Game
Game

Game

Mobile Phones Jump and Jive at 3G Wireless Disco

Mobile Phones Jump and Jive at 3G Wireless DiscoHong Kong’s Artificial Life turns 3G handsets into funky dance machines via V-disco, a wireless subscription site combining chat, music streaming and music downloading to mobile phones with interactive 3D graphics and animated virtual avatars. V-Disco will initially launch throughout China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Japanese 3G handsets should come on line in the very near future. The company plans to take on Japan’s 3G market full throttle and is currently in negotiations over its debut here.

Users and visitors to the virtual disco select an avatar persona for themselves and join the party in the club’s three interactive levels. Club goers select genres and songs from the club list, listening to their tunes while their avatar strolls along chatting – if they choose – with other party people in real time and checking out 3D animated characters moving to the beat. Avatars act as guides, companions or dancing doppelgangers. Though the figures retain a slightly cylindrical, rubbery look the V-Disco has a fun Dance Dance Revolution feel to it with a good backbeat.

Mobile Tetris No. 1 on Verizon

Verizon Wireless is giving classic arcade games new mobile life with Get It Now and the getGAMES shopping aisle. A virtual software store on customers’ wireless phones, Get It Now offers customers a selection of more than 500 games, productivity tools, information services, ring tone providers, wallpaper providers, an IM chat client — Mobile IM — that includes access to Yahoo! Messenger, MSN(R) Messenger, or AOL(R) IM (AIM), and more right at their fingertips. Looking at the most popular game titles from Verizon Wireless, it’s no surprise that the most widely played and famous computer game of all time leads both the top 10 games and top classic games categories. Namco’s Tetris(R) by JAMDAT Mobile gives addicts longing for video game action the freedom to play the game virtually anytime, virtually anywhere. Available on Verizon’s select Get It Now-enabled phones for $2.99 monthly access or $6.99 for unlimited use purchase.

Softbank Gets Test Service License

Though Softbank seems to be making more headlines with their pro baseball team, the Hawks, than Internet and broadband ventures, the company is moving decidedly forward in its long-range plan to provide mobile W-CDMA phone service in the domestic market. On 30 May, the company received its hard-fought for license to test service in the 1.7-gigahertz band. This is not yet a license for full operation as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is still working on allocation policy for this and one other bandwidth.

Tomy Looks to Mobile Phones for Driving New Toy Sales

Tomy Looks to Mobile Phones for Driving New Toy Sales

The wireless road warriors from Tomy have put cell phones in the drivers’ seat with these tiny remote control cars that can zip along in response to signals from infrared-equipped handsets. Licensed by Disney, Putica (petite car), comes in three classic Disney cartoon character designs from the 40s and 50s: Susie the hot rod, steam engine Casey Jr. and Pedro the plane. Overseas readers may not recognize these anthropomorphic mechanicals from the past, but these are by no means obscure for Japanese consumers. Regional marketing of secondary and even obscure characters from old Disney cartoons have become a huge spin-off industry here. Susie, the little blue hot rod, has her own line of character goods. These hot-rods are priced at a mere 1680 yen. To synch controls with most mobile phones, drivers can download a free software application from the online Tomy Putica website.

Enfour Launches TangoTown in Australia on Telstra i-mode®

Today Enfour announced the official content listing of TangoTown in Australia on Telstra’s new i-mode® service. TangoTown was first released in Japan in May 2002 and this latest release is the fourth time it has been accepted as official content by a major mobile phone carrier around the world. TangoTown, the first fully-featured premium mobile content service specifically services the Japanese language reference, learning and lifestyle needs of students, language enthusiasts, tourists and business travellers.

DoCoMo Announces Five New 3G Wallet Phones

DoCoMo Announces Five New 3G Wallet Phones

With little fanfare and no press conference, NTT DoCoMo has released five new 3G FOMA 901iS FeliCa-enabled handsets into the digital world: D901iS (Mitsubishi), F901iS (Fujitsu), P901iS (Panasonic), N901iS (NEC) and SH901iS (Sharp). All have certain features in common with other 901i models, including music players, “3D Sound,” Deco-Mail to decorate email, G-GUIDE interactive TV guide and recording programmer (see the .pdf for full specs). New features include a 4-megapixel recorded resolution camera for the D901iS and a full Web browser on the N901iS. The company says that the 901iS-series is DoCoMo’s first in which all models are equipped for mobile-wallet functions, but the five handsets actually do a lot more than drain virtual bank accounts. The pre-installed Adobe Reader LE, for example, enables 901iS phones to view PDF files downloaded from i-mode sites. The application includes access to all basic PDF functions including scrolling, paging, text searches, bookmarks and page rotation and users can easily email files, dial a number or navigate to a Web link in the file. But wait, there’s more…

Nintendo, IGN Join to Create a New Wi-Fi Mobile Gaming Network

Nintendo is partnering with IGN Entertainment to create an innovative network for portable video games that is not only expansive but also extremely easy for everyone to use. Set to debut later this year, the wireless service for Nintendo DST will use IGN’s GameSpy Technology to let people around the world link easily and wirelessly to play games, just as if they were playing face-to-face. The Nintendo DS service will provide an easy, seamless transition to wireless Wi-Fi gaming, the service represents the first foray by IGN’s GameSpy into portable games.

Giant Beetles Barge onto Mobile Gaming with QR Codes

Giant Beetles Barge onto Mobile Gaming with QR CodesGiant beetles are big business and big fun in Japan. Toy maker Tomy is capitalizing on the current Japanese craze for all things beetle by introducing a mobile game and information site for their line of spring-wound Kabuto Borg GU toy battle ‘bots (Kabuto is short for Kabuto Mushi, horned beetle) that battle Sumo style until one is knocked over. Two collectible Kabuto Borg cards — a beetle card and power up card — are included with each of the newest series of Kabuto Borg toys (819 yen/$7.80) and custom part sets. Cards are stamped with a QR code that links to a mobile website compatible with all the carriers. The site has an information center for battle Borg news; a list of Borg ‘bots and their custom parts; and a Kabuto Borg GU battle game. The game is an “java-appli” so once it’s downloaded users can play without worrying about connection time and fees. QR codes on different cards allow access to a variety of playable battle beetles and power-ups on the mobile game site. More cards equals more beetles, fun and Kabuto Borgs sold.

Tomy is just one of many mobile game makers that use QR codes to draw users into mobile game sites. At the last Tokyo Game Show DoCoMo partnered with game makers like Square, Taito and Atlus, to create a stack of collectible Game Cards stamped with QR codes linked to DoCoMo game sites. Collectors received one card for every game they tried on the cell phones at the giant DoCoMo booth.

Youth Driving Asia's Mobile Market

As all Wireless Watchers will know, the youth market in the Asia-Pacific region is becoming a significant driver for growth in the region’s mobile-phone market, according to a report by In-Stat. Around 10-15 percent of all youth disposable income is spent on mobile products in developed countries, displacing spending on traditional youth products like clothing, toys, comic books, etc., while messaging accounted for 40.3 percent of Asian mobile youth data expenditures in 2004.

Bandai, Namco Joining Forces?

Bandai, creator of “The Power Rangers” and “Ultraman”, valued at 236.5 billion yen, may merge with Namco, who created “Pac-Man,” and has a market value of 154.9 billion yen, to create Japan’s second-biggest toy and video-game maker. The companies will combine as early as September under a holding company run by Bandai President Takeo Takasu and Namco Vice Chairman Kyushiro Takagi, according to Nihon Keizai shimbun article today. The companies may also develop content for high-speed Internet access and mobile phone users, the newspaper said.