Where Have All The Flowers Gone

[Andy Sjostrom]

I jumped up and down, cheering of joy! EverQuest for Pocket PC was announced and <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4784">I shouted</a>: "Finally! A mobile multiplayer, online game!". You all know I was wrong. EverQuest is single player, offline. And so is just about 100% of all Pocket PC games.<br /><br />We've heard and agreed with every wireless prophet, their uncles and aunts: wireless games will be the mobile killer applications, the flowers of the mobile meadow. So, what do we have? In full detail, this is what we have: nothing. No bouquet, not even a single flower.<br /><br />I long for the day when the answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. Just as wireless games should. Do you agree? If you don't, tell me where you go to pick your flowers!

[Rirath]

Personally, I guess I'm just not that worried about it. I enjoy gaming on the Pocket PC, but even after my Axim comes I don't plan to do any wireless gaming. When I game on my Pocket PC, it's usually for short bursts of time. I'd guess no longer than 10 minutes, 30 at the most. I just can't picture wireless games worth the hassle short of maybe card games or a pocket tetris/bust-a-move type puzzle game challenges.

I'm eager to be shown the error of my ways here though. Anything that'd help push me toward making the wireless leap would be most welcomed.

[Jimmy Dodd]

Wireless games don't excite me much. That may be due to the dearth of wireless options I have in my area and the spotty coverage offered by the options I do have.

Computer gaming in general has lost its appeal to me as most seem to be geared towards fast action, live sessions. I long for the day of studying a massive map for hours devising strategies while playing some old Avalon Hill or TSI war game. That hardly lends itself to the mobile device's small screen. I am dissapointed that the gaming industry has focused on the PCs graphics capabilities instead of its AI possibilities.

Or perhaps I'm just showing my age. :)

[TopDog]

www.snailsgame.com

I've been playing Snail 1.8 Beta wireless with my coworkers in the office for quite a while, and are loveing every minute of it :-)

I thing turn based gameing over TCP/IP will be a big hit... sometime in the future...

Just like it did ordinary gameing... and now on DC/PS2/Xbox and soon PPC, history repeats itself.

[Pony99CA]

Wireless games don't excite me much. That may be due to the dearth of wireless options I have in my area and the spotty coverage offered by the options I do have.

I'm not excited by wireless gaming, either, where "wireless" means over cell phones. I'm afraid it will be expensive, especially as most articles you read about the wireless industry mention competitive pressure is forcing companies to look for profits from other services (Web, location-based and, yes, gaming).

On the other hand, multi-player Internet gaming, whether you connect via a wired or WiFi connection, is cool.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

www.snailsgame.com

I've been playing Snail 1.8 Beta wireless with my coworkers in the office for quite a while, and are loveing every minute of it :-)

I thing turn based gameing over TCP/IP will be a big hit... sometime in the future...

I was going to comment about the Snails beta, too. I haven't tried it, but know that it supports TCP/IP.

I had some questions about it, though. I assume supporting TCP/IP means you can play over the Internet, right? If so, is there support for matching servers to find other players, or do you basically have to know the IP address of the person you want to play?

Steve

[enemy2k2]

I have nothing to say about wireless gaming, other than I think it's a cool idea, but the hardware probably isn't exactly where it needs to be at this point to handle it to advanced levels. Any way, I just really really liked the flowers in the meadow metaphor :D

[Peter Foot]

The difficulty with wireless gaming is to have a large enough audience with the right, hardware, coverage and budget to want to take part. Its a viscious circle in that investment in a really exciting game concept requires large user demand and that doesn't exist because theres little in the way of these games at the moment.

I also agree that PC gaming has got boring, ok the graphics are great but when you have to spend x hundred pounds on upgrading your machine between games so you can actually run them for a game with little lasting substance theres just no point. At least the Pocket PC has the fact that you can pretty much pick it up and put it down at will. I'm not sure that snazzy graphics makes a good game, I'd love to see a really involving multiplayer adventure style game which was pervasive across all sorts of different platforms, you could then just dip into it whenever you had a few spare minutes from whatever device is nearby, obviously wireless networking is one way of doing this.

[sponge]

Varium, the codename for an upcoming project is probably going ot have full, and extensive multiplayer. I'll let the Varium thread explain it, it can do it better than I can.

http://forums.pocketmatrix.com/viewtopic.php?t=8192

[Jonathon Watkins]

I thing turn based gameing over TCP/IP will be a big hit... sometime in the future...

Yes - that sounds good. I would Realy like a good turn based game like the old X-Com games that can be played over wireless at leisure.

[Gerard]

Mikko Kankainnen's Cantris has 'wireless' two-player play, though it's merely the insertion of a view of your opponent's game-in-progress, to keep you motivated to play well. I tried it the other day with our kid, who's almost nine. She slew me, because she was holding the iPAQ. My EG-800's IrDA port is on the lower-left side, forcing me to hold this ultimate gaming PPC in a very tenuous position. Well, that was my excuse, anyway.
Sorry, but can never remember where I got that. Maybe on PocketPCFreewares, the French site? Anyway, it's the best tetris clone of the 10 or so I've tried, and is skinnable. And according to the menu, TCP/IP is also an option, as is messaging - "Hey punk, go ahead, stack those blocks." What on earth could one want to say in text from a few feet apart? Oh yeah, network play... whatever.
I think the only wireless games of interest to me might be racing games or shooters. Doom over a wireless connection, in teams, that'd be slick.

[Wuss912]

. And so is just about 100% of all Pocket PC games.


mobi pocket chess is online if chess is your thing that is

[Jason Dunn]

Varium, the codename for an upcoming project is probably going ot have full, and extensive multiplayer. I'll let the Varium thread explain it, it can do it better than I can.

http://forums.pocketmatrix.com/viewtopic.php?t=8192


WOW! 8O

[FredMurphy]

All you soon-to-be HP5400 owners always have the multiplayer motorcycle racing game that comes bundled with it....

Infosync review here (http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/2698.html).
Press release here (http://www.superscape.com/company/viewpress.asp?id=51).