State of the Handheld Industry: Dev. Roundtable
Laptop Battery Do you believe handhelds should have online gaming features like Bluetooth Technology or you think it is a waste of development time for online handheld games? Where do see handheld multiplayer games in a year or two?
Mike Merren of Climax: Multiplayer capabilities are a must for any system now, the ability to search for players in your local area and have quick multiplayer games is a great prospect.
James Daniels of Apex Designs: Bluetooth certainly opens up some exciting possibilities so I'm in favour of handhelds having it as standard. I expect most handheld games will support multiplayer like they do on the GBA - i.e. 2-4 players with the players being physically near each other - but without the wires. It's also quite likely that we'll see mobile phone technology integrated to give good on-line multiplayer capabilities (most likely this will be done mainly on the N-Gage to begin with) - but whether that becomes common depends on how appealing that is to the mass market.
In my opinion, wireless functionality is absolutely critical to the future of handheld gaming.
-Tom Crago
Karthik Bala of Vicarious Visions: Wireless multiplayer is a really great advancement for handheld devices. We've done plenty of multiplayer game modes for our GBA games, but the need for a link cable really limits the number of players who will play them. Our first N-Gage title supports Bluetooth multiplayer and we'll also be supporting the upcoming GBA wireless adapter in upcoming games.
They will help open up new types of gaming experiences on handheld - which is a great thing. How cool is it when you can just set up ad hook up wireless networks on the fly and have players jump in and out of games in progress on a portable device? :)
Mat Hopwood of Pocketeers: Bluetooth is a good idea for close proximity multiplayer games for three reasons:
Fast
No cables
More than 4 players
However, I'm unsure of its use with regards to online gaming, as the player would need a Bluetooth enabled modem or PC card in order to actually get online. I'm not sure how many gamers would want to pay out the additional costs for such a feature.
Tom Crago of Tantalus:
In my opinion, wireless functionality is absolutely critical to the future of handheld gaming.
I am not convinced that online games for a handheld would be overly successful...
-Vince Valenti
Pierre Dumas of Magic Pockets:
Wireless brings a lot to gaming if it is convenient. In 1 or 2 years though, it might be short to really be user-friendly.
Vince Valenti of JV Games:
I am not convinced that online games for a handheld would be overly successful, based on the current content in games today. The main obstacle with portable systems is time. People who spend hours on a game, would much rather do so on a large screen TV with state-of-the-art graphics. Portable systems are for people on the go, with short pockets of time to enjoy a quick game or two.
Wireless multiplayer is also a challenging issue. The only hurtle is each system must have a cartridge or CD to enjoy playing complex games. The GBAs memory footprint is too small for most games to fit within a single cartridge system, and that is the most import factor for effective multiplayer gaming. Not everyone may have the same cartridge handy for a quick game with you.
Martijn Wenting of Karma Studios:
Current cell phone technologies are currently too slow for real-time network games, but online gaming will definitely be important in the future (whatever the technology will be for handhelds).
Computer memory is the quickest, cheapest, and easiest way to improve the performance of your system. Find RAM memory upgrades for desktops, laptops, servers, and printers all backed by a lifetime warranty and guaranteed compatible with your computer. Shipping is an everyday low price of $1.99! Computer Memory Outlet sells memory compatible with all leading computer manufacturers like Dell, Apple, Compaq, HP, Sony, IBM, Lenovo, and many more.”
[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]
