Gaming
How gaming on mobile phones evolved over the last 20 years
Mobile phones are now an absolutely core part of the lives of most people and during the last 20 years they have undergone rapid technological advances that enable them to be used for multiple purposes. Instead of just being efficient devices for communicating on the move, mobiles now allow us to listen to music, watch videos and play games; making them entertainment centres. It is the gaming aspect that this article will look into, examining how this has changed during that period.
Mobile gaming really began back in the 1990s, even though the mobile phones that existed back then were a great deal more primitive than the ones we are used to today. During this time, retro games with simple graphics such as Snake and Pong became available to play on mobiles that had the Symbian operating system developed by Nokia. This was a period when Nokia was the market leader and major innovator and it essentially brought gaming to users of mobile phones. The most popular games that were available for 1990s Nokia phones were Snake, where you had to prevent a lengthening line from touching the sides of the screen, and space action game Space Impact. Nokia continued to be the mobile manufacturer that was pioneering new possibilities in mobile gaming when it launched the N-Gage phone in 2002. This was a direct bid to persuade console gamers to abandon them in favour of mobile, although it proved flawed due to issues with the controls and with the overall design – with the latter seeing it gain the unflattering nickname of ‘Taco phone’ due to its shape. Despite this, it was still a bold move by the company and indicated that gaming on mobile phones was a concept being taken seriously.
It was when the smartphone appeared on the scene that this really took off though, simply because it meant that there were finally phones with the technical specs to make gaming on them enjoyable. Smartphones are now used by 80 percent of those who also use the internet, with a large number of them being gamers. The internet connectivity has led to the rise of things like mobile casino websites such as those you can find on gamblinginsider.ca, which are spin-offs of standard online casinos, but with graphics that adjust to mobile browsers. These developments have made mobile gaming dependent on wi-fi connectivity in a way that it wasn’t in the past, but it has also led to the development of things like wireless controllers that are intended to enhance the mobile gaming experience. It has also seen sales of games apps go through the roof, with women now the dominant ones in terms of time spent playing them and money spent on in-app purchases.
As this piece has shown, mobile gaming has undergone a rapid evolution that few could have predicted back in the 1990s. Furthermore, with emergent tech such as virtual reality now moving into the mainstream, it is exciting to see what lies ahead for it.
Since the excellent Baldur’s Gate 3 has been out in the wild for a while, interesting data can be gleaned, such as how players choose to play an innovative new RPG from home. Stats from developer Larian Studios and posted on the PlayStation Blog show that most people want to play as a stealthy archer like in Skyrim when given nearly limitless options.
According to a fascinating graph, Rogue/Ranger is the most popular multiclass build, with over 175,000 players using it to snipe unsuspecting enemies from range. The next two builds reveal similarly. 150,000 played Barbarian/Fighter because they loved pummeling things, and 109,00 played Barbarian/Paladin, which lets players talk to their victims before beatings.
More sense emerges as you descend. If the Paladin/Warlock/Sorcerer/Bard has high Charisma, any combination can be interesting. Charisma helps these classes cast spells and abilities and interact with NPCs outside of combat.
Playing a single class through Baldur’s Gate 3 feels great, which is what most players do. A pure Fighter or Wizard becomes so powerful by game’s end that we don’t blame you for not mixing things up!
Play as a Tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin, Dark Urge Origin (which you must resist), or Bard for real moral dilemmas. You could also play pseudo-Aragorn again.
Techland is continuing to release Dying Light 2 content as part of its long-term support. This is surprising since the meaty Good Night, Good Luck update was released a few months ago. It’s nice to know what’s coming, but no timeline was given.
IGN-exclusive roadmap trailers reveal more co-op missions, board quests, a tower raid, and replayable GRE anomalies. Executions and finishers may be added to the April Gut Feeling update, which overhauled melee mechanics. Graphical options, weapon repair, gear, and mod dismantling are always welcome.
Knives, polearms, and more enemy variants are coming, including a Nightmare difficulty. Changes to NG+ include firearms. Players can finally dress to their hearts’ content with new cosmetic options.
Has Techland’s Dying Light 2 support lured you back? Would you rather focus on something new?
Epic Games expanded the Fortnite V-Buck “pricing alignment” after laying off almost 900 employees, citing “inflation and currency fluctuations”. Fortnite’s premium currency will rise in international markets, including the largest.
Epic Games will raise the price of V-Bucks and real money content packs in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eurozone countries, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the US (including all US Dollar storefronts) on October 27.
Raising the price of this fictitious currency was successful when the company trialed it in the UK, Canada, and Mexico, so it was decided to announce it worldwide now. These USD increases range from $1 (1000 V-Bucks, previous $7.99) to $10 (13,500 V-Bucks, previous $79.99).
How do you view Epic’s timing and pricing increase?
- Gadgets8 years ago
Why the Nexus 7 is still a good tablet in 2015
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs Galaxy Note 5: is there room for improvement?
- Editorials8 years ago
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – How bad updates prevent people from enjoying their phones
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Nexus 5 2015 and Android M born to be together
- Gaming8 years ago
New Teaser For Five Nights At Freddy’s 4
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Google not releasing Android M to Nexus 7
- Gadgets9 years ago
Moto G Android 5.0.2 Lollipop still has a memory leak bug
- Mobile Devices8 years ago
Nexus 7 2015: Huawei and Google changing the game