There was an inkling that we had missed more than one thing at the Mobile World Congress last week, as many products were launched, all vying for analyst and journalist bandwidth. One that has since caught our eye is the JS1 controller from Zeemote.
Zeemote (rhymes with remote) is based on the idea that with the addition of a proper analog games controller, the processing power and connectivity of a mobile phone can be harnessed to create an unrivalled gaming experience, more like a proper home based games console.
The theory is sustainable, there is more than enough processing power, and some good graphics driving capability and of course sound in many top end handsets.
At Mobile World Congress last year Zeemote first launched its JS1 controller (see picture) and at this year’s it has tried to launch an entire ecosystem which it calls the Mobile-Console Gaming platform (MCG) which it says has three core ingredients.
It requires a mobile handset with TV Out or a micro-projector handset, connected gaming content and either one or two Zeemote Bluetooth gaming controllers.
The idea is that instead buying a games console, you just take phones which comes increasingly with TV out options for showing video, and shift the whole gaming experience to the handset, not just gaming on the go.
Gaming companies can use the handset for game distribution, high quality graphics and sound, multi-player connectivity and portability. The Zeemote JS1 Controller comes equipped with just a thumbstick and four assignable action buttons, and games companies have been mapping their controller functions to this device.
Because of the Bluetooth connectivity the Zeemote controllers can communicate to and through the handset, and two player games can be played with connectivity up to 10 meters away from the handset (which we presume will be close to the TV set it will be plugged into).
Mobile handsets are rapidly leaping forward in terms of processing, graphics, storage, audio and connectivity capabilities and Zeemote points out that over 20 handsets already have either TV-Out or micro-projector capabilities.
One area this is tipped for are the emerging markets where many consumers cannot afford PlayStations or the Wii. But then again this TV out function is only seen on the very top end devices so far, so in those markets, which rarely subsidize handsets, gaming will still be expensive ‘ so we’re not sure this logic holds up.
Zeemote already has a partnership with Nokia and the devices works on Series 60 phones and on the Blackberry, and the company has attracted 80% of games developers to adjust their games, where necessary, to work with the JS1. The device was demonstrated at MWC working with a Nokia N85.
Finally the start up, who’s CTO is Beth Marcus, a veteran of the Force Feedback intellectual property wars, is now developing the device not just as a games controller, but a device for controlling a number of the other applications on the handset, such as internet browsing, controlling music players, and multimedia and video players, instead of going through handset menus.
The company says the JS1 controller has made significant impacts in Germany, Mexico, Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Finland and Sweden.
Actually the whole idea of a separate device to speak to the phone may not hold up because there is one universal analog control that is coming to almost all top end phones, and that’s touch. The situation will emerge where touch screen phones are both used as controllers for console games, and where they are simply ARE the games, as in the iPod Touch.
With a touch screen you can have whatever controls you wish built in software, but of course interacting with the game via the game’s screen, just by touching gaming elements, is probably even more attractive.
We might see a version of the gaming graphics on the touch phone, and another version on a TV out screen, working in tandem for dual player games.