Big-Zoo Phone Cards Blog

G-Phone, Hell! Where Is My Mario Phone?

by Steve Smith, Tuesday, September 18, 2007
AS THE CLOCK TICKED PAST 1:30 am the other night and I was still playing Nintendo's wonderful "Picross" puzzle game on my DS, a couple of things dawned on me.

First, what the hell was I doing playing a handheld game at 1:30 when I had to be up in four hours?

Second, why doesn't Nintendo just come in and take over mobile gaming?

The first question was easy to resolve. Caffeine. I consider Juan Valdez my patron saint.

The second question is a poser, however. Between the original Game Boy and the newer dual-screen DS, the Nintendo handhelds constitute the most successful console platforms in history. Even as the company's fortunes dipped in the last two generations of larger consoles, its dominance of handhelds is over a decade long now, through three generations of hardware. These guys know portable, small-screen gaming better than anyone.

But even as Electronic Arts, THQ and others have struggled to make a profitable business out of mobile gaming, and my phones get littered with crappy games I never play, the one great success story in portable gaming is absent.

Why doesn't Nintendo walk in and own phone gaming? The one company that is best positioned to save mobile gaming from itself has zero presence here.

They have simple, cartoonish franchise characters that play well on tiny screens. It takes about ten pixels or so to build "Mario" and a recognizable Link from the "Zelda" series.

They know how to create gaming depth out of simple control schemes. Link hops, blocks and swipes his sword -- three buttons -- and the rest is about the puzzles.

They understand novel gaming concepts. The "Wario Ware" series is among the most ingenious and new gaming experiences I have seen in recent years. It is a compilation of super-fast game challenges that come and go in five seconds. A short visual cue tells you what task to perform with one or two buttons in the next five seconds. It is like an arcade game lightning round.

They know how to develop simple stories that matter. The "Paper Mario" RPG series is a good vs. evil tale told through ironic dialogue and graphics that pokes fun at its own low-res 2D graphics.

They know puzzles. The "Brain Age" series is like an IQ trainer with visually simple test questions. "Picross" uses the basic puzzle genre of deductive reasoning on a number grid to reveal small icons. Both games are irresistible head snacks, and like most Nintendo handheld games they are perfectly crafted for mobile play. Almost every game Nintendo makes for the DS is designed for short gasps of play.

Nintendo is to portable gaming what Disney once was to animation. The company has a flair and simple elegance that makes everyone else look like frowsy overachievers.

Even better, there is a decade-long catalog of Gameboy and Gameboy Advance titles that barely need a graphics tweak to work perfectly on a handheld phone. From the original "Wario" titles to "Zelda," from "Advance Wars" to "Mario Kart," the 20 or so best GB/GBA games are better than just about anything I have seen on a cell phone in the last few years. The game I raved about months ago, "Snoopy the Flying Ace," is a classic Nintendo-like title, even though it was developed by another company. It has an enduring central cartoon character and familiar conflict that is played with a single button. And another game I wrote about last year, "Phoenix Wright," is actually a third-party DS game that was ported brilliantly to phones.

My point is that many of the problems of mobile gaming have already been solved by Nintendo. Mobile gaming has trouble merchandising titles. The high profile console game franchises have built-in marketing muscle, but they register with a small slice of hardcore gamers, and even those gamers don't want to play complex titles on phones. The simple puzzle games are perfect for phones and casual users, but they have little chance to gain traction among mobile gamers who just don't notice mobile game marketing. Nintendo, on the other hand, has characters and situations that are both simple and easily recognizable to a generation of adults.

So why am I cheerleading for Nintendo? Because it dawned on me at 1:30 a.m. that I love handheld gaming but could care less about mobile gaming. That doesn't seem right or even necessary.

I asked Nintendo whether they intended to enter the mobile phone market. Their rep told me the company had no such plans.

Tis a pity. Mobile gaming could use them. I could use them. The next time mobile game developers scratch their heads over why their genre continue to be a disappointment, they might grab their old Game Boys and learn from the masters.

Post your response to the public Mobile Insider blog.

See what others are saying on the Mobile Insider blog.

Contributing writer Steve Smith is a longtime new-media consultant and columnist, and current editor of Digital Media Report for MinOnline.com and Mobile Media Report for TelecomWeb.com Contact him at popeyesmith@comcast.net. 

  Mobile Insider for Tuesday, September 18, 2007:
  http://publications.mediapost.com/

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// posted by (hris @ 7:22 PM 0 Comments

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// posted by (hris @ 5:40 PM 0 Comments

Customers are flocking to the service, which is gaining renown for customization, message management and media browsing capabilities. Over 10,000 users have logged in for the new Wadja Mobile, after barely a week of release.

(PRWEB) September 13, 2007 -- Wadja Mobile (http://m.wadja.com) is the brand new version 1.0 mobile web service, making a big splash among mobile users worldwide. Wadja Mobile's version 1.0 release continues to bring their celebrated mobile social network to all types of handsets, offering users streamlined access to social media with exceptional usability. After the first week of release, over 10,000 users logged in with their mobile devices, from over 200 countries.

The service frees mobile users from dependence on clunky java downloads and substandard, user unfriendly interfaces that offer only limited functionality. What's more, Wadja Mobile frees users from the twin tyrannies of geography and handset incompatibility. Users can access Wadja Mobile from any part of the world using any handset equipped with a mobile web browser and mobile internet connection, now an industry standard.

But user friendliness and functionality is only a small part of what Wadja offers. The mobile web service is supported by a multi award winning social networking Web site. Since its launch in September 2006, the site's extensive menu of features has helped Wadja log impressive growth, and launch an array of national sites in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

"Wadja.com is a mobile social network that allows its members to set up unique personal mobile profiles that can be linked together through networks of friends," said Alex Christoforou of Wadja Media Ltd. "Wadja.com has gained international recognition as a leader in the young and exciting mobile web industry. With its high growth rate and dedicated, fanatic, user base, Wadja.com is in a coveted position to revolutionize the mobile web industry, an industry which offers enormous revenue potential through mobile web based communication and content related services and platforms."

Users can design a customized mobile home page that allows them instant access to the features they value most. Mobile users can choose from a wide variety of useful content, including inbox alerts, media browsing and friend sharing capabilities, mobile phone photos, music and video upload and download services, comment and rating features, network feed (so-called chit chat) services, free mobile SMS services, third party mobile site integration (including pop email accounts, and popular free email services from Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! mail) and much more.

Wadja.com highlights since its introduction include:
•    Nearing one million total users
•    Over 2,500 new users added daily (100% organic, word-of-mouth, growth)
•    Over 50,000 unique visitors daily
•    Over 400,000 page views daily
•    75 percent – 80 percent user return rate
•    14 Minutes average time spent on site per visitor
•    Over 2 million friend to friend, targeted SMS messages sent monthly
 
 Wadja Mobile works with all mobile handsets, platforms and browsers including Opera Mini, Mobile Internet Explorer, Blackberry devices, iPhones, iMode platforms, Openwave browsers and just about any other device a customer can throw at them.

"Wadja Mobile bridges the gap between its web site and mobile service, giving users a full feature set of capabilities (and then some) on the mobile web service," Christoforou said. "Wadja users can always expect the near same and even more customized experience from their mobile phone as they get form the standard web site."

For more information, visit http://www.wadja.com/

Contact:
Alex Christoforou
Wadja Media LTD.
Home of the Blue Kangaroo
http://www.wadja.com/alex
Tel.: 30 210-72-17-292
Fax: 30 210-72-17-294
info(at)wadja.com


Press Contact: ALEX CHRISTOFOROU
Company Name: Wadja Media Limited
Phone: 302107217292
Website: www.wadja.com

// posted by (hris @ 7:12 PM 0 Comments

With exceptions to headsets and other hands free devices, driving while using a cell phone is becoming illegal in more and more states. Many companies are beginning to sell devices that will allow people to still use cell phones while driving.

Grass Valley, CA (PRWEB) June 28, 2007 -- On July 1, 2008, California will become the fourth state that will implement a ban on the use of cell phones while driving.

The California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed into law a legislation that passed in the California Assembly last month. The measure goes into effect in July 2008, and imposes a minimum fine of $20 for anyone caught driving and using a cell phone unless the driver uses a headset, ear bud or other technology that frees both hands.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., have similar laws, but California is a large state to sign off on such legislation. More than 35 other states are considering a similar bill.

Palm, California's largest producer of cell phone and accessories, is one of the largest supporters of this bill. The company said the bill responsibly addresses evidence that handheld cell phone use increases the risk of an accident.

"With the technology available today, there is no reason for a driver to be holding a cell phone while behind a wheel. Headset technology, both wired and wireless, is readily available, and call quality using hands-free headset is generally excellent," said Mary Doyle, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Palm.

Ms. Doyle added, "Palm gives drivers numerous options for helping keep their eyes on the road and two hands on the wheel, focusing first and foremost on driving."

Cellphone Battery Warehouse has more than 47 different styles and brands of headsets to offer to motorists. The Palm Bluetooth Wireless Headset is one of the most popular headsets for motorists.

To learn more about the products visit http://www.batteries4less.com/

Press Contact: Coryon Redd
Company Name: Batteries 4 Less
Phone: 530-277-2940
Website: www.batteries4less.com

// posted by (hris @ 2:27 PM 0 Comments

This Conversations Is Brought To You By...

by Steve Smith, Tuesday, September 4, 2007
ACCORDING TO SOME RECENT STATS, there are over 20 billion SMS messages passing across the ether each month in the U.S. market alone. As the father of an adolescent, I am not surprised. I think my daughter's teen suitors alone account for a good chunk of that figure. The signature beeps my daughter assigns these incoming SMS flirts are bad enough even when she doesn't answer them right away. Just walking down the street, she sounds like a truck backing up.

But if you are a resourceful media innovator rather than the father of a teen girl, all of those SMS alerts sound more like ad inventory being wasted. It was only a matter of time before someone came along to knit this flow of messages into networked ad inventory. While I am sure there are others working on a similar idea, MoVoxx is the first company I have seen that is starting to serve ads into a collection of SMS publishers. Using inventory from SMS alerts by NASCAR, newspapers and some major league sports groups, MoVoxx is hoping to transform a 2-cent-a-message expense into a ten-cent-a-message revenue opportunity.

"We are able to charge high CPMs because most publishers have data on their cell phone users," says managing partner Alec Andronikov. In most cases, the publishers are getting just age, gender and zip code, but that is already enough to do more precise targeting than many mobile campaigns. When users opt into the NASCAR mobile alerts, for instance, the publisher gets basic demographics and zip codes. If NASCAR has 200,000 subscribers nationwide, there is enough mass there to net perhaps 80,000 users in a general geographic region for a supermarket chain to target. MoVoxx will split a CPM of up to $100 with the publisher. The company devised an opt-in series of alerts for dining out specials from Mercury News and nightlife offers for San Francisco Guardian.

Ultimately, MoVoxx should be able to fly campaigns across multiple publications as it aggregates audience. Of the many billions of SMS messages that are moving each month, Andronikov guesses that 500 million of them are some kind of publisher-pushed alert that conceivably could be sponsored. Right now, he claims about 3.5 million uniques with sports, travel, dating and newspapers comprising the largest content categories. The creative is a very simple call to action that has to occur in a limited 20 to 80 characters of space. The character limitation of an SMS makes it difficult to include a full URL link to the sponsor within the message, especially if you are trying to meter the response by sending the user to a precise and lengthy URL. Generally a reply to the alert will trigger a return message that then includes a link to a Wap page. Andronikov claims a response rate of 2.5% to 4% on the SMS ads.

This sounds like an ingenious plan to me. It gives publishers a revenue stream that only encourages more content development. For advertisers, it offers mobile targeting on a text platform that people really do focus on. Just given the brief, concentrated nature of an SMS message, those 4% response rates don't surprise me. It is almost impossible not to read the ad in the context of an SMS screen. The only downside to ubiquitous SMS ads is the larger issue of mobile ad clutter. As much as the sponsorship model makes such great sense for expanding a media platform like mobile quickly, it also stuffs even more promotions into a small space. Most of the consumer research we have seen shows little negative impact on carriers and publishers from mobile advertising. Indeed, I suspect that most mobile users don't mind a text link or banner ad in their WAP pages, and if marketers get the formats right, I imagine even some kind of mobile video advertising also will fly without much complaint. And generally, I am a big proponent of ad-supported mobile media. As much as I like having games, news, and some distractions on a phone, I don't believe these are high-value items to most users that a fee-based eco-system can bring to its full potential.

But there is the real risk of choking the platform with ads coming from too many directions at once. As each piece of the mobile media environment -- text, WAP, video, MMS, voice, games, etc. -- looks towards ad models, someone has to start asking how it all adds up in the user experience as she traverses the deck that she still pays $60, $70 or more a month to use. A single banner on a WAP site is no big deal. A three second pre-roll on a video clip (if marketers can be this disciplined) is also reasonable, as is a text ad on a search result or some branded entertainment slipped into a mobile video library. Without a shred of supporting evidence, however, I do have to wonder about the cumulative effect of consumers encountering ads at every turn.

At what point does the phone go beyond delivering welcome messages from NASCAR, and start looking and feeling itself like a NASCAR racer, stuffed to the windshield wipers with branding messages?

Post your response to the public Mobile Insider blog.

See what others are saying on the Mobile Insider blog.
Contributing writer Steve Smith is a longtime new-media consultant and columnist, and current editor of Digital Media Report for MinOnline.com and Mobile Media Report for TelecomWeb.com Contact him at popeyesmith@comcast.net. 

  Mobile Insider for Tuesday, September 4, 2007:
  http://publications.mediapost.com

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// posted by (hris @ 1:07 PM 0 Comments