It has been a long time coming but mobile games are really taking off and overtaking home video game consoles.
Millions of people are addicted to Candy Crush, Flappy Bird, Outwitters, Angry Birds, Clash of Clans and many other games that overtake our psyche.
Playing these app games can usually just be for fun or to make the time go by faster while waiting in a line.
Millions of people with a cellphone or tablet continue to download multiple games from the app store.
Mobile games don’t have the same graphic interface and sound system as the console games, but they’re more readily available to access than a home console. Even the cost of buying a mobile game is significantly lower than purchasing a $60 game for a home console. It would be hard to bring a PlayStation Four or Xbox One everywhere and it would just be a hassle.
When I was growing up, the coolest games to play weren’t just on hand held consoles like Sega Game Gear or Game Boy, it was also on my Texas Instruments calculator.
Snake consists of a pixilated reptile that grows in size while gliding through tiny mazes. At the time, it was great to play.
In 2007, Apple changed the mobile game field with third party games. Since then, it has started a revolution. Major companies like Disney, Viacom, USA Network and Marvel Entertainment all offer mobile games.
Believe it or not, the companies marketing and selling these addictive games are making tons of money. It’s not just from the initial purchase, but from consumers wanting to add more weapons, costumes and lives to the already purchased game. The maker of Candy Crush Saga, King, even has plans to debut more additions to the game on the stock market this year. Candy Crush Saga was the most downloaded free game of 2013 and the year’s top-revenue grossing app. King has a revenue of more than $2 billion, by comparison, Zynga the maker of FarmVille had a gross revenue of $900 million.
One of the the biggest recent fallouts from a game was Flappy Bird. It has since been pulled from the mobile app store. It was one of the most downloaded games and it’s popularity continued to soar. Creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen couldn’t handle the criticism. He was accused of rip-art, plagiarism and creating online bots to increase downloads and fake reviews. Critics even accused the game of having a striking resemblance to Super Mario Brothers. Nguyen denied allegations but removed the game anyway.
Whatever affect mobile games have on students is the same as a game console at home. Maturity is the biggest hurdle in getting students to understand fact from fiction with whatever violent and obscene game the child plays.
It’s also up to the parents to strictly enforce discipline and to make sure they’re doing their homework and chores. Parents can’t be around their children 24/7, but parents are the ones that purchase cellphones and tablets for their children, which gives children access to downloadable games.
Whatever the future holds for games, it’ll remain mobile in some form or another. The graphics and sound system will improve drastically and the way people interact with mobile games will change.