The trend for mobile phone brain-training games shows no signs of diminishing. Most of the big publishers had a bash last year, with the likes of Brain Juice Energy and Brain Genius competently ripping of Nintendo's successful recipe. Now a few smaller British firms are giving it a go.
First up, Dynamo Games has managed to combine two mobile favourites - casual quiz games and ironic eighties licenses - into one package: Crystal Maze will feature mini-intelligence tests based around the themed areas of the camp show. According to the company's press release Crystal Maze was voted 'The Best Gameshow Of All Time' by visitors to the website www.ukgameshows.com. They surely know.
Mind Games from low-profile (their words) developer Cobra Mobile is a mental fitness test that's recently had a limited release as Carol Vorderman's Mind Aerobics, but is now getting a wider showing in its non-Vordermanesque incarnation. It's another collection of challenges and mini-games designed to make your brain work - although to be honest, attempting to configure your handset to send picture messages or receive email will probably have a similar effect.
I also like the look of HeroQuest's Stolen in 60 Seconds, a car theft sim in which you scope out your intended target then supply your team with the correct tools before overseeing the robbery. The press release, written by someone for whom English is a second or possibly third language, promises, "atmosphere of a real gangster den". I wonder how they researched that?
Also, Championship Manager 2007 has been launched this week. "We've beefed up the feature list for the game, increased the number of players and teams and made the interface even more accessible so we're confident that we'll be retaining our No.1 crown with CM 2007," beams Allison Archer, Producer, Eidos New Media. Competition comes from the serviceable LMA manager 2007. Both subscribe to the eighties school of footie management sim design - quick, simple, no match engine, the vague awareness that match results are being decided by a random number generator somewhere in the game's core.
Finally, Genemation has announced a mobile version of its face capture and feature tracking software for mobile phones. GenMobile will allow developers to put EyeToy like features into their games, or build fun photographic apps. The website has terrible spelling and politically incorrect jokes so is worth a look.
