The Games Convention is just around the corner, and our preparations are in high gear. This time, we will have three booths: you will find our promotion van right inside the entrance in the large glass hall, where our mobile games can be downloaded free to your phone via Bluetooth. Our promotion girls will then show you the way to our main booth G20 in Hall 5.

Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman mobile phone drawing

At our generous booth in Hall 5, you can not only get a first-hand impression of our upcoming games, we will be giving away a super-cool Sony Ericsson W760i Walkman mobile phone every 2 hours. In addition, we will be holding drawings for FISHLABS games packs, each with 5 full versions. That way, you can start playing right away. You should probably just relax on one of the many cube seats at our booth, because our games won’t let go of you so quickly.

First FISHLABS mobile game on Symbian with OpenGL ES

Our business partners will always be able to reach us at the GameCity Hamburg booth F11 in the Business Centre in Hall 2. There we will demonstrate another ‘world premiere’: Powerboat Challenge™ on the Symbian platform with full OpenGL ES hardware rendering. Even with four boats at once, full-throttle graphics, and all of the light, reflection, and water effects switched on, the native game runs at maximum visibility at an unbelievable 30 frames per second in full resolution and landscape format. That is mobile console gaming at its best!

Galaxy on Fire™ 2 gameplay video ready to go

Along with our current mobile games Powerboat Challenge™ and Rally Master Pro™, we will also be showing the release candidate for Gladiator and the first playable version of Galaxy on Fire™ 2, which you have been eagerly awaiting. For those of you who may not be able to travel to the GC, we have put together the very first gameplay video for Galaxy on Fire™ 2.

Of course, this video does not represent the final version of the game. Above all, we still have not fully implemented the head-up display and so we have left it out here. But you can already see what direction the gameplay is going: for example, you are no longer tied to one station, but can fly directly to nearby planets and their stations and move freely between star systems using jump gates.

You can also get an eyeful of the new graphics quality in the sequel in this video – and that even though these are not even the final graphics! You can expect not only gaming highlights, but also visuals that may be unique in the field of mobile games!

Take a close look, and you will discover even more gameplay features: for example, the option of taking control of the turrets yourself. Very handy when you are attacked from behind  or when flying past larger battleships, if you want to take out their guns with targeted fire. Or the new special weapons, such as EMP bursts, which incapacitate your opponents for a brief moment, so you can finish them off. And the nukes are nothing to sneeze at – they’re a real blast! Especially if you have to destroy a real monster ship or too many enemies are after you all at once.

FISHLABS on GCDC Mobile Games Panels

FISHLABS will not only be in the exhibition area of the Games Convention, but will also be taking part in three mobile games panels on Monday during the GCDC:

The State of the European Mobile Games Industry

Abstract: The European mobile games industry has developed its own quality and style that is unique in the world. Europe is also the home of Nokia, Gameloft and high profile international developers such as Ideaworks3D, Fishlabs and Digital Legends. Many European studios (Elkware, Iomo, Haiku, Sumea, etc.) have been bought by Japanese and American studios in the recent past and this is a trend that is likely to continue in the coming years.

Enough reasons to ask ourselves: can we grow the mobile entertainment business ourselves? Can we do our own research and development? How about Financing? Can we improve the European market commercially? Any best practices in the games or media industry?

On or Off Deck: Is there a future for mobile games distribution without the operators?

Abstract: 2008 started with the launch of NGage, the announcement of the Iphone SDK and Google’s Android program. Big companies seem to discover the potential of mobile game distribution, a potential that was already discovered by Jamba, Zed, Buongiorno and Sony Ericsson with Fun and Download. C4M sees a future in the Japanese distribution model based on free games, others are experimenting with distribution via e-mail, virtual item buying and in-game advertising.

This panel of experts will give you an insight in the present and the future of off deck distribution strategies.

Multi Platform Publishing Strategies

Abstract: To be announced.

A fundamental change seems to be underway that will affect the way mobile games and other mobile content are distributed in the future. The keynote speakers at the GDC Mobile – among them CEO of Gameloft Michel Guillemot, head of Nokia’s multimedia division Anssi Vanjoki, former Managing Director EMEA of Glu Mobile Kristian Segerstrale, VP Content Licensing at Jamba Thomas Richter, and mobile games veteran and co-founder of the GDC Mobile Robert Tercek – all predicted the same thing: In future, only a small percentage of mobile games, if at all, will be distributed through mobile operators. They seem to be right; only one representative of a mobile operator was sighted at the well-attended event. Apparently none of the mobile operators were really interested in finding out more about Ovi, Nokia’s new portal for mobile games and other mobile content, or other new platforms for mobile games such as Google’s Android or Apple’s iPhone.

And this although mobile operators will be missing out on a huge opportunity, or perhaps even the business model that will dominate the future. Revenue from mobile voice services has been on the decline for years, and the future is clearly in mobile data services. All the analysts agree on this. What is particularly remarkable is that mobile operators have always protested that they have not just been a “pipeline” for mobile content, but have actively cultivated  the market.

Who will make money from mobile games in future?

Yet this is exactly where the mobile operators have pushed an entire industry into a corner with high data transfer charges, low margins for content suppliers, and last but not least their restrictive policy on which mobile games are offered for sale and which handhelds are supported. In particular, the fluctuating quality of mobile games on offer (i.e. those selected and sold by mobile operators) and hidden data transfer costs have put off many consumers and slowed down the growth of the mobile game market. Why a real music ringtone should cost far more than the original song in MP3 format is another thing that defies explanation.

So it’s no wonder that mobile game publishers, music publishers, and technology companies such as Nokia with the N-Gage and Ovi, Apple with the iPhone, and Google with Android are looking for ways to position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities the mobile games market promises for the future. Ultimately it will come down to the question of who has more clout: the mobile operators, with direct customer relations thanks to their control of the mobile networks and the possibility of easy payment via mobile phone bill? Or the manufacturers of mobile devices for which, thanks to the success of mobile Internet access, mobile games, ringtones and music can be purchased and downloaded directly from the Internet via Sideload, independently of mobile operators?

What remains to be seen is whether distributing mobile games through  iTunes will really be more attractive for publishers and not face restrictions similar to those of distribution through mobile operators. It certainly gives one pause that neither Apple nor Google were at the GDC Mobile to promote developers’ interest in their new platforms. Does this mean that it was all just mobile castles in the air? At any rate, we from FISHLABS will take a close look at the new technologies, and as soon as the chance arises we will distribute our mobile games via the new channels.

Exciting things to come. Game on!