Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 207

What a week it's been for mobile games! Not only did a delegate at the Leipzig festival tell the audience that mobile games would outsell console games in 2006, but another senior executive in Denmark compared them with crack cocaine - give them away, get people addicted and so on.

While the latter statement was said for effect and succeeded to a limited degree in getting the attention of the media, the brave comments of I-play's Stephane Labrunie were more inflammatory. It certainly put the wind up the traditional gaming industry with their denials of such a scenario, even if Stephane is a historically deluded man with his opinion of French rugby.

And about time too. After attending the EIEF show in Edinburgh earlier this week and witnessing the smug guffaws whenever mobile games were mentioned, it's about time somebody fought back... and guess what? They don't like it up 'em.

Apart from one or two exceptions (who would probably nick my pewter and sell it on eBay) I'd invite anybody in the mobile games industry for a dinner party at my house, but a lot of traditional gamers I wouldn't even invite around to fix my computer. And they get to laugh at us? Mark my words, he who laughs last wears a well-cut jacket, not a ponytail.

Moving on, those crack cocaine comments weren't entirely out of place, but maybe an alcohol business model would work better. Think about it. Your first drink (game) was probably obtained illegally, then you went to a pub (handset) where you paid a high price for your first drink (branded game).

Once you got the taste for it you started drinking with friends (multiplayer), tried other types of drinks (unbranded games), were happy to pay more for quality alcohol (3D games), sometimes were allowed to drink as much as you liked (subscription) and sometimes spent the rest of the night over the toilet (off-portal).