Loading...Snake got a shake-up; double snakes, the ability to pull off a ‘quantum style leap’ from one end of your screen to the other, but it just wasn’t enough – we wanted birds, and we wanted them angry. Ok, not that we knew it at the time, but there were only ever so many pixels the Nokia screen could provide before your snake ultimately blacked out your game; great while it lasted, but for the technology industry, and users of the mobile phone, it was onwards and upwards.
It might be something of an understatement to say that gaming has evolved, but what’s the reason for this? Like many features on mobile devices: social networking, banking, web browsing, instant messaging – as a fast-paced society, we want these quick and easy to use. Gaming is no exception; with access to ‘free time’ only once, maybe twice a day, we need to be able to complete a level, or place a bet in the time it takes to get from the office to home.
With fewer opportunities to engage mobile users, design, features and usability are continuously required to update in a bid to hold our attention for longer. Vying for our custom amongst an increasingly saturated online gaming industry is no mean feat, but some gaming experts are successful in their attempts. A multitude of games are now available for play on devices such as the smart phone and tablets, but what does it take to make the grade and earn a spot on the latest iPhone?
Having started out life in the city of Vegas, you might think that with poker it would be difficult to offer the same level of appeal when condensed down into a 4 inch screen – but it works, and as a gaming nation we love it. Having made the smooth transition from the Bellagio to IOS 5, 6? Turns out, the thrill of Texas Hold’emwasn’t just in the chip action.
Becoming a well known gambling site such as Ladbrokes is a status many others will be looking to obtain. With all the charm of a game of Snake, Ladbrokes’ online poker games have become a regular scene to behold on the screens of commuters, and it’s only now we mention it that you’ll notice this shift. We’ve gone from what we would now deem to be a painstakingly slow moving excuse for a graphic to an interactive intelligent piece of software, and when you stop and think, it happened pretty much overnight. So what’s next?
The end game could well be the element to watch. Not taking anything away from reaching level twenty-eight, but with access to games offering tangible prizes, it doesn’t take a scientist to figure out the real incentive behind those touch-screen pads. We ought also to look out for a growth in the female gaming population, with more apps recognizing the draw mobile gaming has over the female market. From two Italian brothers and a console to games geared around lifestyle interests, we could be in for a transformation in the way we play on the move in the months to come.