Peripheral company Zeetoo is coming up with a Nunchuk-like device for cell phones. The Zeemote, that's really what it's called, no lie, will connect to select cell phones using Bluetooth. The controller has an analog stick and buttons in a Nunchuk-shaped device. The company says they also have a motion-sensing version of the controller in the works and another prototype that will have a tracker ball.

Personally, I don't think it's the lack of controls that is keeping mobile gaming from realize the potential that mobile game developers are always harping endlessly about. I think the real problem is the lack of a single operating system, something that, dare I say it, the N-Gage platform might actually help fix.

Mobiles Get Nunchuk Controller [CVG]

If it's good enough for the Wii, it must be good enough for mobile phones! Yesterday, Japan's biggest cell phone operator NTT DoCoMo introduced a new handset outfitted with a motion sensor. Created by Mitsubishi, the D904i lets you swing it around like the Wii-mote to play tennis or sword fighting games. Motion controls for cell phones sound utterly impractical considering how the screen and the controller are connected. Plus, seeing how most people in Japan play cell phone games on the train, would anyone actually play this way in public? Remember: This marks the second Mitsubishi phone that has been "inspired" by Nintendo. Bout time they got their own ideas, no? Brian Ashcraft

New Wii-mote Phone [Reuters]

Fourteen contestants. One winner. MaxGames, Malaysia's leading mobile game publisher, held a mobile gaming tournament. The winner was crowned Miss MaxGames 2007 and signed a year contract to head up the company's all-female all-mobile gaming team for 15,000 Malaysian Ringgits (US $4,340). Oh and as a gaming non-sequitur, they also gave her a PLAYSTATION 3. Brian Ashcraft

Miss Max Games [Official Site via Dark Diamond]

Pocketgamer (via GameSetWatch) has a look at bad translations in mobile gaming. While bad localization in console titles is pretty much a thing of the past, the same isn't true for cell phone ones thanks to low budgets. Take this line from Magnetic Joe:

Take Joe to the exit while avoid spikes! While you are magnetised, the neighbour magnetic cells attract you!

Okay! We will! And thanks for the tip! But this kinda stuff is not just in-game. The odd sounding lingo even pops up in the marketing material. Check out the blurb for Death Trap:

Death Trap is a horror action game that the terrifying graphics will make you enticed with surreal illusion.

Awesome. I am so there. Brian Ashcraft

Mobile Translations Funny [GameSetWatch]

In the sequel, you're Hugo Hafner, the "erotic scene's star producer" and your goal is to "extensively care for your girls in your pompous villa, arrange many parties and have fun with your guests and your roommates." Also, you're apparently supposed to "convince the young beauties constantly with a fine figure and enough endurance" because "the Grim Reaper is constantly closing in!".

I thought about trying to decipher what that all means, but realized, hey, it's a German mobile phone game. I'd want those minutes back on my death bed.

The extensive feature list and unmissable press release are after the jump. Michael McWhertor

HandyGamesTM starts in 2007 with "Porn Manager 2 - The Villa"

After the huge success of Porn Manager, HandyGames proudly presents this year's top seller, which is based on the motto Enjoy your life to the fullest!"!

As the erotic scene's star producer you have reached everything during your professional life: girls, fame and lots of money!

You slip into the role of the most enviable man of the world! It's your task to enjoy your retirement as long as possible in the most comfortable way and to reach a truly biblical age!

Because your elixir of life are pretty, glamorous girls, you have to try to gather as many of them around you as possible. Since you are a true gentleman, you extensively care for your girls in your pompous villa, arrange many parties and have fun with your guests and your roommates.

A life of total privacy wouldn't be suitable for an old pickup like you! Invite the press regularly and use your beautiful girls to increase your popularity. Convince the young beauties constantly with a fine figure and enough endurance.

Try hard - the Grim Reaper is constantly closing in!

As from the 6th February 2007 will Hugo Hafner's funny game be available for download.

Features:
* Lead an excessive evening of life in your pompous villa!
* Enjoy the presence of the world's most beautiful women
* Parties, press and glamour aplenty are the key to a long life
* Extensively care for your girls
* Clothe your beauties according to your wishes and make generous gifts
* Countless possibilities and actions
* Huge villa with Chill-Out area, love nest and legendary grotto of lust
* Tutorial-tour through the villa
* Savegame
* Highscore
* Simple controls

Japan's NTT Docomo unveiled a horde of new handsets, including this white dual screen clamshell from Mitsubishi. Jumping on the "Touching is Good" bandwagon, the bottom screen is a *surprise* touch screen (sound familiar?). With The Land of the Rising Sun gobbling DS Lites as soon as they hit store shelves, can't blame Mitsubishi for skiing in Nintendo's wake. What else, the cellie's a FOMA branded mobile, which means that it definitely doubles as a video phone as well, but probably not a music player. And the name of this product? Why, it's the D800iDS. Brian Ashcraft

DS-Like Phone [Docomo via Digital World Tokyo]

John Carmack, the man that brought us Doom, is now bringing us a cell phone game Orcs and Elves and possibly a DS version of, well, Orcs and Elves. The game is an old style RPG. Carmack tells Wired's Chris Kohler:

We're hoping to do a DS game version of Orcs and Elves, moving over and enhancing the cell phone game on there, which would be our first real direct entry back into the Nintendo world.

Entry back into the Nintendo world?

We've never had a close, good relationship with Nintendo from like way back... and we were always just kind of peeved at the whole Nickelodeon censor arrangement with Nintendo. So we've kept them at arm's length for many console generations now.

Good news. Heck, I'd be interested to see a Carmack Wii-shooter. Who wouldn't? Brian Ashcraft

Carmack Nintendo Keen [Game|Life]

The future of gaming? Mobile games company honcho David Gosen says it is, brace yerself, mobile phones. A quote from the man:

If you look at the console industry, over 300 million consoles have been sold in the last 25 years, while 800 million phones get sold every year. Which one's mass market? It has to be the mobile device.

Look at that logic, folks. LOOK AT IT. It continues:

In terms of revenues, of course, console's far greater, but more games will be played on mobile than they will on console.

Okay, okay. We're giving David a hard time. I mean, he did toil at Nintendo of Europe during the GameCube era. And he is a CEO of a cell phone game company. So, he knows his stuff! Says David:

Although console's been successful, it's been successful for a pretty tightly defined niche of players. I think that's perhaps starting to change, and will take time, but mobile is true mass market.

Guess who left Nintendo before the DS and the Wii went on sale? Anyhoo, my two cents: People don't want Swiss Army knives. There are tons of MP3 playing cell phones, yet the iPod still reigns. Samsung figured out how to get a 10 megapixel camera on a cell phone (or vice versa), yet there's still a strong demand for digital cameras. Cell phone gaming is a viable market, but as the DS proves, it's not the most important. Now, if Nintendo made mobile phones... Brian Ashcraft

Cell Phone Gaming FTW? [GamesIndustry]

The heart of the PLAYSTATION 3? A suped-up Cell processor developed by Toshiba, IBM and Sony. A single chip contains a main processor and eight sub-processors to unleash 200G Flops (floating point operations per second) of power. And now Toshiba plans to put that chip in mobile devices.

At the recent CEATEC show in Japan, the company showed off a more powerful, in development version of the chip with lower power consumption and increased performance. Says Mitsuo Saito, chief fellow at Toshiba's semiconductor company and one of the key creators of the chip:

Maybe other partners are going onto the very high-end. We are focusing on the low power area. One is for more mobile types of applications such as small games or some mobile phone-like systems.

Sony plans to look into other uses once the PLAYSTATION 3 has been launched. Yippie. Brian Ashcraft

PS3 Cell In Cell Phones [Digital World Tokyo]

Enough about Nintendo ripping off other people, and on to other people ripping off Nintendo. Back in 2005, Nintendo released pet sim Nintendogs. The game was a smash, and other companies attempted to ski in Nintendo's wake by releasing their won dog trainers. Time has passed, and now Bandai, the company behind Tamagotchi, is releasing a mobile phone pet simulator that borrows extensively from Nintendogs right down to the cover art. Titled My Little Dogs: Kawaii Dogsis a casual cell phone game for the Europeans. Don't know about you, but even now I am totally Nintendog-ged out and don't even want to see another animal sim. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Wonderland]

Not sure about you, but my DS Lite's battery is an energy camel. I can go days without charging the portable. So all these DS extra batteries that keep popping up seem pointless. Though, this iPod-looking thingy is not just for the DS per se. It also provides extra juice for Japanese cell phones and PCs, actually making it a tempting investment. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [IT Media]

When Electronic Arts shelled out US $680 million for Jamdat Mobile, the gaming giant put money were its mouth was and showed how important cell phone gaming is. EA confirmed that titles like Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Spore are in the pipeline. Out of all those titles, Spore seems like the best bet. It's casual if need be, but a title that could be played longer. Perfect for quick waits at the bus stop and longer ones at the doctor's office. And that is exactly what mobile gaming should be. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GameSpot] via Aeropause

My ringtone might be the Lupin The Third theme, but chances are yours ain't. If the Billboard Hot Ringtones ranking is any indication, it's probably Koji Kondo's Super Mario Brothers Theme, which is standing tall at #1. The song's been on the charts for a whopping 87 weeks, beating out Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther Theme. Anyone out there in Kotakuland got gaming ringtones? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Billboard] Thanks, Mo!

Thanks to Ruben to pointing us towards this video of the upcoming Nokia fighting game One The video claim that this is real-time rendering on a mobile phone, and the designers are also promising the ability to customize characters with accessories and texture mappings... possibly microcontent. We're as excited as anyone else to see some great graphics finally come to mobile phones, but the issue with mobile games isn't graphics: it's absolutely terrible controls. Until a company can figure out how to get over that hump, we'd rather carry a DS Lite around for our portable gaming. - Florian Eckhardt

A Cell Phone Game Can Look Like This? [Silicon Era]

But perhaps we should qualify that: while id software certainly has no innovative ideas for the future of gameplay, id founder John Carmack himself has been spending a great deal of time fixating on mobile phone gaming lately, and he's got some interesting ideas on where he'd like to see it headed. Ideas that Carmack spilled in an interview with CNN Money.

His big idea is an id produced MMORPG for cell phones. Although Carmack is quick to point out that he doesn't have any interest in bring id head to head with Blizzard, he does hint that a successful cell phone MMORPG could make an excellent bridge into the PC market. Which is a great idea: an MMORPG with a smaller, less advanced cell phone client for when you're shopping or sitting in traffic or pacing the maternity ward. - Florian Eckhardt

Creator of 'Doom' has a 'sneaky little plan' [CNN Money]

Screens Here [Watch Impress]

Gameloft is bringing Tetsuya Mizuguchi's dazzling puzzler Lumines to cell phones. The game will include 11 skins/musical tracks from the likes of Mondo Grosso and Andy Hunter. There are a total of six game modes, including an all new arcade mode that was designed specifically for mobile play. It's no longer just squares as additional shapes are present, as well as a third color. New ideas and innovation, the game is more of a sequel than the upcoming PSP version. Even if it sounds kinda like Tetris, but with better music.

More Here [Modojo]

Earlier this week, we reported on the slew of Brain Age knock-offs headed our way. Barry O'Neill, CEO of the Dublin-based Upstart Games, emailed us to let us know his company had been "sitting on" a cell phone brain game that predates Brain Age by about two years. Originally called Right Brain Paradise, the game was released by G-mode in Japan. Upstart's English version is titled IQ Academy and will be on in major US and European carries this July. We sent questions to Mr. O'Neill, regarding the upcoming title, the brain game craze and skiing in Nintendo's wake.

The game was released back in Japan in 2003, making it one of the first brain games. Why was the title developed?

G-mode has a strong casual and female gaming audience, and I know that they conduct extensive research amongst their subscribers to ensure that their product development strategy matches the audience profile. The first game in the series was released as Right Brain Paradise in March 03 on i-Mode.

Why has Upstart waited so long to launch the game?

It's been a matter of timing in relation to what mobile carrier requirements are. We've been securing releases for Japanese games in international markets for almost three years now. Generally the trend (and the devices) in Japan is one to two years ahead of the west. Casual and "one button" games have been big sellers in Japan for the last three or four years, but only in the last six to twelve months have we seen active interest in these titles for western distribution. Some titles that have done well for us in the past have been "classic" titles - these we're actually well out of date in the Japanese market by the time they were peaking in the West.

What's the relationship between G-mode and Upstart?

Upstart has been working with G-mode distributing titles such as Topolon, and their Sudoku title (branded as Vodafone Sudoku) for some time. With G-mode, and with our other Japanese partners such as FromSoftware and SCEJ, the role is deeper that a typical distributor/publisher relationship. There's a significant investment made by us in localizing, culturalizing and then porting the games to Western handsets. Im most cases we have to literally rebuild the entire game from the ground up.

Did G-mode approach Upstart or vice versa?

We'd been aware of each other for some time, and cemented a relationship early last year. Upstart is very active in the Japanese market, and G-mode has had good traction in the west. The very first Vodafone live! handset launched in Europe included a pre-installed G-mode title. Upstart's knowledge of the Japanese market or specifically, transitioning games from the Japanese market to western markets meant that there was good fit between the companies, especially when it came to getting G-mode titles out in the US.

Did G-mode encourage Upstart to hold the game?

As Japan's no.1 mobile games publisher, G-mode has a huge library of titles spanning many genres. We zeroed in on the casual titles at an early stage, Sudoku was an obvious one and we successfully launched that and Topolon in January. Amongst the other titles which we knew were superb, but a little early for Western markets was the "Left Brain Paradise" range, which had sold almost 2M units since launch. This had been put in front of a number of western carriers, but at that time carries seemed to be more focused on replicating the console experience on mobile. The launch of the Nintendo's brian titles in the west coincided with a growing realization amongst carriers that simpler games were needed to break through the "hardcore" market, and extend the reach of mobile games to regular non-gaming consumers.

What are the differences between the original version and IQ Academy?

The first volume of IQ Academy has a range of challenges selected from Volumes one and two of Left Brain Paradise. There's a number of Kanji based challenges in the original LBP titles that clearly wouldn't translate to western markets. IQ Academy is essentially a new game.

How will launching the game around Brain Age improve downloads?

We're expecting strong downloads from the title. Carrier enthusiasm and welcome for the title has been hugely encouraging. We believe we're first to market with mobile title of this type, and leading the market can result in category ownership - look at Jamdat's success with Jamdat Bowling, Gameloft's dominance of the action adventure genre, and to a limited extent our first successes with the US launch of Konami's Frogger on mobile.

Do you find Nintendo's success encouraging?

Yes. Very. Definitely there's a "Halo-effect" resulting from Nintendo's title, and therefore the interest in this type of title has grown significantly from a carrier perspective. Consumer awareness has also increased, especially amongst an older non-gamer audience is much higher.

Do the Brain Age comparisons bother you?

It doesn't bother us too much, the games have different target devices, and we're happy that we can bring this type of game to a very wide mobile audience. It riles me a bit if an assumption is made that we're ripping off an idea - I don't know if anyone can claim a first here. I remember playing shareware IQ games on the Amiga in the 80's.

How can IQ Academy separate itself from the upcoming flood of knock-off brain titles?

Being first to market on mobile will help. We've additional volumes lined up for future release, and we expect that this type of title will come into its own on mobile. After all there's a couple of billion mobile phones out there, so the potential reach is huge. Additionally we'll implementing a feature on Sprint in the US called game lobby, whereby overall scores and also individual scores for each task set will be ranked by player. You'll be able to challenge your friends or compare with the global player list. This adds a wider competitive experience to the game.

In a nutshell, what's cool about the game?

I think the really intuitive control mechanism works very well. Each question or task posed to you has up to four possible answers. Its a simple matter of pressing a direction key to select the answer. It makes for really fast paced play, which is essential to build your IQ score. The challenges range from simple "true/false" scenarios, to counting, time telling, and spatial challenges. I especially like the task in the volume two where you have count how much money you have by adding up the change presented on screen at a glance of the coins.

How are players rated?

Accuracy and speed are the basic measurements for internal scoring, but each challenge is weighted, and an overall score is determined. This is given to the player, along with a level achievement ranking such as "Pre-school", "University", "Professor" etc. Sadly I'm still at kindergarten level...

Are brain games here to stay? Or is this just a fad?

Definitely here to stay but I'd say we'll see a fad phase over the next 12 months and then a stable level of activity. I think we have a critical mass of people who aren't hardcore gamers, but are aware and accepting of video games now, however the content is only just starting to catch up. Look at Sony's successes with titles like SingStar and Buzz. Not everyone wants to play first-person action titles, or RPGs. As gamers have gotten older, and the gender divide more balanced the core games industry hasn't really responded with the breadth of content that other entertainment media such as film would have. The popularity of online game services on Yahoo and MSN largely lies with this casual demographic, and there is a lot to be learned from this example.

Brain games on a console: What do you think?

I think that for the audience which these games will most appeal to, its not really a runner. Consoles often use the main family screen, have a complicated controller and require something of a boot up, so are better suited to longer solitary (online or offline) gaming sessions. One thing that could work though would be a local multiplayer brain game, like Buzz, where players could compete with multiple custom controllers.

Why are brain games popular?

They're accessible to a wide audience, have a gradual learning curve and especially in Nintendo's case with the pen input, but also with the familiarity of the mobile phone, they have an interface known to most people. Of course people love to test themselves too. The appeal is similar to that of an IQ test, or a crossword or Sudoku. In some ways with regular games, it's "How good am I at that?" With brain games, it's more "How good am I?"

More Here [Upstart Games]

Each of the teams were given envelopes that contained four different verbs, two of which had to be incorporated into the game. Glu Mobile's Robert Nashak said, "We eliminated anything that sounds like a video game, like 'fight.'" As teams worked against the clock, pro game designers stopped by to offer advice. The contest began to take its toll on the teams. "My eyes aren't drooping," said one contestant, "but my body wants to turn off." Call it training for when these students graduate.

Article Here [MTV]

I've reached my limit. Two cybersex posts a day are all I can handle. Before I disinfect my eyes, here's a quickie on College Girls, a hackneyed game in which you wonder around your university dorm and learn "the secrets of sex." Uh, riiight. The game was launched last summer for Russia, where the game was a smash with over 10,000 downloads every month. The game has been localized into English, Polish and Czech, because the good Lawd knows how we love our Russian produced, cheesy-assed cell phone based sex games. "The key factors ensuring the success of College Girls are everlasting demand for adult content and exciting gameplay of the application," says Robert Mueller, the company's General Sales Manager. "Personally, I am still having a lot of fun playing this game." Nope, not gonna touch that quote.

Story Here [GameSetWatch]

Tour de France: Official Mobile Game has got to be the worst cellie concept. Ever. Last I checked, the actual 3,607km Tour de France lasts almost all of July, and who wants to play a cellie game for an entire month? Aren't cellie games supposed to be pick up and put down games like Tetris? Either this Tour de France is just time trials or really cheats the distance factor. And I mean really cheats. Well, there's no way for me to find out. Visiting the online site turned up nothing but unadulterated frustration. Need a sample? The site lists the game features as "Inspiring sounds and stunning graphics." Gee, thanks. I tried to download the game, but when the pop-up said "Please choose your country first" and then only offered "Deutschland," I gave up. Good people of Germany, please pitch in and help us figure out what the hizzy heck this game is.

Germans Go Here to Help [Living Mobile]
Tour De France 2005 Schedule [Official Site]

Say hello to the XEG, the unfoldable and bulky cell phone game pad with four hooks. Imagine the dirty looks ya'd get carrying that thang around in yer pocket. Thanks, but no thanks.

Full Article Here [PhoneyWorld]

As cell phone games get better, we need better tools to play them on. Yer typical mobile phone keypad just doesn't cut it. Sure, there are cellie controllers out, but they're bulky and heavy. The GamePad is the perfect situation.

When not in play, the flipper fold up into a sleek package. The pad weighs a mere 130 grams and feels lite in your hand/pocket. Running on AAA batteries, the GamePad communicates with yer phone via Bluetooth.

Schweeet!

Buy It Here [Tang Shop] via PhoneyWorld

Skipping Stones was voted "Best Mobile Game" at the recent Mobile Choice Awards in London. The game is fairly straightforward: Players skip stones across a lake. Select "distance mode" to see how far you can fling the rock and chose "splash mode" to practice making different skip combinations. Watch out for tornados, whales and octopi, which can totally muck up your tosses.

This month, the super-addictive game launches worldwide for everyone's enjoyment. Forget accomplishing anything else for the rest of October.

Download Here
Stones Win [Games Industry]

It's not a reality yet, but incorporating cellphone text-based communications that connect with popular MMOGs could be the future, at least that's how Froghop founder Vicky Wu sees it. Next Generation takes a look at Froghop's venture and the possible commercial ramifications of having gamers in MMOGs be able to communicate while they are actually away from their keyboards.

This is exactly what my girlfriend doesn't want to hear. I skip out early to get home for Blackwing Lair, now I'm going to get texted "Kazzak is up," and bail on dinner to score an Eye of Shadow. I'm already getting nagged and the tech isn't out yet.

Making MMOGs Mobile [Next Generation]

It's not a good sign that the Doom movie got moved back from August to October. Let's just chalk that up to extensive CGI work in post and hope it won't suck eggs. (I have a sinking feeling it will.)

Until then, there's a Doom shooter for cell phones to hold over the hardcore players. Some of the atmosphere might be lost, but the game claims to be strikingly true to the P.C. version. Taking on the role of a marine from Doom 1, 2, or 3, diehards hunt monsters while they commute to work. And if they really want, they can play the cell phone game too.

Doom Cell Shooter [ItPlaysDoom] Thanks James!
Doom Rubbish [via The Sun]

Stewie's diabolical clone has kidnapped the Griffin clan and whisked them away to a hidden fortress deep in Siburbia. Intolerable as they may be, he's completely dependent upon those wretched drones for sustenance. Help Stewie infiltrate enemy lines and combat an evil robot army with his own nefarious robot horde. You'll have to brave a deluge of taunts as you battle four different types of freakin' sweet machines in this exhilarating turn-based game. Victory shall be yours!

Features of the mobile game include:
-"Freakin' Sweet" instructions, dialogue and tips from Family Guy characters
-Four robot types to provide maximum battlefield mayhem
-Family Guy sound clips featuring popular phrases and one-liners
-Vibrant cartoon-like animations and graphics
-Exhilarating combat action