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It's common knowledge that long gone are the days when a phone was used for only making calls but, still in its infancy, who could foresee that the mp3 player would no longer be used to just play mp3s? Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch are the latest offenders in not doing what is said on the tin. Instead they battle out Java (king of the mobile world) with their touch screen games, their intentions being to keep the gaming consumers' cash to themselves. The story so far reads that the Touch is taking over!
No doubt the touch screen and touch sensitive applications are the mobile equivalent of the Wii, but are they hazardous to the Java game? The Java games, of course, first brought to our attention that mobile games could be taken seriously. No longer are games one worded affairs: golf, bowls, billiards! And although, yes, we did enjoy playing pensioner sporting games, brand names like Call of Duty really sparked our imaginations.
Many touch screen games become simply 'Wiiful' , consistently milking the novelty cow. This potential hazard is that the proverbial 'novelty cow' may kill off the Java game. We know, that's pretty much the story of every Kung Fu movie ever; apprentice defeating the master. Other touch screen games can really buck the trend and reveal themselves to be real gems, truly utilising the technology available to them.
We must take into account Sims 3; this would be woefully hard to operate without a touch screen facility (though not impossible, as the Java version shows). Still, imagine if all your Sims only ever ate dessert because it was the easiest thing to select! There are, however, other games that needlessly utilise touch screen facilities and, whilst we don't wish to name and shame (we're fairly assured you can work out that Touch Pets is not the greatest name for a franchise), tosh sells!
If we can take you back to 1996 and post Southgate, the Tamagotchi barely even got the chance to take to the shelves, as they were in our palms, pockets and key chains within moments. Upon reflection, the Tamagotchi could perform about three tasks: eat, sleep and die. But it was the execution that had us hooked for weeks on end. The over abundance of pet games shows we still have a love for tosh, and the touch screen facilitates this brilliantly. Much like the reality TV boom and the public's complaint of poor television; they'll only stop making it, when we stop watching it. So as long as we're entertained by a dog pooping over our Ipods, it is going to keep on happening.