The following post was submitted to DMW by Keenan Reilly, a 23-year old game developer at Electronic Arts.

As a 23-year-old video game developer at EA, I often find myself taking technology for granted. I’m like a parent watching a child grow. It is at such a constant rate of change that it isn’t really noticeable from day to day. If I’m the parent, then the consumer is comparable to a distant relative who only sees the child during the holidays, which creates an inevitable shock factor when finally seeing the child after some time. With Apple opening up the iPhone to third party game developers, the public is now getting a glimpse at what I have been observing for quite some time; mobile phones are the future of gaming.

To many of you this is an absolutely asinine statement, and I fully understand your sentiments toward this late blooming game medium. Keep in mind that in the short term mobile gaming has many issues that are preventing it from being the platform of choice for most gamers; however, by 2010 mobile games are going to be all grown up. To put things in perspective, mp3 players were around for years before the iPod, but there wasn’t a polished option for the average consumer. The same phenomenon is occurring again with mobile gaming -- Apple is making geeking out on your phone both approachable and hip.

Like many peers of my generation, I remember killing time in my doctor’s office waiting rooms staring into the dull green and black glowing screen of my Nokia in an attempt to beat my own high score in a game of Snake. For those who don’t know Snake, it is a very simplistic game that came imbedded on many cell phones before the millennium. In retrospect it is hard to comprehend why one would play such a mind numbingly dull and unrewarding game, but it was a start. If you’re one of those people who have not played a mobile game since Snake, download something to your mobile phone and you’ll feel a lot like Aunt Ruth seeing Johnny for the first time in five years.

High-end mobile phones are capable of playing games that are equivalent to the original Sony Playstation, and with each year the graphical capacity rises almost exponentially. The attributes that make cell phones a possibly amazing platform for games is their non-gaming features: GPS, video cameras, broadband speed internet, their ability to fit into even the tightest of pockets, and the fact that (almost) everyone in developed nations uses one, makes mobile phones ultra versatile in the eyes of developers.

The iPhone and “Smart phones” bring even more elements to the gaming table like touch screens and motion sensors. Each of these features alone is nothing to write home about, but creatively piece them together and the possibilities are literally endless. Just off the top of my head I’m imagining teams of kids in cities all over the world competing in digitalized scavenger hunts that utilize the GPS and video capabilities to capture the clues and send them on to their teammates in other cities or even other countries. There are prototypes of this nature being implemented into full games as we speak, and best part is that gaming has the opportunity to be a visceral experience moving away from virtual reality and towards a digitally enhanced world in which we live .

The mobile game is not simply a passing trend in entertainment; they are an extremely profitable business. In 2007 mobile games made somewhere around 2.5 billion dollars, which is a 50% increase from 2006. Experts are projecting mobile games to take in $11 billion in 2010, a staggering number to say the least. Since we are talking numbers, over half of mobile games are female which is extremely good news for developers who are constantly looking for ways to attract a wider demographic.

With mobile gaming just becoming the toast of the globalized media world, the market is far from being tamed. It is in these brief moments of opportunity where innovation thrives. I for one am extremely excited to see what mobile games ultimately evolve into. If you’re one of those people who have not played a game on your phone in the last few years, now is the time try it again because you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find. So next time you on the subway, in a cab, or sitting in a waiting room, download a game onto your phone and give it a shot; you’ll come to love the little digital snack these games provide.

Keenan Reilly

Photo by Snazzo