TECHNOLOGIES TO watch - Consumer Electronics Association

TECHNOLOGIES TOwatchGET YOUR MOBILE Game OnMobile Gaming Continues to EvolveMobile games have come a long way in the past 30 years fromthe magnetic board variety that used to be played on long cartrips. In today’s mobile and increasingly global gaming arena,gamers can play chess from a cell phone against a player ona different continent. Industry pundits predict that mobilegaming – especially over wireless devices – soon will becomecommonplace. And a recent study by the EntertainmentSoftware Association (ESA) reveals that 39 percent ofAmericans who play games on a computer or console systemalso play games on mobile devices such as handheld systems,PDAs and cell phones. But before you consider your moveinto mobile gaming consider its history.A Short History of Mobile Gaming DevicesMobile games like Mattel’s Football and Milton Bradley’sMicrovision provide some of the earliest examples of the firstmobile electronic games that appeared in the late 1970s.Although simplistic and even crude by today’s standards, thesededicated devices helped catapult electronic mobile gaming offthe ground. During this time the first personal computersbegan to appear and by the early 1980s the market for thesemachines had mushroomed. Before long, computer gameswere popular products, but a feasible portable computer gamingsolution was unavailable.By the mid-1980s early laptop PCs enabled users to play theircomputer games on the go. Meanwhile, the success of earlyhome gaming console systems such as Mattel’s Intellivision andColeco’s Colecovision were creating demand for a portableversion of the console gaming experience. In 1989 Nintendoreleased the Game Boy, and competition from the Atari Lynxand Sega’s Game Gear portable consoles quickly materialized.Ultimately the Game Boy prevailed, and since its introduction,this system has steadily advanced in capabilities and functionality.The latest Game Boy product is the Game Boy AdvanceSP, which launched in March 2003 and features a clamshelldesign and a street price of around $100.The Evolution of Mobile Gaming1976Mattel introduces Missile Attack handheldelectronic game1979Milton Bradley premiers Microvision handheldgaming console1986 IBM launches the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer1989 Nintendo Game Boy portable gaming console released at CES1990 Sega launches Game Gear portable gaming console at CES1993 Apple introduces Newton handheld at CES1996 Palm debuts first Palm Pilots1997Nokia phones ship with simple Snake game,Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) released in U.S.1999Early smartphones appear, combinding PDA and phonefunctions in one device2001Games are offered on cell phones in Japan throughDoCoMo’s i-appli service2002Wireless carriers in the U.S. roll-out mobileentertainment businesses2003 Wireless gaming decks like the Nokia Ngage, are announcedSources: www gamespt.com, www.wirelessgamingreview, www.esa.comBy the mid-1990s, personal digital assistants (PDAs) came onthe scene with their palm-size brand of mobile gaming. Somegive credit to Apple’s Newton handheld, which first appearedback in 1993, for birthing the era of palm computing. Butmost recognize Palm as the company that really started thePDA market. In the late-1990s, cellular phones from Nokiabegan shipping with a game called Snake. Other handsetmakers followed and cell phones have since evolved into alegitimate platform for games. Convergence products likesmart phones, blending phone and PDA functions, appearedshortly thereafter. And in 2002, several domestic carriers beganoffering real mobile entertainment services. This year severalcompanies announced wireless gaming decks that blend theexperience of a game console with other functions such as acell phone or PDA.Familiar Faces of Mobile GamingThe group of portable technologies comprising the morecustomary methods of mobile gaming today includes laptop27OCTOBER 20035 TECHNOLOGIES TO watch