Editing Mobile game (section)

==History==
{{main|History of mobile games}}

Towards the end of the 20th century, mobile phone ownership became ubiquitous in the industrialised world due to the establishment of industry standards, and the rapid fall in cost of handset ownership, and use driven by [[economies of scale]]. As a result of this explosion, technological advancement by handset manufacturers became rapid. With these technological advances, mobile phone games also became increasingly sophisticated, taking advantage of exponential improvements in [[Display device|display]], [[processing power|processing]], [[Storage (memory)|storage]], [[Interfaces (computer science)|interfaces]], [[network bandwidth]] and [[operating system]] functionality. The first such game that demonstrated the desire for handset games was a version of ''[[Snake (video game genre)|Snake]]'' that [[Nokia]] had included on its devices since 1997.<ref name="pg history">{{cite web | url = https://www.pocketgamer.biz/feature/10619/a-brief-history-of-mobile-games-in-the-beginning-there-was-snake/ | title = A Brief History of Mobile Games: In the beginning, there was Snake | first = Chris | last = Wright | date = March 14, 2016 | access-date = August 18, 2020 | work = [[PocketGamer]] }}</ref>

In 1999, [[NTT Docomo]] launched the [[i-mode]] mobile platform in Japan, allowing mobile games to be downloaded onto [[smartphones]]. Several [[Japanese video game]] developers announced games for the i-mode platform that year, such as [[Konami]] announcing its [[dating simulation]] ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]''. The same year, [[Nintendo]] and [[Bandai]] were developing mobile phone adapters for their [[handheld game consoles]], the [[Game Boy Color]] and [[WonderSwan]], respectively.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Mobiles: The New Gaming Platform (Big in Japan) |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |date=24 November 1999 |issue=79 (December 1999) |page=10 |url=https://retrocdn.net/images/b/bb/Edge_UK_079.pdf#page=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028021316/https://retrocdn.net/images/b/bb/Edge_UK_079.pdf |archive-date=28 October 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2001, i-mode had {{nowrap|20 million}} users in Japan, along with more advanced handsets with graphics comparable to [[Third generation of video game consoles|8-bit consoles]]. A wide variety of games were available for the i-mode service, along with announcements from established [[video game developers]] such as [[Taito]], Konami, [[Namco]], and [[Hudson Soft]], including ports of [[Golden age of arcade video games|classic arcade games]] and 8-bit [[console games]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Big guns join the iMode revolution |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |date=26 February 2001 |issue=95 (March 2001) |pages=18–9 |url=https://retrocdn.net/images/2/2d/Edge_UK_095.pdf#page=18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714060203/https://retrocdn.net/images/2/2d/Edge_UK_095.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Education Mobile Game (5018723826) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|A cricket game being played on a 2007 [[Nokia 8600 Luna]] phone]]

By the mid-2000s there was a large market for mobile games, of which many were built on the [[Java ME]] platform that many devices at the time supported. Earlier they could be obtained using [[SMS]] short codes before manufacturers as well as [[Mobile network operator|mobile network operators]] started offering them for download both on the [[Website|Web]] (on a PC to be transferred to the device) or directly via the air (using [[GPRS]], [[3G]] or [[Wi-Fi]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Develop state-of-the-art mobile games |url=https://www.infoworld.com/article/2161565/mobile-java-develop-state-of-the-art-mobile-games.html |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=InfoWorld |language=en-US}}</ref> The launch of Apple's [[iPhone]] in 2007 and the [[App Store (iOS)|App Store]] in 2008 radically changed the market. The iPhone's focus on larger memory, [[Multitasking (iOS)|multitasks]], and additional [[Sensing element|sensing devices]], including the [[touchscreen]] in later model, made it ideal for [[casual game]]s, while the App Store, which is also independent from [[mobile carriers]], made it easy for developers to create and post apps to publish, and for users to search for and obtain new games.<ref name=MGA_SoA /> Further, the App Store added the ability to support [[microtransaction|in-app purchase]]s in October 2009. This allowed games like ''[[Angry Birds]]'' and ''[[Cut the Rope]]'' to find new [[Monetization model|monetization models]] away from the traditional [[Premium (marketing)|premium]] "pay once" model. Meanwhile, Apple's disruption caused the market to stabilized around iPhone devices and [[Google|Google's]] [[Android (operating system)|Android]]-based phones which offered a similar app store through [[Google Play]].

A further major shift game with 2012's ''[[Candy Crush Saga]]'' and ''[[Puzzle & Dragons]]'', games that used a stamina-like gameplay feature found in [[social-network game]]s like ''[[FarmVille]]'' to limit the number of times one could play it in a single period, but allowed optional [[in-app purchases]] to restore that stamina immediately and continue playing. This new monetization brought in millions of players to both games and millions of [[United States dollar|dollars]] in revenue, establishing the "[[freemium]]" model that would be a common approach for many mobile games going forward. Mobile gaming grew rapidly over the next several years, buoyed by rapid expansion in [[China]]. By 2016, top mobile games were earning over {{USD|100 million}} a year, and the total revenue for the mobile games sector had surpassed that of other video game areas.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/13/mobile-game-revenue-finally-surpasses-pc-and-consoles/ | title = Mobile game revenue finally surpasses PC and consoles | first = Stephanie | last = Chan | date = July 13, 2017 | access-date = January 8, 2018 | work = [[Venture Beat]] }}</ref>

Other major trends in mobile games have include the [[hyper-casual game]] such as ''[[Flappy Bird]]'' and ''[[Crossy Road]]'' and [[location-based game]]s like ''[[Pokémon Go]]''.

Mobile gaming has impacted the larger video game market by drawing demand away from [[handheld video game console]]s; both [[Nintendo]] and [[Sony]] had seen major drops in sales of their 2011 handhelds compared to their 2004 predecessors as a result of mobile gaming.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/24/22545198/playstation-vita-10-year-anniversary-sony-handheld | title = 'The Little Handheld That Could': Examining The Vita's Impact A Decade Later | first=  George | last= Yang | date = June 24, 2021 | accessdate = June 24, 2021 | work = [[The Verge]] }}</ref> At the same time, mobile gaming introduced the concept of [[microconsole]]s, low-cost, low-powered [[home video game console]]s that used mobile operating systems to take advantage of the wide variety of games available on these platforms.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://fortune.com/2014/10/16/android-tv-video-games-google/ | title = How Android TV is a (video) game changer | first=  John | last = Gaudiosi | date = October 16, 2014 | accessdate = June 21, 2021 | work = [[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] }}</ref>

===Calculator games===
[[File:TI83tris.JPG|thumb|right|Clone of ''[[Tetris]]'' being played on a modified [[TI-83 Plus]]]]
[[File:TI-84 Portal.jpg|thumb|A fan-made game similar to the game ''[[Portal (game)|Portal]]'']]

Calculator gaming is a form of gaming in which [[Video game|games]] are played on [[programmable calculator]]s, especially [[graphing calculator]]s.

In 1980, [[Casio]]'s MG-880 [[pocket calculator]] had a built-in "Invaders" game (essentially a downscaled ''[[Space Invaders]]'' clone),<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Technology: The games that aliens play |magazine=[[New Scientist]] |date=18 December 1980 |volume=88 |issue=1232–1233 |page=782 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ainC3-wuz_kC&pg=PA782 |publisher=[[Reed Business Information]] |issn=0262-4079 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> released in the Summer that year.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Matt |title=Episode 131 - Retro Gadgets - Part One - Casio MG-880 Music and Game Calculator |url=https://www.thegadgetman.org.uk/gadget-man-episode-131-retro-gadgets-part-one-casio-mg-880-music-and-game-calculator/ |website=The Gadget Man: Technology News and Reviews |access-date=2 December 2021 |date=11 May 2019}}</ref> Another early example is the [[type-in program]] ''[[Darth Vader|Darth Vader's]] Force Battle'' for the [[TI-59]], published in ''[[BYTE]]'' in October 1980.<ref name="jackson198010">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1980-10/1980_10_BYTE_05-10_Software#page/n51/mode/2up | title=Darth Vader's Force Battle | work=BYTE | date=October 1980 | access-date=14 June 2014 | author=Jackson, Clete | pages=50–54}}</ref> The magazine also published a version of ''[[Hunt the Wumpus]]'' for the [[HP-41C]].<ref name="librach198102">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-03/1981_03_BYTE_06-03_Programming_Methods#page/n231/mode/2up | title=Hunt the Wumpus with Your HP-41C | work=BYTE | date=February 1981 | access-date=18 October 2013 | author=Librach, Hank | pages=230, 232}}</ref> Few other games exist for the earliest of programmable calculators (including the [[Hewlett-Packard 9100A]], one of the first scientific calculators), such as the long-popular ''[[Lunar Lander (video game series)|Lunar Lander]]'' game often used as an early programming exercise. However, limited program address space and lack of easy program storage made calculator gaming a rarity even as programmables became cheap and relatively easy to obtain. It was not until the early 1990s when [[graphing calculator]]s became more powerful and cheap enough to be common among [[high school]] students for use in mathematics. The new graphing calculators, with their ability to transfer files to one another and from a [[computer]] for backup, could double as game consoles.

Calculators such as [[HP-48]] and [[TI-82]] could be programmed in proprietary [[programming language]]s such as [[RPL programming language]] or [[TI-BASIC (calculators)|TI-BASIC]] directly on the calculator; programs could also be written in [[assembly language]] or (less often) [[C (programming language)|C]] on a desktop computer and transferred to the calculator.  As calculators became more powerful and memory sizes increased, games increased in complexity.

By the 1990s, programmable calculators were able to run implementations by hobbyists of games such as ''[[Lemmings (video game)|Lemmings]]'' and ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'' (Lemmings for [[HP 48 series|HP-48]] was released in 1993;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xeye.org/1995-2000/LemmGames.html |title=Lemming Games |publisher=Xeye.org |date=1997-04-06 |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref> Doom for HP-48 was created in 1995<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hpfool.free.fr/doom/images/index.html |title=Le projet Doom |publisher=Hpfool.free.fr |date=2001-01-07 |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref>).  Some games such as [[Dope Wars]] caused controversy when students played them in school.

The look and feel of these games on an HP-48 class calculator, due to the lack of dedicated audio and video circuitry providing hardware acceleration, can at most be compared to the one offered by 8-bit handheld consoles such as the early [[Game Boy line|Game Boy]] or the [[Gameking]] ([[low resolution]], [[monochrome]] or [[grayscale]] graphics), or to the built-in games of non-[[Java virtual machine|Java]] or [[Qualcomm Brew|BREW]] enabled [[cell phone]]s.<ref>{{cite web|author=Eric Rechlin |url=http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/games/arcade/ |title=HP 48 Arcade Games |publisher=Hpcalc.org |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref>

Games continue to be programmed on graphing calculators with increasing complexity.  A wave of games appeared after the release of the [[TI-83 plus|TI-83 Plus]]/[[TI-84 Plus series]], among TI's first graphing calculators to natively support assembly.  [[TI-BASIC]] programming also rose in popularity after the release of third-party libraries. [[Assembly language|Assembly]] remained the language of choice for these calculators, which run on a [[Zilog Z80]] processor, although some assembly implements have been created to ease the difficulty of learning assembly language.  For those running on a [[Motorola 68000]] processor (like the [[TI-89 series|TI-89]]), C programming (possible using TIGCC) has begun to displace assembly.

Because they are easy to program without outside tools, calculator games have survived despite the proliferation of [[Handheld device|mobile device]]s such as [[mobile phone]]s and [[Personal digital assistant|PDA]]s.