Jason Preston
Writing

Bomberman goes mobile, why the iPhone could easily dominate mobile gaming

Jason Preston · 2 min read ·

The last time I played Bomberman was just over a year ago. I remember my friend Ben bought the game on ebay a while back, and then I had to fix my NES so that we could play it. It was so very much worth it.

Now it looks like Bomberman is headed for mobile phones:

London, November 20: He’s back! Hudson Soft and Living Mobile have joined forces again to bring Bomberman back to mobile phones. In his latest adventure, Bomberman stars in a double pack comprising Bomberman Classic and Bomberman Supreme, which incorporates a multiplayer mode via Bluetooth. Bomberman Supreme offers not only high-end graphics, but also many hours of gameplay: 50 levels, full of old and new power-ups and five Bosses to be bombed! This is the ultimate Bomberman and a must-have for every mobile gamer.

As I read this press release, I have a couple thoughts chasing themselves through my head:

  1. This sounds like a lot of fun

  2. I will never buy it or install it

So, mobile phone marketers, what’s the million dollar question?

Why won’t I buy or install it?

Because the system is too byzantine. It’s not worth my time and effort to go hunting for the game online, and then find, most of the time, that the game is only available through Sprint or Verizon or anyone else besides T-mobile. And even if it is available through T-mobile, I can’t get the game through the T-zones system because T-mobile won’t give me T-zones since I have a windows mobile phone.

Then I have to wonder (none of this is in the press release, by the way) whether or not the game will even run on a windows mobile phone, or if it does, what version it does run on, what version my phone is running. Assuming all of that checks out, I also need to download the install file, hook my phone up to my computer so I can browse the file structure, load the file onto the phone, and then run it to install.

That’s too much work. And this is why the iPhone is poised to take over the mobile gaming market. Because Apple is in a position to put mobile games into the iTunes directory, which from simplicity’s standpoint, is basically unbeatable.

What could be simpler that picking bomberman from a list, and then having the game automatically installed on your phone the next time you plug it in to your computer?