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While many were flocking to the MWC to get a glimpse of the latest consumer tech, much of the big news was around the technologies driving the networks and infrastructure.  With mobile devices, and in particular web-enabled smartphones, being adopted at a massive rate (a spotlight of the show was the emerging smartphone market in India), smartphones are becoming more established as a primary route for accessing content.  The mobile industry is ready and hungry to adopt new network technologies that will be able to supply the greater speed and bandwidth that is already in demand.

The next generation of mobile communication standards is referred to as 4G.  This represents a step up in the amount of data bandwidth possible via the mobile networks.  But the step to provide this service to users is not simple, there are different ways that the technology can be implemented (4G is a classification based on a data transfer rate, it does not specify the means of providing it), and there are many network operators in competition.  Mobile networks, radio, WiFi and other kinds of wireless networks all use radio transmission, so now there is a limit to the available frequency bands that can be used to transmit information – so any new standards brought in by operators have to find a way to fit in to what is available.

LTE, the primary technology that will be driving future 4G networks, has already been deployed in some places for several years – Sweden and Norway have had LTE networks since 2009, as has the USA, but these are not yet considered to be performing at 4G level.  There were a number of announcements at the conference around 4G and LTE, such as the arrival of the first LTE networks to the UK, and demonstrations showcasing new ‘small-cell’ base stations.  These smaller transmitters mean that transmitter can be more easily installed to allow greater coverage by placing them closer to where people are going to be.  It will still be some time before things settle down, but an infrastructure for 4G networks is starting to look like a reality.

Whilst the mobile networks are struggling to roll out the new technology, another approach is taking hold.  The aim is to increase bandwidth available to smartphone users by seamlessly connecting to WiFi hotspots when they are available.   The idea is likened to cellular ‘roaming’.  WiFi is typically very short range, but can offer greatly higher data bandwidth than 3G or even 4G networks. The service is intended to work in densely populated areas where there are many overlapping hotspots.  Cisco Systems have announced major commitments to this approach.

Smartphones have taken hold extremely quickly, with demand for data escalating.  In addition to downloading apps and accessing the internet, streaming media and cloud-based computing are becoming more and more in demand.  The demand for high-bandwidth mobile internet has already exceeded what today’s networks can offer, but WiFi roaming and 4G services are now not far off.  We can see a glimpse of a future where there is much less destination between PCs, smartphones and tablets – Microsoft’s Windows 8 is designed for tablet and PC (rather than having customised versions for each) and Google has already released a laptop that runs on Android, previously only used on mobile devices.  Cloud-based services allow the exciting possibility of bringing the power of a desktop PC to a mobile device, an exciting prospect for cloud gaming (see our article on cloud gaming here).  Cloud storage and computing mean that mobile computer no longer needs to be a compromise, with home and business users able to access their documents, media and applications wherever they are.

An always connected world will bring many more day-to-day services to your smartphones and mobile devices, and multi-channel solutions that provide a seamless experience across many devices will become more important info the future.

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Here at Scribble, we think games are great.  And of course, one of the things that makes being involved in the smartphone industry fun and exciting is that each of our fancy mobile smartphones is not only internet ready and full of useful tech, but they are also pretty spiffy handheld gaming devices that would give our childhood gaming systems a thrashing!

Smartphones, and in particular the iTunes app store, blew open a whole new market for small-time developers in a gaming industry where most games take millions to develop – harking back to the good old days of bedroom programmers and unique and interesting game concepts.

But games are not just great for fun, they are a great way for brands to promote their products and services.  Games rate highly in terms of engagement for apps: people play games for longer at a time than any other type of app – this is a great opportunity for you to get your message across.

Check out some great stats on mobile gaming put together by Geekaphone.

Today, we would like to focus on a particular category of games: the quick-fire arcade game.  This is our favourite way to play : the kind of simple game you can pick up and play for a minute, or even less.  The key to these kind of games is that they are instantly satisfying, and addictive, enticing you to keep coming back.  But more than just being great fun, there are many reasons that this is a great kind of game to make.

For first time developers, this kind of game makes particular sense.  The classic quick arcade game does not require a large amount of asset generation: rather than spanning multiple ‘levels’ or ‘stages’, quick fire arcade games often take place in one area – perhaps with the possibility of the player getting slightly further each time, or just bettering a high score.  The gameplay is usually simple and repetitive, often involving quick reactions.  This type of game means that the developer does not need to create large amounts of assets, or code governing gameplay.  Instead, they can focus on refining the small number of elements involved in the game.  It also makes it easier for the developer to test and change parts of the game, because there isn’t a huge knock-on effect to other parts of the game that is a risk in larger more complex games.

The key, then, is to make the gameplay simple and repetitive, but still incorporate some way of advancing.  These kind of games often involve trying to beat high scores, getting a little better each time.  A clever mechanic is to incorporate achievements or items which once reached allow the player to get further or get a higher score.  This means that while the game is essentially the same, there is still an incentive for the player to keep coming back.

The ‘feel’ is essential – the playing experience can be very short, but the player must still feel satisfied and want to come back.  This makes the use of sound and graphics very important – but a limited scope means that the developer is more free to refine the little details.

In-app purchases are common in this area – the game will often present you a choice: earn coins to buy items which give you a better chance of beating your highscore… or just buy the items with money and skip the hard work.  If the game has got you hooked in it’s addictive grasp, these little in-app-payments can be very hard to resist sometimes.

The repetitive nature of these kind of games makes them a great opportunity for  getting a brand message across.  If the formula is right, a well designed mini-game can be a perfect way for a brand to get their message out.

We’ve done some painstaking research in this area…. But don’t leave all the hard work up to us, find out for yourself.  Scribble have put together a beautiful list of fiercely fun and addictive arcade games – and the beauty is you only need a few seconds to enjoy these titles, but be warned , you will become hooked!!

There are of course many other games in this area, but we’ve picked out some total classics which are also our favourites.  These are the games that we just keep coming back to no matter how many times we play them!  Click on any of the image banners above to find out more about these fantastically addictive games and  see if you can figure out the perfect ingredients to chucking together the perfect addictive arcade game…  but you’ll have to put the game down at some point if you want to get round to making your own and reaping the rewards!

Here at Scribble, we love augmented reality.  Augmented reality is being marked by many as a key area to watch in 2012, and with more and more exciting examples of the technology are coming onto the market each day, we cannot disagree.  So we thought it would be a good idea to take stock of things that are going on in the field.

There are a number of different categories that augmented reality apps so far fall into, we take a look at a few which promise exciting things in the coming year…

3D Augmented Reality Games

These games allow the user to use their device to look around and shoot or interact with 3D objects superimposed onto the real world via the device’s camera.  The systems in these games are pretty simple in terms of the broad vision of augmented reality, they do little to interpret the world around us, the simulated 3D objects thus do not interact or correspond to objects in the real world, but the direction the device is facing is tracked, giving the impression that objects are floating in 3D space around the user.  Despite the simplicity, however, there have been a huge number of games released, not just on smartphones, but handheld consoles such as the Nintentdo 3DS and forthcoming Playstation VITA (check out this amazing video where the user places multiple cards onto the table to build a virtual football stadium!!).  In the future, augmented reality games will be able to interpet the 3D space around us, such as in Ball Invasion, a game that employs technology created by NASA!  This is still a simple demonstration, but it shows what exciting possibilities lie ahead.

Image Comprehension

This concept is at the core of augmented reality: the ability of the software to comprehend what it is looking at and then perform some relevant task.  Image interpretation is one of the big challenges in computing, but we are beginning to see some tantalising prospects of what this could bring us.  SREngine is an app that uses image recognition to identify objects and scenes – the demo shows the app recognising an office building and items on a menu.  WordLens is another innovative concept, this time using augmented reality to perform translation: point your device at some text on a sign or product packaging, and WordLens will replace the text in the image with it’s translation into French or Spanish right before your eyes!  TAT Augmented ID uses facial recognition to create a visual tag-cloud of a person’s interests floating around their head.

GeoLocation

This is likely to become the most widespread use of augmented reality: hold up your phone camera to view information about your surroundings.  Big players are moving into this field – Layar is growing in popularity and Microsoft’s Bing are invested in the technology.  Now LG is including an Wikitude, an augmented reality browser, on the LG Optimus.  Adoption by handset makers is a significant step on the path towards augmented reality becoming an integral part of the technology we use.  It may still be a long way off, but companies such as Google and Nokia are already looking at ways that indoor environments could be mapped to allow the same kind of navigational tools that we now take for granted with services such as Google Maps.

Many of these technologies are still in their infancy.  But improvements technology and infrastructure will help bring augmented reality to fruition.  There are countless startups coming out with innovative new uses and examples of the technology, and we will see more of this as the technology matures.  The presence of major players and the first signs of widespread adoption from handset manufacturers is a clear indicator that the technology will be able to move forward and fulfil many of these exciting promises…. hopefully some of them in 2012!

This week at Scribble, we thought we would try out the latest service to jump into the Cloud.  Eager to find out for ourselves, we signed up to OnLive, the first commercial ‘cloud-gaming’ service.  This new technology offers very exciting prospects, and hints at a future where mobile devices could bring the power of a high-end PC or console right into your hands.

OnLive allows users to play a range of PC and Xbox360 titles via a streaming service.  As with other cloud-based and streaming services, there are several appealing factors:  no installation or hard disk space required, there is immediate access to a wide variety of titles, and your settings and profile are stored online meaning you can connect on any computer and continue your experience.

With cloud gaming, however, there is another significant advantage:  since the graphics are rendered on the server and streamed to your PC, you don’t need powerful processor, graphics card or games console.  The only requirement is a consistent Internet connection with decent bandwidth.  Of course, this part is key.  When OnLive was announced, I was sceptical, as were many critics.  The main reason for scepticism is based on the fact that games must respond instantly to user input: can an internet connection really respond and get the rendered image back to your screen quickly enough?

OnLive recommends using a wired connection to connect to the internet, and tests your connection before letting you connect.  To my surprise, I found my modest ADSL connection yielded an enjoyable experience, even over WIFI.  Keeping an eye on the data transfer rate, around 700kbps gave a good picture quality, and even 300kbps was pretty good.  The main surprise was the responsiveness – I didn’t detect any noticeable delay except for when playing on WIFI when there would be occasional delays and drops in responsiveness.

All the games have their graphics settings cranked up to the max: at it’s best the games look stunning; when the streaming performance drops, the picture degrades in the same way that streaming video does on YouTube or iPlayer, but the framerate does not drop.  The visual performance may not be up to the standards of seasoned gamers, but I gave up trying to stay up to date with expensive graphics cards and games consoles long ago.  Even when I was a frequent PC games player, my computer was rarely powerful enough to play the latest games with the best graphics.  So in that respect, OnLive gives me better performance than I ever had.  What’s more, now having just one laptop that I use for work, I don’t feel like dedicating half of my hard disk space to the hefty 10GB+ installations that many games now require.

OnLive, then, offers a great casual gaming platform – I can quickly jump in and out of games with little hassle, and £7 a month gets you a pretty substantial bundle of games to play, with the option to buy or rent other titles.  The games library is far from comprehensive, but there are plenty of top titles to choose from, and the collection will only continue to grow.  It is a great solution for people who, like me, only use a laptop, often having lesser graphics capabilities.

The future of Cloud-Gaming?  Better internet connections will make this a viable option for more people, and the lack of need for expensive consoles or hardware make the price attractive.  OnLive will soon be joined by competitors, Microsoft to be the first, so this is unlikely to be a fad, and a bit of healthy competition is always a good thing.  Streaming games, like movies, requires a LOT of data transfer, service providers will need to start offering true cap-less internet packages if these kind of services are to become mainstream.

But overcoming some minor obstacles, who knows?  With 4G mobile networks on the horizon, maybe we could be playing top-end games on our tablets and smartphones!  A few years ago people would not have believed the capabilities of today’s mobile devices would be possible, and no one predicted the role mobile devices would come to play in our lives, so here at Scribble, we know that when it comes to mobile devices, the sky is the limit.