2011手机游戏领域发展5大趋势编辑本段回目录
游戏邦注：本文作者为Jon Jordan，文章通过分析E3 2011大会，总结手机游戏领域发展5大趋势。
E3 from gogaminggiant.com
过去9年，E3大会更多是以盛大展会呈现，但今年（游戏邦注：即电子娱乐展）恰逢苹果开发者大会，因此变得格外引人注目。
短短几个小时足以让我们发现行业发展趋势：开发商应转投可下载内容领域；手机游戏异军突起；行业正急速发生变化。这些都在E3 2011展露无遗。
1. 任天堂的费舍尔价格策略
智能手机和平板电脑领域如何影响硬核游戏？最明显的例子要数任天堂宣布推出掌机its Wii U；而最引人瞩目的当属其包罗万象的奇特平板电脑控制器。
任天堂决定推出植入各种复杂手柄控制按钮的6英寸屏幕（游戏邦注：加速器恐难以承受，这个尺寸只会让产品更糟）新产品，鉴于Wii的巨大成功主要得益于其便于操作的动作控制器，这说明任天堂开始意识到平板电脑兴起所带来的威胁。
然而，它的费舍尔价格策略（不论是就控制器尺寸，还是就创建质量而言），及它对Will U（如作为独立便携式设备）掌机的依赖都表明任天堂长盛不衰的掌机产品开始阻碍其认清新业务现实，更别提充分利用该机会。
此外，公司拒绝涉足手机游戏领域的决定如今显得极不明智，相信公司股东很快会意识到这点。
2. Barnes & Noble瞄准Android缝隙市场
虽然认为Android生态系统缺乏竞争的观点有待商讨，但Barnes & Noble的Nook Color似乎开始成为某些开发商的主要收入来源。
这很有趣，因为Nook Color作为设备销量并不大（游戏邦注：最多几百万部），虽然上月Barnes & Noble宣布其新开张商店应用下载量已突破100万次，但这对如今的应用商店来说并不是大数目。
然而，融入信赖来源（主要用于策划内容），及有文化玩家愿意为高质量内容掏钱的实况使得开发商获得可观营收，至少针对那些致力字谜游戏和更有深度游戏内容的小型开发商而言。而大型发行商也开始意识到这一点。
谷歌正是顺应该趋势。Android帮助各大公司（游戏邦注：包括运营商、零售商和OEM公司）通过合适途径将现有用户引入手机、平板电脑和电子书领域。
接下来就轮到亚马逊大显身手，让大众和开发商们为之瞠目。
3. 技术是王道
参加为期一周的Qualcomm Uplinq开发者展览会，我们得以在E3 Nvidia 会议室目睹顶级手机图像。
当然，通过Qualcomm Desert Winds的技术演示型游戏我可以发现许多赫然出现于Nvidia Tegra 2平台的作品更多展示技术，而非游戏玩法。
这对运作于Tegra 3四核和双核处理器芯片（游戏邦注：这些芯片今年有望植入各种平板电脑）的软件来说更是如此。
nvidia tegra3 from ifanr.com
这依旧是就Capcom的演示版《失落的星球2》而言，更别提特效灯光、程序贴图以及演示版《Unreal Engine 3》，你只能猜想Fishlabs、Polarbit、Trendy Entertainment和Gameloft之类的公司将如何应对这个情形，同时假设Nvidia和OEM制造商能够解决电池寿命问题。
4. 交叉推广
这并非复杂科学，但随着很多应用都开始瞄准线上领域，跨平台问题就演变成如何将设备链接至通用后台服务器，面向玩家交叉推广（游戏邦注：特别是手机领域的虚拟商品和货币交易）成为传统游戏发行商目前拥有的最大机会。
然而出乎意料的是，目前的发展步伐十分缓慢。EA、迪斯尼和南梦宫万代之类的公司纷纷投资该领域，但Capcom新成立的手机和社交游戏工作室Beeline完全独立于其硬核游戏业务之外。动视、任天堂和THQ依旧对手机/掌上领域持熟视无睹。
5. 游戏云服务OnLive
EA展台最引人注目的是，其掌机版《FIFA》和《Madden》的推出恰逢iPad 2问世（游戏邦注：或者说iPhone 4推出恰逢《模拟人生3》发行），显然有眼见的发行商都会将手机平台视作增加营收的机会。
纯粹就展会曝光而言，EA和南梦宫万代成绩最显著，虽然索尼爱立信和T-Mobile的露面推动行业发展势头，而这多年来都是依靠诺基亚和Gizmondo之类的公司的力量。
然而，在整场盛会脱颖而出的展台当属游戏云服务初创公司OnLive，其支持的PC游戏能够通过wi-fi运作于iPad（或其他对应平板电脑设备）。
Onlive from app100.net
当然这还处在测试阶段，任何网络滞后都会带来明显的视频播放效果弱化，但假设网络延伸至美国之外，其他供应商纷纷瞄准定价策略，游戏云服务不仅有望削弱掌机领域，还可能分割大块应用商店（游戏邦注：这里我们指的主要是苹果App Store业务）业务。
难怪HTC对OnLive情有独钟。我们只是猜想谷歌应该不会如此迅速，抢在苹果之前收购该公司。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）
The five key mobile game industry trends we saw at E3 2011
by Jon Jordan
Having spent the past nine years taking in the whole dog, pony and booth babe experience, this year’s clash between E3 and Apple’s WWDC developer event reduced our involvement to a mere day encounter.
Even those brief hours were enough to break out some trends, for under pressure from the move to downloadable content and the rising significance of mobile games, the industry is changing fast – something certainly reflected at E3 2011.
1. Nintendo gets all Fisher Price
The most obvious example of how the smartphone and tablet sector is impacting core games was seen in Nintendo’s announcement of its Wii U console; notably for its bizarre everything-and-the-kitchen-sink tablet controller.
Given the massive success of the Wii was mainly due to its anyone-can-play motion controllers, Nintendo’s decision to create something new that contains complex, multiple joypad buttons plus a 6-inch screen (accelerometer not withstanding: given the unit’s size, it only makes things worse), demonstrates how scared it is about the rise of tablets.
However, its Fisher Price-approach to the problem, both in terms of the controller’s size and build quality, and its inability to operate without access to the Will U console (i.e. as a standalone, portable device), suggests Nintendo’s long home console legacy is stopping it understanding the new business reality, let alone making the most of the opportunity.
Combined with this, the company’s continual decision to refrain from developing mobile games makes it seem increasingly insane – something its shareholders will no doubt soon be pointing out.
2. Barnes & Noble proves Android niche
It could be argued there’s not much competition in the Android ecosystem, nevertheless it seems that Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color is becoming a significant revenue source for certain developers.
This is especially interesting because as a device, Nook Color hasn’t sold that many units (a couple of million at most), while Barnes & Noble announced last month it had done one million downloads from the newly opened store – again, not a large number from an app store these days.
Yet, the combination of a trusted source, which heavily curates the available content, and a literate audience happy to spend money on quality content is paying off, at least for some of the smaller developers who focus on word puzzles and more thoughtful games. And the bigger publishers are picking up on this too.
Which from Google’s point of view is exactly as it should be. Android is designed for companies – operators, retailers, OEMs – to use in whatever way they see fit to extend their existing audiences into the mobile, tablet and tablet/e-reader space.
Next up, surely it will be Amazon’s turn to impress us, and the development community.
3. And the beat goes on
Having spent a week in the arms of Qualcomm at its Uplinq developer show, it was good to see the other side of cutting edge mobile graphics in Nvidia’s meeting room at E3.
Of course, as with Qualcomm’s Desert Winds tech-demo-come-game, many of the titles highlighted on Nvidia’s Tegra 2 platform (running on Motorola Xooms) are more technology peacocks than gameplay innovators.
This was even moreso when it came to software running the early Tegra 3 quad-CPU, dual-GPU chipsets that are expected to be available in various tablets in the autumn.
Still, looking at Capcom’s Lost Planet 2 demo, not to mention the specific lighting, procedural texturing (using Allegorithm’s Substance smarts), and Unreal Engine 3 demos, you can only wonder what the likes of Fishlabs, Polarbit, Trendy Entertainment and Gameloft are going to be doing with this situation, always assuming Nvidia and the OEMs can sort out the ongoing battery life issue.
4. Mobile opportunity or threat?
It’s not rocket science, but as everything gradually moves online, and cross-platform becomes partly an issue of hooking into generic backend servers, the opportunity for traditional games publishers to cross-sell to their large embedded audiences – especially when it comes to virtual goods and currencies via mobile – is becoming their biggest, simplest opportunity.
Still, it’s surprising how slowly the wheels are turning. Companies such as EA, Disney, Namco Bandai are investing in the area, but Capcom’s new Beeline mobile and social company is a separation play from its core games operations, while the likes of Activision, Nintendo and THQ seem positively antagonistic to mobile/portable gaming.
5. How to disrupt tablet disruption
Most notable on the EA stand, where versions of FIFA and Madden for consoles and 3DS sat alongside iPad 2 releases (or iPhone 4 in the case of The Sims 3 expansions), it’s clear the most forward-looking publishers are embracing mobile as an opportunity to grow their core profitability.
In terms of pure showfloor exposure, EA and Namco Bandai were the best, while Sony Ericsson and T-Mobile’s presence continued the momentum from the industry that’s come over the years (if sporadically) from the likes of Nokia and Gizmondo (remember them?).
Yet, the stand that had the potential to derail the entire dog and pony show remains game streaming start up OnLive, which was demonstrating how its supported PC games can run over wi-fi on iPad (or any other equivalent tablet device).
Sure, it’s still in beta, and any network lag resulted in obvious video degradation, but assuming the network scales external to the US, and other vendors arise to dive down pricing, streaming games services not only have the potential to chip away at the console industry but to take a big chunk out of the app store business too, by which we still mean Apple’s App Store business.
It’s no wonder HTC is all over OnLive. We can only wonder if Google won’t get in there quick and acquire, before Apple does.（Source：pocketgamer）
