High scores are back, and what's more they could earn you prizes thanks to a new form of tournament-based mobile gaming that's slowly taking hold in the UK. Mobile entertainment aggregator Jippii has recently launched JT1, a monthly gaming tournament in which players download Tetris-style puzzler, Gem Jam, and then try to rack up the highest score possible, before submitting their effort to the online leaderboard. Prizes are awarded for the best score of the day, week and month, and the goodies include iPods, GBAs and Xbox consoles.
But it's the underlying business model that really interests me.
Players can download the game for free, but if they decide to take part in the tournament they pay a weekly subscription of £1.50. Hmm, so Jippii gives away the first hit and when you're really into it, they get you to pay on a regular basis - I wonder where that marketing concept came from?
Later in the year, British developer Iomo will start creating online tournament modes for its key titles including Pub Darts and Pub Pool. The company was recently bought out by US tech giant InfoSpace which now also owns a prize-based tournament gaming system developed by Atlus Mobile, named (imaginatively enough) For Prizes. Titles supporting the system have gone down well in the states, allowing users to log into a ranking server from the game's main menu and then attempt to gain the highest score possible. Ms Pac-Man For Prizes was a particularly well-received example.
The return of the high score table, a staple of the arcade experience but long outmoded in home gaming, is an amusing development and brings back memories of three letter acronyms and momentary, pointless triumphs at Pac-Man and Galaga. Sadly, you lose the atmosphere of the dingy coin-op den, of course. The crowds, the cigarette burns on the control panel, the fat bloke in the change booth who's eyes convey an unsettling mixture of resigned failure and imminent violence... still, at least you can win an iPod nowadays!
