From a cottage industry teeming with small independent developers to a mass-market proposition dominated by the entertainment big boys, this year has been one of dramatic change for mobile gaming. For the first few months, most Java titles were basic remakes of classics such as Space Invaders, Pac Man and Mario, with the odd puzzler thrown in for variety.
But the launch of dedicated entertainment phones, such as the Sharp GX-10 and Nokia 3650, provided developers with big colour screens and large memory capacities, allowing the quality of titles to evolve at a staggering pace. Compare, say, Gameloft's recent and gorgeous Prince of Persia: Sands of Time with anything available in spring. It is like going from Pong to Doom in nine months rather than 20 years.
This process has been accompanied - and aided - by the entry of videogame giants such as Electronic Arts, Eidos, Activision and Acclaim. With their marketing clout and recognised brands, they are attracting a mainstream clientele previously sceptical about what mobile gaming had to offer.
Interestingly, they have all chosen to work with established mobile developers, rather than setting up in-house studios, but this cautious approach has paid dividends. Recent conversions of EA's Fifa 2004 (Distinctive Developments) and Tiger Woods 2004 (Iomo) will be among the biggest hits of the year and are unmissable if you have a Java phone.
Iomo's Tomb Raider: the Osiris Codex - a 2D platformer based on the Eidos series - has performed well, too, and a sequel subtitled Quest For Cinnabar is due before Christmas. The biggest, though, may well turn out to be Worms, from THQ Wireless, a great little conversion of the turn-based strategy classic. Released last month, it has been the fastest-selling download on Vodafone Live!.
Not all the good stuff has a billion dollar brand attached to it, though. London-based developer Morpheme has been busy producing offbeat masterpieces, including Phantom Mansion and the juvenile classic Dr Steve's Fart Box, possibly the world's first flatulence simulator.
This month, clear space on your Java handset for Balloon-Headed Boy, a bizarre platformer in which you control the eponymous character, who can inflate his cranium to reach higher areas. You must also try Vampire Bloodline, a platform game from Mforma that has been huge in the US. And 02 customers: don't miss Cannons Tournament by Macrospace. It is Worms with tanks and allows two-player gaming over GPRS.
The launch of N-Gage on October 7 was a key event - if only for the hype Nokia managed to generate, which boosted awareness of mobile gaming. A fortnight later, sales estimations varied wildly, with Nokia claiming a global figure of 400,000, while independent analysts reckoned only 5,000 units were shifted in the US and 500 in Britain.
In reality, the figure hovers in between - disappointing for a gaming platform launch, but not bad for a comparatively expensive Series 60 handset. Plus, according to an inside source, use of N-Gage Arena, the handset's online portal, is attracting numbers at around 80% of expectations, so the device is prompting plenty of profitable GPRS activity for the network operators. Good games are on the way, too, including Sega Rally and Nokia's four-player battle action title, Operation Shadow.
There have been significant hardware launches since N-Gage. Nokia's 3100 and 3200 handsets are cheap with abundant features, offering 4K, 128 x 128 pixel colour screens, comfortable d-pads and lots of customisation options. These will probably replace the 3510I and 7210 as Nokia's mass-market game phones. Sony Ericsson is also fighting hard for a share of the gaming market, after disappointing developers with its under-powered T610. There's a teen-orientated candy bar, the T230, the feature-packed P900, and the stylish Z600.
If gaming is your only concern, though, save your pennies for the Nokia 6600 or Motorola V500. Both have 65k screens and support for MidP2, a new build of Java that gives developers access to 3D graphics APIs, in-game texting and Bluetooth connectivity for multiplayer gaming.
Early in the year we will also see the launch of the Sharp GX30, the latest in the company's successful Vodafone Live! series. Rumour has it, this will be based on the Sharp SH53, which launched early this year in Japan with a fantastic conversion of the Namco coin-op Ridge Racer.
Later, expect to see the first handsets with dedicated 3D graphics chips and plenty of online multiplayer titles as tech companies learn to squeeze more and more performance out of GPRS networks.
And 3G? Well, the first generation of handsets had low specification for gaming, but the four major networks are expected to launch 3G services this year for newer models. This will mean faster downloads, bigger game files and, in theory, much smoother real-time multiplayer activity. So Pong to Doom to Quake III Arena -that will be 30 years of development packed into 18 months. Do try to keep up.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
www.gameloft.com
Fifa 2004 and Tiger Woods 2004
www.digitalbridges.com plus all major network portals
Vampire Bloodline
www.mforma.com
Balloon-Headed Boy
www.morpheme.co.uk and major portals
Worms
www.madtap.com plus major network portals
Cannons Tournament - 02 Games Arcade
www.macrospace.com
