Mobile Gaming Expert

Those of you who have been with this blog for a while know that Mondays are traditionally  the time for the so called Editorial and it is basically when I tell you what to expect during the week.  So here it is:

The Simpsons: Minutes to meltdown- a mobile game loosely based on my favorite TV series.

God of war: Betrayal- the one and only reincarnation of Kratos on the mobile platform.

Opera mini- THE Internet browser for your mobile phone.

I also have a surprise review reserved for the end of the week . Or not.

Now that we cleared this out I want to say a few words concerning games and screen resolution on a mobile phone.

I've often read on mobile forums complaints like "How can you call this game beautiful- on my phone it looks nothing like the pictures" or "Why I don't have (put your favorite game feature here) on my phone". The obvious answer is that not all phones have equal capabilities  and mobile game developers make several versions of the game so it can run on a maximum number of handsets. The thing is if you have some of the less capable phones the game will look nothing like advertised - it will be basically a different game with the same name. It is a common knowledge and I always took it for granted that people are well aware of that but questions like this made me want to shed some light on the topic.
It goes without saying that reviewers  write their articles on the best looking version or in the worst case scenario - the second best. Those are actually the 240x320 (primary master) and 176x220 (the best of secondary masters) resolution versions and if you're under that you're basically f@cked - lower resolutions are not only cut down feature-wise bit they might (and will) have different level design, number of levels and so on. They are even likely to be made by different people (and sometimes in a different country altogether) than the Primary master. So basically you get what you've paid for with a little twist. You have a phone more than 2 years old or a really cheap new one - you don't get to play the best games... well, you get to play games with the same names, but they are not necessarily half that good.

To all the Nokia fan boys out there- I have some news for you too. Nokia phones are not the preferred platform for master versions. I won't go into details why (not in this editorial that is) but it's a fact, so if you have serious intentions on java gaming you'd better look at the Sony Ericsson's phones . Just a little friendly advice.  I don't get paid to sell them so I don't really care whether you're gonna take it or leave it...

Last but not least I want to thank all my returning visitors out there (all four of them or so) for reading through another editorial. Thanks for the support , guys :)