Google's Android is good for gamers

 

Like most tech-watchers, I spent last week poring over the T-Mobile G1 specifications - but I simply wanted to know if Android is any good for games. One thing's for certain, this is going to be a very different proposition from the iPhone. Sure, we're getting the same veteran publishers signing up to support the platform. Gameloft, Glu and Namco are all on board. Glu has a new puzzle title named Bonsai Blast, while Namco is offering a free Pac-Man download. We're also getting a similar proliferation of control systems - G1 matches iPhone's touchscreen options, but adds a full Qwerty keyboard and trackball combo, which means that we might finally get a mobile first-person shooter that's actually playable.

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The big difference, though, is in the contrasting approaches to making applications available to users. App Store is a heavily regulated zone, with Apple getting approval on everything. However, the Google equivalent - Android Market - is an open content distribution system, with few controls.

This could result in the first mobile platform that's both friendly to and practical for the indie gaming fraternity. With Java mobile games, there's no reliable route to market for small studios, because of the stranglehold on distribution enjoyed by the big phone networks. The alternative is online distribution, which means creative freedom - but you're only reaching a teeny group.

In contrast, Android Market will be available to all Android owners, and the system's user ratings and reviews will provide a filter for the onslaught of mediocre crap that will inevitably flood the service. Also, the lack of any quality control means that experimental, unfinished projects can go up, attracting both constructive criticism and the possibility of development help from other bedroom coders. Gamers also hope that we'll get to see some tasty emulators of classic consoles.

It's a legally shady area, but then, on an unregulated site, this stuff is bound to slip through the net. One of the most appealing aspects of the original N-Gage was its brilliance as a portable emulation platform. Another advantage of Android's open architecture is the easy access it provides to the phone's other functionality - US company W2Pi Entertainment, for example, has developed a title named WiFi Army (wifiarmy.com) which uses GPS and Google maps to create a real-world first-person shooter where competitors use their phones as guns.

So is it good for games? Android could be to indie mobile game development what MySpace was to indie music. It could, in a modest way that's quite a distance from Google's key intentions, change everything.

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