Am just talking about the game here. The fifth installment in the Call of Duty series, COD: World at War, was released in all major platforms, including for mobiles ( otherwise I wouldnt be talking about it, would I?).
When Call of Duty 3 was released for consoles and PC we were in awe of the game. The first two installments were great for playing, but the third one completely redefined what a Call of Duty game meant by enhancing the graphics and gameplay to previously unimaginable levels.
Then came COD4, of course, and there was little improvement, if any, and everything had a nostalgic touch. Gamers started realising that the COD has reached its pinnacle with COD3 and games can only get worse or remain stagnant. That means we dont want to have another game that is so similar to the two previous ones, with no promise of some radical change.
As inevitable as it is, World at War is here and like I said, COD has become stagnant. To be fair, COD5 is a pretty good game and I would have definitely like it and loved it if it had been the first game in the series. A fifth installment and moreover very little changes since the third one means its got deja vu written all over it.
The popular game from Electronic Arts is moving into a new dimension. EA has entered into partnership with Z corporation to make real 3D sculptures of the gamers’ spore creations. Now, that’s great work EA. Nice try at diverting us from the DRM issues plaguing the game.
Anyway, coming back to the sculptures, Z corporation’s advanced technology ( Do I really care what the technology is? Nay) will be used to convert the virtual spores that gamers create into sculptures that can be used for, hmmm, showing off to their friends maybe. Pardon the sarcastic tone, but what’s the purpose really? Spore is an excellent game to play where you give life to a creature, see it evolve, and make sure it reaches the top of the virtual food chain, but what will it in do in my bedroom?
Like I said, EA seems to be taking steps to promote the widely acclaimed game that was tarnished a bit due to the DRM issues. Many will like to get tangible versions of their spores, but am not amongst those and am definitely not alone. Dragging and dropping “body parts” to get our spore up and alive is the game is so much, but a sculpture? Get real! People have better things to do, hopefully!
Sorry for the rather cryptic title. What I wanted to say was that the good old classic of a game - Pac - Man is the most downloaded app for the Android. You read that right!
Pac-Man has come out ahead of various other apps like The Weather Channel in Google’s just released Android mobile platform.
This might actually give us some light into what is happening with the Android platform. Yeah, Pac-Man is a great game, I must have played it a million times, but the fact that it is at the top shows a dearth of games for the Android, currently at least.
It remains to be seen whether Android will prove to be a good gaming system and give competition to the iPhone or the N-gage. As more and more games get released, we will be able to truly assess the powers of the Android.
My money is on Android over the iPhone, though. Apple’s closed door policy might just be the cause of the iPhone’s undoing. The open nature of the Android will be supported by developers. Let’s see whether the Android turns into a dumb robot or an iPhone hunting Robocop.
Nokia N-gage is going great guns. From a lacklustre start as an hardware device to a vastly unknown release of a software oriented platform to the level of being treated as equals, if not better, with the PSPs and the DSs, N-gage has come a long way indeed.
More and more games are being added to the platform and the games are getting better as well. Still some very good games that exist in other platforms have eluded the N-gage.
One such game is N+. The game that is availbale for the PC and the XBLA and also the DS and the PSP, N+ is one of those simple games that will have you engaged for hours. The game uses only a single button and the D-pad. A simple game that would be very appropriate for the N-gage.
Another game is Lumines. Yeah a mobile version already exists. But it can never be compared with the PSP version. An N-gage version, however, will probably make the PSP version pale in comparison.
There are numerous high-end ones out there that must be ported to N-gage. I have not mentioned them here, not because the N-gage has limitations. The N-gage is a really powerful platform. But games like N and Lumines are just the right portable entertainment sources and must make their way to the N-gage.
When it comes to mobile games, be it the high-end N-gage games or the pixelated JAVA games (sorry, am always biased against JAVA games), two game developers standout from the rest of the crowd- Gameloft and Electronic Arts (EA).
But which is better? Which game developer manages to create games that have your thumb, sorry, heart, aching for more. Both the game developers churn out wonderful games and we would like to have games from both of them in our mobiles. But who is the leader of the mobile gaming industry? The choice is difficult, but my vote goes to Gameloft.
Gameloft wins over EA because of the sheer variety of games it has released. Just when you thought Gameloft has come up with the best game ever, they go on to outdo themselves by bringing in an even better game. When Asphalt 2 was release for the older N-gage QD, I spent hours before the little screen pushing my car with help of tons of nitro and drifting my way to the finish line. I can still remember going stealthily through buildings with night vision on in Splinter Cell Chaos theory for the QD.
Asphalt 2 and Chaos Theory were gems. But Gameloft had made sure that more such gems were released from its stables. With the onset of the new N-gage and even the Apple iPhone, Gameloft has managed to keep giving us those games we love to play. They are in a lofty position indeed when it comes to mobile games!