GDC08 Mobile – Innovations Panel

The Innovations Panel was essentially a few people presenting their company, followed by some of their observations regarding the mobile gaming base, either in technology or market trends.Fishlabs was first to present. Michael Schade talked about how mobile gaming is compelling and exciting as it will be more than just social and casual games. His analogy about how 30 years ago, Pong was was invented, now we have the Sony PSP. 10 years ago, Nokia Snake was released and now Java 3D for mobile phones is a reality. Sony PSOne-type performance is already available on a mobile device. He also showed a graph that claimed that the growth of 3D hardware put into handsets was faster than the market is adopting. The combined Java, BREW and Symbian 3D platforms was about 40M in 2004 and in 2007 over 550M units devices shipped with 3D capability. As a result, game downloads are getting larger, exceeding 1MB in size.I might echo some of those comments about innovation as it’s pretty much standard to have a camera on your phone and bluetooth is pretty much becoming a standard as well. Displays that only had simple numberic leds now have 16-bit color and screen sizes are getting larger (on the high end). It’s hard to predict what will be next and I’m sure companies will continue to push new ideas through the phone.

Next up was John Chasey from Finblade. He had a bold prediction that: “A mobile phone connected to your TV will replace your PS3 in two years time. He argued that it’s a fundamental principle for portable devices is the need to play games. The Sony PS3 is a luxury item in India and China and in comparison, the mobile phone is an essential tool and revenue generator.

Here are some of the stats he presented to proof his argument:

Mobile and Console Penetration (units)

	Mobile	Consoles
US	303M	124M
India	142M	0.2M
China	500M	1M

While these numbers look promising, it these numbers are put into percentages, his argument starts to take shape:

Mobile and Console Penetration (%)

	Mobile	Consoles
US	84%	41%
India	10.7%	0.00018%
China	38%	0.00077%

Finally Zeemote presented, which was pretty exciting since they have been generating a lot of buzz with their new gadget for mobile phones. The Zeemote is essentially a battery-powered “controller” that you connect to your mobile phone via bluetooth. The idea behind it is to alleviate the problem of trying to play a game while pushing the keypad to control the game. Game publishers need only adapt their title with a few changes to support the Zeemote, which some have said takes days and weeks, not months. The initial Zeemote is certainly not the smallest or lightest form factor, but like mobile phones, they will get smaller and lighter. In some user studies, Zeemote claimed that they are able to get over the “yet another gadget” syndrome by having people try out the Zeemote. In less than a few hours, most touted that it was significantly better than using the keypad or touchscreen.

To be honest, while I agree that this device improves the quality of game experience, I want to see how this can apply to other uses in business and entertainment, beyond gaming. Another fact that I have to content with is carrying around a separate device from my handset. I typically remember keys, wallet, mobile when I leave my home, but I often forget my bluetooth headset which I need when I drive (I can use my speakerphone function as backup). I also am skeptical the device might get too small; this increases the chances of misplacing it into the land of Lost.