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Features

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Foreword

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Tip of the day

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Mailbox

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Up for it?

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Ludwig: Bones for an Obscure Dog

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Spot the hard drive competition

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The Notator SL user-group

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Black Box

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Atari games on the move

Reviews

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Jag-Wired

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Mirage A/D convertor cartridge

News

Atari games on the move

Matthew Bacon discovers the next generation of Atari games

As reported in last months Foreword, MyAtari recently received a press release from UK-based company iFone Ltd. iFone is an entertainment content provider for mobile phones and wireless devices that has recently struck a deal with Infogrames (the new owners of Atari) that gives it exclusive rights to develop classic Atari games for the next generation of mobile phones.

Over the last few years, mobile phones have gained in popularity at an astonishing rate. A decade ago, mobile phones were the size of house bricks (weighing almost as much) and were only owned by rich city executives. Today, mobile phones are small enough to fit in your pocket, light as a feather and owned by practically everyone!

Mobile phones have become so popular that (amazing as it sounds) over fifty percent of the UK population now own a mobile! Because of this new trend, the manufacturers and telecom giants are having to dream up ingenious new ways to make us spend our hard earned cash.

One of the ideas dreamed up a short time ago was WAP and was launched in the UK by the four major mobile telecom providers (Vodafone, Cellnet, Orange and One2One). WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) was supposed to bring the internet to our mobiles but due to fundamental technological reasons didn't manage to meet the exaggerated claims and is generally considered to have been a bit of a flop.

However, the next generation of mobile phones will soon be available. 3G phones are reported to be what WAP should have been by providing internet access, e-mail, instant text messaging, multimedia features like streaming video and music etc. etc. If half of what they claim is true, I can't wait!

One of the multimedia features of the forthcoming 3G devices is its ability to load and run software from the internet. iFone has taken the lead and has already begun to develop a wide selection of games that you will be able to download (on a pay-per-play basis) while you travel on the bus etc. Some of the games under development include:
 

So will 3G phones become the next best thing? Who knows... iFone certainly think so! Here is what iFone had to say in its press release...

iFONE - THE COMPANY the story so far...
iFone was founded in April 2000 as a wireless entertainment company. Based in Manchester, England, the company develops and supplies games, music, and lifestyle content and services to business-to-business customers for download to mobile phones and wireless devices such as pocket PCs.

iFone provides companies working in mobile industries with content to package and sell to its consumers. The company sells to four key business groups within the mobile sector. These are:

• Network operators, including virtual network operators Virgin
• Handset manufacturers
• Infrastructure companies including Nokia, Ericsson and Nortel
• Mobile portals such as BT Genie, Vizzavi and Breathe

iFone holds the wireless rights to the world’s largest catalogue of major games publisher Infogrames Entertainment, the company behind a fifth of the world’s most successful gaming properties. This is a four-year global licensing agreement that gives iFone access to games from Atari, Hasbro Interactive, Gremlin, Ocean Software and GT Interactive, and includes past and future titles. In return, Infogrames holds a 20 per cent stake in the company. iFone’s current release schedule includes games such as Playstation Driver, Atari Asteroids, Atari Breakout, Monopoly and Mission Impossible.

iFone is backed by Marlborough Holdings, a technology investment firm, and is a preferred partner of Infogrames Entertainment. The management team hails from the gaming industry and combines expertise in games publishing, wireless games development and consumer marketing. The team brings experience from Sony, Psygnosis, Infogrames, AOL Wireless, Diamond Multimedia and Sonera Zed. iFone’s chairman, David Ward, is also an Infogrames board director.

• iFone’s management team comprises:
• David Ward, chairman
• Morgan O’Rahilly, chief content officer and co-founder
• Jim Curry, chief information officer and co-founder
• Lewis MacDonald, chief commercial officer

The Market
Datamonitor forecasts that the wireless entertainment market in Western Europe and the US will be worth $6 billion in 2005, with 198 million mobile users playing wireless games. Nokia estimates 40 per cent of the 1.7 billion global wireless users will be consuming wireless entertainment services within the same timeframe. Today, Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo approximates 2.9 million customers pay $2.80 per month to subscribe to an official internet-based game.

iFones end users are predominantly 15 to 25 year olds, though retro titles will also appeal to older users who remember the games such as Asteroids and Breakout when they first appeared. This demographic is highly brand-aware, commands significant disposable income and is very mobile-oriented.

iFone anticipates that it will achieve between 24 and 32 per cent market share at its peak. The company expects this settle at between 18 and 20 per cent.

The Offering
iFone brings popular gaming and music to the wireless platform, be it mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or pocket PCs, while its lifestyle content and services are designed to enhance the wireless entertainment experience. iFone’s content is multiformat - WAP, SMS, Java, EPOC, WindowsCE - and multiplatform, which means iFone content can be used equally on today’s mobile phones as on next-generation 3G devices.

The premise on which the iFone offering is based is quick, disposable entertainment to suit the medium. For example, PC and console gaming is a distinct proposition that commands more time and attention in a captive environment - your home. Wireless gaming, conversely, is a fast consumable designed to entertain in 20 minutes or less and to be played repeatedly on three or four separate occasions in a single day.

Games can be downloaded in under a minute, then played offline so that users do not incur unnecessary call charges. Once the game is over, the user has the option to replay the game but will need to delete it at the end of the session.

• iFone’s business is based on tangible assets that include:
• The biggest catalogue of wireless games in the world
• A four-year global licence for the wireless rights to the Infogrames games catalogue, including past and future titles.
• A 24-month games release schedule, which including titles such as Playstation Driver, Mission Impossible.
• A letter of intent signed with Ericsson Messaging Systems, a subsidiary of Ericsson AB. This commits iFone and Ericsson to co-bundling wireless gaming products for Ericsson’s wireless carrier customer base, which represents 50 per cent of the world’s wireless network.

Revenue Model
iFone generates revenue on a per-use basis of its games and other content, as well as from the provision of services. It licences content to target business groups and collects the fixed wholesale price, while the provider takes its margin from the suggested retail price per item although final pricing is at the discretion of the provider. Revenues from service provision will be similarly generated.

Suggested retail pricing for games is between 30p and 50p per title per play. Premium brands such as Playstation Driver will be priced at the high end of the range, and non-branded titles at the low end.

iFONE / The Vision
The 16-25 years olds of "Generation Text" are embracing mobile phone culture and the wider opportunities presented to include lifestyle and entertainment as well as communication.

The increasing demands for new handsets with new enhanced services are pushing the hardware manufacturers and network providers to consider new selling propositions such as branded gaming.

The potential of mobile gaming is vast and achievable not only through the roll out of increasingly sophisticated technology but through the recognised forms of payment that mobile phones have come to represent.

Unlike the internet, which has become a symbol of freedom and liberation from censorship and payment, consumers expect to pay for their mobile phone and therefore the mobile gaming forum can be paid for and executed through the network operators billing model.

With the flexibility to charge per download, or by adopting the "winner stays on" or "loser pays" traditional gaming approach "A game like Asteroids will be a value for money proposition - like it was in the arcades" comments Chief Commercial Director of iFone Limited, Lewis Macdonald.

IFone holds the wireless rights to one of the world’s largest catalogues of major games from super publisher Infogrames. This gives iFone, access to current and future catalogue from Atari, Hasbro Interactive, Gremlin, Ocean Software and GT Interactive. iFone has therefore been able to choose the Infogrames games which work best in the mobile arena and have a product release schedule which rolls out to 2003.

"Branded games are worth more - it’s the difference between having ‘V Rally’ on your phone over an own brand, copied version called ‘Wheels’ " explains iFone marketing manager, Enda Carey. Location based gaming, multi-player and multi-platform capability are all within the iFone services and the company vision is to see as many games on wireless devices as possible by the end of 2002.

IFone Limited provides entertainment content for mobiles and networks focusing on games, music and lifestyle. Products include games, handset downloads, music, streaming media and unified messaging.

The Games
Here is what iFone has to say about its forthcoming classic Atari games...

• Asteroids
  
  Overview:
  The Atari brand is back with one of the true Atari classics. Asteroids was a massive hit in the arcades and is a very welcome blast from the past.
  
  Trapped in a gigantic cloud of asteroids, your struggling spaceship hurtles towards its doom. You'll have to pulverise all the asteroids with lasers to save your ship and your life.
  
  Key features:
  
  • Timeless, classic Atari arcade game
    
  • Infuriatingly addictive gameplay
    
  • Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
    
  • Fast and furious gameplay
    
  • Hundred+ levels

• Pong
  
  Overview:
  Timeless and addictive, Pong represents a slice of gaming history that kicked off the mass-market gaming revolution of today. The original Pong was created by Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, and was the first coin-operated video game.
  
  A computerised adaptation of table tennis, you control a paddle with a wheel you turn (which was and still is actually called a "paddle" in honour of its origin) and bounce a ball. Miss the ball and your opponent scores a point.
  
  Key features:
  • Timeless, classic Atari arcade game
    
  • Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
    
  • Hundred+ levels

• Breakout
  
  Overview:
  The object of Breakout is to demolish rows of coloured bricks. Each time you hit a brick with the ball, you score the appropriate number of points and the brick disappears.
  
  Hitting the wall in the same place each time results in breaking a path through it. Once the ball breaks through, it rebounds between the top of the wall and the top of the screen, knocking out bricks until it breaks back through to the bottom of the wall. Obviously, this scores a good number of points.
  
  The bad news that accompanies breaking through is the immediate reduction by half of the paddle's original size, making it more difficult to keep the ball in play. However, with a little extra concentration and a finer touch on the paddle controller, the wall can be totally demolished. The key to hitting the ball back consistently is anticipating where it will hit the bottom of the screen. If you wait to see where it's going to land, you'll get there too late to catch it.
  
  Breakout is like Checkers in that it's incredibly easy to learn, but difficult to master. It's simple enough for novices and children to pick up and play, but pros will also get a lifetime of enjoyment out of this classic Atari masterpiece.
  
  Key features:
  • Timeless Atari classic arcade game
    
  • Learnable, repeatable strategies to conquer
    
  • Hundred+ levels

• Galaxian
  
  Overview:
  Not much has changed from the glory of the original arcade classic. Brilliant in its simplicity, the game operates similarly to Space Invaders, as you control a 'ship' that moves laterally across the bottom of the screen firing upwards, while waves of aliens descend upon you. Clear out the successive rows of enemies to advance to faster and more difficult stages.
  
  Key features:
  • Internationally-acclaimed retro gaming
    
  • Hundreds of levels
    
  • Swirling attack patterns
    
  • Game strategies to learn and master

Useful Jargon

• WAP
  WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) was supposed to give us the internet on our mobile. Of course it wasn't and is generally considered to have been a flop.
• 3G devices
  3rd generation devices will not just mobile phones. 3G mobile phones and PDA's will hopefully be what WAP wasn't... but it's still early days yet!

MyAtari magazine - Feature #9, October 2001