if connected

I’m going to let this one speak for itself:

“Orange UK is launching Etch-A-Sketch, a nearly 50-year-old classic toy, on a wide range of handsets in the UK, reports Los Angeles Times. The toy was adapted for the mobile phone by In-Fusio. The cellular version is able to replicate the look and feel of the original toy, and users will use a keypad. Users can save up to three drawings in the phone’s memory.”

Size matters for portable gaming. Both for how immersive the games are and for the portablity of the devices.
This article on previous portable game launches adds some useful context. Unfortunately it lacks the numbers to illustrate how the size of portable consoles has declined, although it rightly makes the point that large consoles with poor battery life have had a hard task in the market.
Given both the DS and the PSP appear large to my 2005 person’s eye, then surely they’ll both fail? Not necessarilly. Both have strong launch catalogs and genuinely innovative features like wireless multiplayer games, touch screens or media playback. There is also little to separate them on size and weight when you allow for a protective case to protect the PSP’s screen.
Both are relatively OK on weight compared with the most successful portable games console of years past, the original Gameboy. But perceptions change, and both are much heavier and larger than Nintendo’s more recent models: the Gameboy Advance and the Gameboy Pocket.
The weight details:
394g – original Nintendo Gameboy
275g – Nintendo DS
260g – PSP (excluding a case to protect the screen)
140g – Nintendo Gameboy Advance
If history repeats – in itself a controversial view – then both Nintendo and Sony should work on a size-reduced version 2, or face the risk that a more portable device, even with less compelling games, will limit their portable consoles appeal to ‘converted’ existing gamers that own a home games console.
To understand that demographic, read:
- Profile of the European Console Gaming Household
- Game Systems – Segment Audience with Targeted Packages to Build Momentum for the Next Generation

Last week saw the release of Valve Software’s Half Life 2 on the broadband distribution system called Steam as well as in store. While there has been lots of copy written reporting the day one teething problems, few people have pointed to the clear European consumer benefits from buying the game on Steam:
1. Simultaneous worldwide delivery. No waiting for a week after the US release for UK availability (Doom 3), or several months (Deus Ex Invisible War). This removes one reason for game piracy.
2. Good price. European consumers are able to purchase Half Life 2 in US dollars, which on current exchange rates makes the price extremely attractive. Of course, for European retailers this is a massive issue. No wonder game publishers Vivendi and developers Valve have reputedly had some active debates in the launch run up.
3. Extras and back catalogue options online There are silver and gold packages available, at premium prices, with additional Valve catalogue games and merchandise.
4. No CD is required in the drive to play Half Life 2, if it’s bought on Steam. However, a disk does need to be present if the same game is bought in retail. Steam purchase avoids a major niggle of modern game copy protection.
5. Game updates should be automatic. It’s too early to tell if this works smoothly, but it holds the promise of less painful messing about for consumers that just want to play a relaxing game, not spend their leisure hours fixing their PC.
However, there’s one major issue for European broadband users: bandwidth limits. The whole download is over 3Gb in size.
This is more than the monthly data limit included with a variety of entry level broadband tiers in Europe.
ISPs that want to push broadband gaming in their marketing materials must be careful to push unmetered packages.

Interesting symbol of cultural differences in multiplayer online games: The Final Fantasy XI sign in process includes this warning screen.

One of the major PC games releases this autumn is Half Life 2, the successor to a 1998 title that — with the free Counter Strike expansion — is widely played online even now. Alongside the game launch, developer Valve Software have been pioneering widespread use of an automated distribution system for game updates called “Steam”.
Goal is to ensure bug fixes and game enhances are “dripped down” to subscribers’ computers over time ahead of a planned release date using the always-on nature of broadband. It’s a similar approach to Microsoft Windows automatic update or many anti-virus programs.
Advantage for gamers: no struggle to find files, no irritation as popular downloads are slow to arrive, and updates install at the same time for everyone so no game version number incompatibilty unexpectedly preventing online play.
Advantage for developer: download servers are not suddenly stressed, everyone is on same version of software so technical support is easier.
Main implications are for broadband providers that impose data limits on customers. If a customer’s PC overshoots a data limit without the customer knowing due to automatic updating, and so incurs per Mb charges or connection drops down to dial-up speed — both approaches deployed in Europe — what will customers do? Complain to their broadband provider? Suffer without knowing what’s happened then churn later? Providers must educate customers, explain service limits, as well as the benefits of higher broadband access tiers.
For more on Steam see:
- Steam site, with feature list
- DSL reports – teething problems with system