.

Later edit of dubious relevance:

As far as coincidences go, this one was weird. I was talking to a friend through IM just now. This is how the conversation went.

Me: Tried calling you earlier a couple of times, pick up your damn phone.

Him: It was recharging. When I'm at the computer, my girlfriend's playing games on it.

Me: Oh really? What is she playing?

Him: Solitaire or something.

I laughed.