Monthly Archives: May 2010

Word games are perfectly suited to the smartphone world and can be played on even the most basic of devices. They do not require complex graphics to be enjoyable and can offer an immersive experience with very little programming. However, many word games do include lots of complex programming and graphics and this makes them shine even brighter. Word games are likely to have more longevity than most others because we have an insatiable desire to learn, well some do, and the more you play the better you are at the games.

There are three in particular that I now play regularly and they all encompass the goodness of deep word games that can provide hours and hours of immersive game play. WordPop!, Scrabble and Words With Friends have become daily plays, when I have the time, and each brings something different to the mobile word experience.

WordPop! offers an addictive game play style which is perfectly balanced to keep you coming back for me. The simplicity of game play is as perfect as the graphics are complimentary to the overall experience. Online scoreboards gives you an extra challenge where you can aim to get to the top of the daily or all-time leaderboards. To get to the top you will be playing one game for a long, long time, but the time just flies by. I have played for over an hour many times and it usually feels like a few minutes. There is sentimentality built in to my observations of WordPop! because I have been playing it for years, but I cannot escape just how well put together this game is. It is also available for Windows Mobile, Palm OS and the iPhone so many users are able to join in and see what all the fuss is about.

Scrabble is a game you will all know and the iPhone implementation is excellent. It is also available for other mobile platforms and still creates a similar feeling to the board game. The dictionary is a little suspect on the iPhone version and this is a big hindrance for more advanced players. When I consider just how comprehensive the WordPop! dictionary is, I would expect better from EA. However, this will not take away the enjoyment too much from most players and the only thing really lacking is a decent multi-player option.

On the subject of multi-player and Scrabble, Words With Friends brings both together in a way which could herald the start of something big in mobile gaming. The idea is simple; you input a word onto the Scrabble style grid and submit it. Your opponent will then input their word, but crucially the game has no time factor at all. They can respond in 30 seconds or 30 hours and as such you choose the pace at which you play. Push notifications pop up to let you know when your opponent has made a move and you can also chat to each other while you are playing. It works so well that I can see the system being used in other games. I am already imagining WordPop! played this way; you battle against an opponent until the board is cleared and the winner is the one with the most points. It would be a quick game which could be played whenever you like or you could play a best of 5 marathon against your friend. The amount of data passed would be minimal and thus it would work well on the slowest of mobile connections and potentially will be HUGE!

Word games are here to stay and will always have a big place in the mobile world. For all of the excitement created by the flash adventure and racing games, they are still the ones I come back to again and agan.

I was interested in this article because it discussed the sound quality that we have comes to perceive as acceptable with the introduction of digital music, but it is not just in this area that our expectations have lessened.

Music is the obvious form of entertainment that purists will look down their noses at and with good reason. When I listen to a good quality stereo system now the differences are apparent in every aspect of the sound, but the way we live our lives today means that the quality is not high on the list of our priorities. vboelema summed this up well earlier in the week- “It’s a sacrifice many are willing to make in order to be able to carry a large amount of music on one tiny device. I suffered last night when I wanted to really listen to some music in bed because I couldn’t sleep, and the subtle hiss in the background drove me crazy. But when you’re on the train or whatever, it isn’t so obvious, since there are plenty of other noises both coming from without as well as within (mental noise that is!)”

Consider then that many of us are happy to watch a full-length movie on a smartphone and this is in a time of high-definition TV and even 3D home TV. I experienced 3D home TV last week and the result was breathtaking. Even more breathtaking was that the TV I was watching costs £2,100 at the moment. I watch many TV episodes and films on my iPhone and the experience gives me what I need to enjoy what is being shown. The fact that it is not in high-definition on a huge screen matters little to me because the convenience is what I want above all else. I still have a standard definition TV at home and am perfectly happy with it- this is one area where I will be a Luddite for a bit longer.

Photography is without doubt an area where the lower quality solutions are selling faster than the better quality standalone systems. Every mobile phone has a camera, and almost all mobile phones have a crap camera. Some phones do include good quality digital snappers which are great for capturing the moment, but far too many produce results that would never be printable. It matter not, however, because once again we want convenience above all else.

I’m not complaining. I am a fully paid up member of the smartphone ‘do it all’ society, but it is ironic that so much development goes into breaking new ground with standalone technology and that so much development goes into miniaturising these technologies. It seems that not so much goes into breaking new ground on the miniature quality side.