Flash Lite’s simplicity is boon for mobile

Developers agree that Flash Lite isn’t the best platform for delivering immersive, 3-D titles with eye-popping graphics and console-like gameplay.
Which is why it may be perfect for mobile.
Developers for years have been trying to leverage their console and PC gaming success by churning out first-person shooters and racing games that often require a lengthy tutorial and inhuman dexterity. But the more mobile gaming evolves, the more it becomes clear that one- or two-button games that are easy to understand are the key to mass-market popularity.
While the typical console gamer is a male in his late teens or early twenties, wireless game-players make for a far more disparate demographic. Most studies indicate women account for at least half of all mobile game downloads-a recent study from Telephia found a whopping 65 percent of all games were bought by women-and “arcade puzzle” games such as Tetris and Bejeweled continue to dominate the space, according to a report M:Metrics released earlier this month.
Shockwave.com, a division of MTV Networks, hopes it has found an entry to the casual mobile game market with “Minis,” dozens of astoundingly simple entertainment offerings built on Adobe Systems Inc.’s wireless platform and available through Verizon Wireless. Users can pay $3.50 a month for unlimited access to more than 30 titles such as Blackjack, Darts and Sumo Swinger, and new games are added to the library each month.
Shockwave’s catalog includes branded titles from MTV and Nickelodeon as well as silly non-game offerings such as “Don’t Touch the Button,” which, well, warns the player not to touch a button. And Flash Lite allows the site to develop games more quickly, keeping the portfolio of games fresh.
“(The subscription service) give us freedom to experiment” with a variety of offerings, said Peter Glover, vice president of games and products at Atom Entertainment, the MTV subsidiary that operates the Shockwave site. “And Flash itself enables a whole range of production capabilities and game sophistication, too.”