Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 100

Not everybody likes a laugh. It was Charlie Chaplin's movie portrayal of The Little Tramp that enraged transvestite/paranoid/red-baiter/FBI Chief J Edgar Hoover so much that he embarked on a 25-year smear campaign that finally ended when Chaplin was exiled to Switzerland in 1953.

Apparently, lady-boy Hoover objected to happy-go-lucky Chaplin because his films were comedies that alluded to the desperation and triumph of America's poor - an obvious breeding ground for Communism and all of those evils right-wingers attribute to it. Think Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone and you'll get the picture.

Consequently, the image of Chaplin has been jealously protected by his family and has only appeared on a limited amount of salubrious merchandise. This week, however, in one of the year's more bizarre licensing deals, the silent movie star's image is to star in a mobile game. Chaplin's company, Bubble Inc is working with Indian developers Dhruva Interactive to bring The Little Tramp to a generation who probably think Charlie Chaplin is the name of the vicar in Eastenders.

It will be interesting to see if there will be any sound in the game it being a silent movie an' all, but this deal shows how the mobile gaming genre is beginning to mature and evolve. At this week's ELSPA Games Summit, the Three Wise Mavens of Simon Dean, Tim Harrison and Alan Welsman from O2, Vodafone and Orange all enthused about mobile games, but warned people not to get too over-excited.

And they're right to do so. Multiplayer, 3D and 3G are all exciting prospects the industry has bandied about as future money spinners, but not every customer's initials are ARPU and the customer still needs to smile. Content such as Charlie Chaplin on mobile is a step in the right direction and offers mobile gamers something fresh and unique even if it is more than 70 years old.

Maybe some day soon somebody will come up with an idea for humorous mobile content that doesn't come from the movies, traditional games or TV. Then the industry really will have grown up and, unlike J Edgar Hoover, everybody will have a laugh.