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Blister Entertainment and Boost Mobile Offer the First Location Based Games in the U.S.
Boost Mobile has partnered with Blister Entertainment to offer the first two location based games offered nationwide on a commercial basis in the United States. Swordfish and Torpedo Bay transform the phone into a window into a new virtual world.
The Technology Suits issued a call earlier this year for more innovation in the location based gaming arena, and Blister has answered the call first for the United States. Several of us here also know the Blister team quite well and are happy to see their progress. Now a little about the games:
The games are now available to Boost customers for a monthly subscription of $5.99 for the first month and $2.99 for each additional month.
Swordfish starts by using the phone’s GPS technology to find schools of virtual fish around the player. Players begin by casting for fish and may need to move between 25 yards to approximately 100 yards to find the closest fish, while adjusting line length. According to the screenshots, the game uses data from NAVTEQ and offers a map of the area showing the fish to help in searching. After having played various beta versions of this game, we can assure you that this is a great simple game that is sure to have you handing your phone to your friends to see if they can beat your score.
Torpedo Bay places the user in middle of a naval battle with health and extra ammo located around the player. The player can use the phone’s location technology (GPS for Boost) to locate the closest health and ammo. The game then becomes a strategy game of firing (using “< ” and “>” to rotate your weapons) at your enemies while trying to resupply your battleship. Torpedo Bay again delivers on providing a truly unique experience to mobile gamers.
Swordfish, Torpedo Bay and Undercover 2: Merc Wars (released in Europe) show that the developers, carriers and consumers are finally beginning to open up to the opportunities of location based games. These recent releases also demonstrate how location based gaming crosses game genres and begin take mobile gaming in a direction that really uses the uniqueness of cellphones.
just check this article about the latest gaming scenario related to telephony in US
[…] While the market is growing, the pieces of the industry are beginning to shift. The PC game market will decrease from $771 million in 2004 to $655 million in 2009, and that is with the strong support from Latin America which is still seeing moderate growth. Console mobiles are showing substantial growth prior to the next-gen fixed console launch and will continue to remain strong. Outside of the more standard game market, mobile games on cellphones will see significant growth thanks to new innovations, with the U.S. along growing from $281 million in 2004 to $2.1 billion in 2009. […]