Mobile Phones Blog

1997: some game called Metal Gear Solid debuted on the Sony PlayStation, a game which quickly became a firm favourite and some would say single-handedly popularised and revolutionised the stealth genre on consoles.

In the same year, Nokia launched ‘Snake’ on its handsets, which quickly became a firm favourite, and some would say popularised gaming on mobile handsets and helped pave the way for the future of gaming on phones.

Now, in 2009 a different kind of Snake prepares to make his debut on mobile handsets; specifically the iPhone and iPod Touch. Appropriately titled Metal Gear Solid Touch, the game sees you adopting the guise of the legendary Solid Snake, taking out absent minded guards before confronting powerful adversaries in a series of tense boss battles.

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The recently announced Nintendo DSi comes with a lot of spec and features that don’t sound at all out of place on any of the just released smartphones; 3.25″ touchscreen, Wi-Fi support, built in web browser, music player, camera, and the ability to download games; it’s only the lack of any calling or texting features which stop it from being sold on contract in the local Carphone Warehouse or something.

The new handset, which goes on sale in its native Japan on the 1^st of November (followed by an early 2009 worldwide release), follows on from the DS Lite, and incorporates two VGA cameras, which will be integral to some game titles, and can be used to take pics of mates’ faces and the like.

As the pictures here show, the DSi also comes with a microSD card slot, yet another feature synonymous with mobile phones. Naturally, the entire internet has been busy pondering about when or even if Nintendo will (hopefully) follow this leap forward with a DS phone.

It would make sense, seeing as the iPhone can handle titles such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sony (apparently) will be releasing a PSP Phone, Nokia are still surging ahead with their N-Gage series, and, well, who knows what might crop up on the G1 and future Android handsets?

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Tomorrow sees the launch of the hotly anticipated Star Wars video game The Force Unleashed across all of the major console platforms in the UK. We hesitate to use the phrase “next-gen” in any sentence that alludes to the Nintendo Wii, lest we get flamed by rabid 360 fans like we did last time. Anyway;

Noobs across the planet have been oscillating wildly over the very thought of a Star Wars game on the Wii - ever since Nintendo’s wireless white wonder was unveiled to the world, about a million people put two and two together and collectively thought “wouldn’t it be sweet if a WiiMote could be used as a lightsabre!”

Turns out that about a million other people had similar thoughts about the iPhone; You Tube has seen countless videos uploaded of nerds across the globe duelling in college hallways with the iSaber and MacSaber applications (see above) and now, it turns out that the Force is being officially unleashed on the iPhone 3G, which is of course available in either white or black, for budding Jedi apprentices and wannabe Sith Lords alike.

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Bestselling novelist Stephen King has already had several of his novels adapted for the stage or for film, such as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, and has also written TV series and comics. Lately he has been branching out into another medium: mobile phone comics.

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With the mobile version of Guitar Hero performing admirably on handheld devices, Activision launched spin-off title Guitar Hero III: Backstage Pass, in the US, which sees you assuming the roles of manager and promoter as well as on-stage rock legend.

As with the previous mobile version, players assume the roles of either Axel Steel (grunge lumberjack) or Judy Nails (punk priestess) and get to pick from a selection of digital axes to shred. As well as rocking out, the game also has players promoting their bands on the in-game radio and TV stations, rehearse, cut demos, do interviews, as well as playing shows, which reminds us somewhat of the PC game Rock Manager, which was essentially a rock ‘n roll version of Championship Manager.

There is also an online element to the game, which allows players to download new songs and purchase new guitars, presumably in the same form as the monthly Bonus Set packs for GH III Mobile.

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