One of the serious historical pitfalls in the mobile games industry has been the lack of a standardised gaming environment across the spectrum of mobile phone technology. One solution - promoted transparently by Nokia - is to create a catch-all gaming platform that also happens to make phone calls. We all know how that turned out.
Sony are also on the case, with a recently announced Sony Ericsson phone which will offer gaming and motion sensitive options. But notably, none of the mobile phone manufacturers have managed to grab the dominant position in the technology race. So another solution is to introduce gaming technologies onto an item which has already saturated the mainstream which isn't (yet) well-known for its mobile phone applications. And indeed, that is exactly what Apple has recently announced it will do.
Its new iPod Classic has a screen designed to display games. Egads - that enormous consumer base! The possibilities! Unsurprisingly, big name publishers like EA have already signed up to provide interactive entertainment for the device. Even more exciting, third parties will soon also be able to list their own software for sale on the proprietary, (oops) DRM'd iTunes.
Could this be the revolution small-format gaming needs to push into the sights the traditional gamer base? Or will the non-traditional controls inhibit any kind of meaningful gaming experience? And what's more, will the presence of DRM cause the same problem mobile games witness now?
