Top 10 java mobile games to offer your girlfriend for Valentines
If you’re the gamer type and have a girlfriend, then congrats!(You are one of the few 
)Ahem… let’s not be mean; perhaps you are more like me: not a full-time gamer, but still enjoying the occasional digital fun. In this case, just like me, you might have ran into a tiny couples problem: your girlfriend gets jealous on your occasional gaming sessions.
There is a solution for this, though: get her into gaming. Not the hard-core PC-shooter all-nighter, off course – she’ll probably hate it, and if not then you’ll probably end up by hating her (girls tend to get a bit passionate about kicking your ass) 
. What most girls love though is the occasional 10-minutes small and cute game. That’s the reason Solitaire is so successful among middle-age office clerks, after all. And, since February 14th is approaching with quick sneaky steps, and along with it the Valentine gift shopping nightmare, here’s the idea:
Offer your girlfriend a couple of mobile phone games to match her black LG Chocolate or silver Razr. With a bit of luck, she might actually appreciate it, and she’ll even be more understanding about your gaming passion…
Together with the traditional box of chocolate, this selfish act might even get mistaken for a great Valentine’s present.
But what should you chose?
IMHO, girls tend to like colorful games with simple concepts and a fast learning curve. Something to be played while waiting for the bus or subway train, while commuting, standing in line at the local mall, etc. So we’ll focus on quick-to-play games, cute, exciting and simple to learn (she’ll probably get bored to death if you spend several hours just to explain her the concepts behind the characters of a complex RPG, such as Ancient Empires 2).
Without further ado, in alphabetic order, here they are: my top choices for the games your girlfriend might actually like:
Alchemy: another huge success among mobile gamers everywhere. I’ve played it on the PocketPC, my girlfriend plays it as a mobile game, while my friend’s girlfriend plays it on the PC. So I take that girls digg alchemy, or at least the idea of fast-paced colored action.- Bejeweled / Paris Hilton’s Diamond Quest – ok, I admit I have a weakness for this kind of game: pretty, sparkling graphics, various interesting puzzles, a very catchy concept and, in the case of Diamond Quest, Paris Hilton pictures…
- Tetris – the immortal. Nothing much to explain here, basically everyone already knows it. The difference between the dozens of clones is made by the cute(r) graphics and more appealing sounds. If you want a free version there’s always the open-source Jamtris(not a great one, though). Otherwise, Gameloft and some others(Global fun?) offer some neat implementations
- Zuma – a pretty good implementation of the so-famous PC game. Since I know girls who LOVE the PC version, I take it that they might enjoy the mobile one as well. Still, they need a decent phone, with a good joystick. My personal choice would be the Sony-Ericsson K715
- Diamond Rush – adventure puzzle, where you collect colorful diamonds and solve block-pushing puzzles. A great concept, with re-playable levels of increasing difficulty. Colorful, exciting, full of secrets and with a VERY short learning curve: there’s basically nothing to learn beforehand, new concepts are explained to you as you go. Since some players tend to be perfectionists, the game lets you replay previous levels in order to achieve higher scores(collect all the hidden diamonds, for instance).
- Lumines – colorful, great soundtrack, exciting and quick-to-learn. Might be a bit frustrating from time to time, because of the TOO FAST pace. Still, your girlfriend ought to like it
- Naval Battle – as a kid I’d play the pen-on-paper version. Others have certainly played the table game. Gameloft’s take on the concept is innovative and the implementation is great. The graphics are cool, the special moves make the players delight. A beautiful and easy to play game.
Yeti Sports series – You can’t get simpler than this: a Yeti that either hits penguins with a baseball, a golf bat or throws them like darts. The repetitive game-play might appeal to perfectionists but be boring to others.- The Sims/Miami Nights/New York Nights: we are grouping these together since they share the same idea: you manage a virtual avatar, and control the daily tasks he/she does; cute graphics, simple control, some general plot to follow: basically you have to earn money, make friends, comb your hair, shower and many others, in order to become rich and famous. Well.. fame takes some effort, but the road to it is fun nonetheless.
- Absolute Puzzle: featured here, on Mobicritic, this game has what it takes to be appreciated by your feminine counterpart: simple and intuitive gameplay, difficult and exciting puzzles. You can see from the number of comments received on our site, that girls are an important demographic of the Absolute Puzzle gamers
All these being said, there’s just one thing to remember: the roses and the box of chocolates. Happy Valentine!
Collin McRae Rally 2005
Warning! This game is not new, it’s not even great, but from time to time we like playing it and maybe you will too.
If the title of this game got your attention then my brief review won’t give away too many surprises. After all, the PC, Playstation and XBox games from the series have been vastly popular and you might already know what to expect. If not, all I can say is that there will.
5 things noobs should know about java mobile games
Hello everyone. I’m back, and this time with a little FAQ on the world of mobile phone gaming.
I guess this should have been the first article here on Mobicritic, our mobile games blogzine. Still, it’s never too late to get some things straight and talk of some more obscure things such as platforms, memory or resolutions.
No, this is not a lecture explaining how a mobile phone works. It’s just a noobie little intro on the world of mobile gaming and issues here, and these explanations might save a lot of trouble and even money.
- There are three major phone gaming platforms around there
The first would be the Java one – a great family of phones, with the largest marketshare. There are two main JAVA standards, MIDP 1 and 2. The first and oldest one not only doesn’t use the entire available screen of the phone (the status bar of the phone will always show on top of the game), but the JAVA application (your game, basically) will be very limited. That’s why no modern games will be found for the MIDP 1.0 platform, only for the MIDP 2.0 on. Basically, if your mobile phone has color games and some kind of Java logo, there are big chances it’s MIDP 2.0 compatible.
The second family would be the Symbian one; Symbian is an operating system that has been adopted by the high-end line of mobile devices of most producers(for a full list of the devices see here). It’s a lot more powerful as a gaming environment than the Java MIDP 2.0 one, so you’re likely to see a lot of great games here. The problem? The devices are quite expensive and therefore not very popular. It’s also the reason why you haven’t yet read any Symbian game review on our site. But it’s going to change in the near future. Promise.
The third major mobile phone platform is the Smartphone one; namely mobile phones that are also PDA and run the Windows Mobile OS. Being a Windows platform makes the games easier to develop and not meeting the same limitations as the Java ones. In other words… interesting games, more similar to the PC ones than the Java ones…; same as for Symbian, we’re preparing to launch a review section dedicated to it. These being said, in the following paragraphs we’ll be talking about the JAVA games, since they are the most popular ones and the ones we’ve been talking on Mobicritic so far. Plus, these are the ones with most issues: - The Phone Model matters.
I want to clear things up a bit; although Java was supposed to be a Write Once, Run Anywhere platform, it isn’t! It’s just another programming language, and its implementation on various handsets varies from one to another. Never believe that a game running on one mobile phone will run on another, unless it’s EXACTLY THE SAME MODEL.
For instance: Basil owns a SE(Sony-Ericsson) K700, Alex a SE v630i, Tara might have a Nokia . If you own a SE T610 or maybe a Nokia 2650, most games will not be compatible and you’ll have to download the version for your phone model. - The game CHANGES with the model
Let’s say you read a mobile game review written by Basil that makes you want to buy and download the game. The review said that the graphics were really cool, with exciting music and some amazing explosion effects, 20 stages, three characters to chose from, etc… Pretty cool, and it really is; but remember: that’s true for the K700 owner; it might not be true for your phone model. Your game version might be a stripped-down one, with crappy music, no explosion effects and only 10 levels.
Why? Because of the phone limitations; just as a PC version for Need for Speed isn’t the same as an XBOX one, a SE K750 version will certainly be different than a Nokia N80 version. So never blame the reviewer if the game doesn’t look like in the screenshots. Get a better gaming-ready mobile phone instead - The RESOLUTION matters
Most last-generation handsets have a resolution of 176×220; it’s the most common, and the minimum recommended one to enjoy a mobile game. If you bought a mobile phone just for the GSM/CDMA capabilities, then it probably won’t bother you. Still, if you discovered that you enjoy spending quite a bit of time playing games with it, here’s the tip: for resolutions below 176×220 you’ll only find crappy games. The good ones start at at least this one. - The Device characteristics.
Here is some boring extra info that might help you chose your phone wisely:
* The available global memory matters, as it gives a limitation on the number of games you may install on your phone.
* The Java implementation matters – on some phones it asks java applications to have at most 64 KB, 128 KB or 150 KB. Give that most cool games nowadays have around 300 KB, this is a serious limitation. Not to mention “monsters” like V-rally or Superman, with over 500k(a huge number, if you remember the old times when your PC’s RAM was of 640K…
)?
Other features you should be aware of when buying your mobile phone?
* Does it have Bluetooth? If it does, does it allow Java applications to access it? Not a vital feature, but still important, as more and more games start to add multiplayer capabilities via Bluetooth (take a peek at Naval Commander, for instance).
* Does it allow easy installation? You don’t want to buy a mobile phone that knows Java games but won’t let you to install any, do you? (I know at least a couple of Samsung phones out there that will drive you mad)
* What about the controls? Just like the console joystick, the game controls can change the whole gaming experience. In the case of mobile phones, they may completely destroy a game: if your keyboard has buttons too small, too close or too hard, your fingers will get numb before you end the first level of your favorite game. If the phone has a sort-of-joystick(for instance the navigation buttons in SE v630i), check it out closely: is it easy to handle? Are the direction keys nice to touch?(in this case, they aren’t – I’d recommend buying a SE K750 instead – same games, better controls). You;d be surprised of the number of great games that can’t be played on some phones, because of the crappy keyboard.
One final observation (actually the 2+3 roundup): if you found a great game for your phone and want to share it (assuming you can – since most commercial ones won’t allow you to) with your buddy who owns the same brand but a different model, then you have 80% chances that it won’t work, and 90% chances that if it does it’ll be buggy. Be advised, and not at all surprised when it eventually happens…
To sum it up, if you’re planning to go mobile in terms of games, just open your eyes when buying your phone, or you risk being stuck to lame oldies that nobody plays anymore . Remember! Phone design isn’t everything; mobile gaming has its own extra requirements – ergonomics, performances, software and more…
Astro Pop, great mobile fun
You’ve never played Astro Pop? OMG! Where have you been living?
Jokes aside now, I didn’t know about this game either, until I stumbled upon its mobile version. After playing with it a bit(and felling in-love with the simple yet exciting gameplay), I made a small Google query and.. voilà..! To my not-so-big surprise, I learned that the game has always been a major hit, be it as an online flash version, PC game or console one.
The bitter-sweet pleasure of being digged
Nope, this is not another post of the “I’ve been digged” series. Well, it is, kinda, but it’s also a public apology. Mine, Mobicritic’s administrator. Ours, Mobicritic’s editors.
Just like any other blogger, ever since starting Mobicritic.com two months ago, I dreamt of getting Digged. Tens of thousands of people running into our site at once and enjoying the extremely cool mobile games reviews over here.
Yesterday my dream came true. One passionate reader bookmarked us, and hundreds of others loved us. One of Mobicritic’s latest articles, the one about the top 5 games that you could play over and over again got BIG and made the first page of Digg.
I was looking, my eyes filled with joy and a stupid smile on the lips, as swarms of visitors barged right in. The online visitors counter kept growing and growing: 40, 60, 80 simultaneous connections.
Then hell started to break loose, as more people around the globe read the Digg news. And the stupid smile became a rictus: the website went slower and slower, then it died.
Our hosting is a shared hosting environment, over at Dreamhost. It should work. But it didn’t, and that’s my fault: I hadn’t tested that the wp-cache plugin that allegedly protects wordpress-powered websites from crashing works. It didn’t.
Sorry to all of you great readers, who came here yesterday only to find an empty page. Sorry to all of you who came all the way here only to find a static snapshot of a digg mirror. I did my best trying to deal with this unforeseeable situation. And for all the inconvenients I apologize.
Come back, bookmark this mobile review e-zine/blog or, even better, subscribe to it. It’s free, it’s written by passionate bloggers and gamers, and provides you with the best insights on the industry news, what games to play on the go, what software to install on your mobile phone, smartphone or handheld.
Once again, we are sorry. Please forgive us.
PS. I’m writing this almost 12 hours later, 11 Dreamhost support emails, one night of staying awake and plenty of coffees later. The problems generated by the bad configuration of the system should have been fixed by now and everything should work fine. Hopefully. If you still meet some 503 blank pages while browsing the site, that’s probably Dreamhost’s fault; just refresh the browser window and it should work. It you run into other problems, please give us a message: office at mobicritic dot com
.
[tags]mobicritic, mobile game review, cell phone game, digg effect, digg[/tags]
Top 50 mobile game downloads in the UK
The ELSPA website (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) provides a monthly top of the most downloaded mobile games in the UK, thus being a pretty accurate java mobile gaming market monitor. Once in a while(that’s once a year, mind you!) they also compile a Top 50 list of mobile games downloads.
Top 5 mobile games to play on a desert island (or a really long business trip)
Top 5 Long-Playing Mobile Games
Imagine some weird deity that takes you hostage on a desert island, for eternity. He/She gives you food, water, electricity, and five games of your choice to play on your mobile Java phone. Or, in case this kind of scenario is too absurd for your, just pick 5 games of your choice to play during your 10-days Bahamas holiday and the long trip by plane to it. Would you pick adventure games? What about puzzles? Or perhaps arcades? You’ve got it: my point here is: what would the 5 mobile java games be to give you maximum fun, maximum time of gameplay and the least boredom?
Read the rest of this entry »
TellMe, the voice-controlled java search app
Via techmeme we get to a Techcrunch article about a very promising startup: TellMe.
TellMe is a mobile local search service, much like Google Local Search. The key differentiating factor is that, unlike the very boring and annoying typing text messages or search queries, TellMe goes Java Mobile, and it does it reinventing the field: IT’S VOICE SEARCH, BABY!
Battlestar Galactica
Although I like SF books and films (please, someone, I’d really want to play a Dune mobile game, please ), I never managed to watch a full episode of Battlestar Galactica, so I failed to become a fan (as plenty of my friends are). That’s probably one of the reasons I wasn’t impressed by the mobile game, either.
The game is a decent shooter. Decent, like in a little above the average, but still not breathtaking..
The really good graphics save it, they are probably this game’s best part, giving it at least a tiny feeling neighboring excitement and saving it from being ordinary. Well… don’t whip me; it’s just my humble opinion.
Deal or No Deal
New! Free download of Deal or No Deal mobile game.
This afternoon I first downloaded, installed and played the famous “Deal or no Deal” mobile game. And, man, was I sorry for the time spent…
I’ve never seen the so-much acclaimed homonymous TV Show, but I’ve read about it. It looks like an exciting show, with people turning down banker’s offers and unveiling boxes, only to hope that the box they carry will make them rich; all of this combined with trivia questions to test their IQ and knowledge.
Well.. this shouldn’t be very difficult to translate into a game. And, unfortunately, it isn’t.
Email
We bring you reviews of the best games and software for your mobile device: java games for your phone or games for your PSP.