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[scootdog]

I'm finally going to depart with my old grey/green screen (kinda like original gameboy) cell phone and upgrade to a color phone (kinda like GBASP) with Virgin Mobile that plays games.

I saw on their website they have games you can download for $5.99.  Examples are Prince of Persia 3, Asphault Urban GT, etc.  I thought that you had to get an NGAGE to play titles like those.

My questions are:

1.  What file format are these games?

2.  Since some of these are well known branded titles are the file formats the  same on all cell phones or do the game companies make different versions for different phones?

3.  Is there any "scene" sites for these phone games?

I realize that phones have a small screen and the games might not be good, but it would be nice to have a couple real games on my phone to pass the time when I'm out and have to use the can or something.

Thanks

[sneef]

To answer the three questions:

1. they are .jar java games.

2. they are definitely different than the console versions.  they kind of suck.

3. I don't know about "scene" sites, but there are user groups that spread them all over the net.

My thoughts:

I have a sony ericsson w810i, and z800i.. both have excellent java implementation, and the w800i handles graphics very well, and fast.  But the games are just plain ridiculous.  The only ones I play are a bowling game, a miniature golf game, and a bejeweled clone.   just stick to your gba/nds for gaming!

[edit] just to let you know, i've tried the prince of persia, splinter cell, and other 'console ports', and they really are disappointing.  this may change in the future, as phones like the sony ericsson w900 (which has an nvidia 3d graphics processor onboard) begin to become more common, but i don't think i'll be using a phone/gaming machine any time soon.. however, with my current phone, i finally have started using a phone as my mp3/mp4/m4a player, and retired my ipod from everyday use... so the same may happen for gaming. [/edit]

[scootdog]

Thanks Sneef.  I didn't think they would be great at $5.99.

If anyone can reccommend a couple good .jar games that I can play while using the bathroom at work pm me.

Thanks

[rocky]

I have a n-gage and I think your phone should be able to play n-gage games on it best if you could use a memory card.  The format is .blz I forget how to use it but I know you stick it on the memorycard and I think you need another file. but all the games suck if ngage mmc do work with your phone you can buy them for $5 now at some gamestops

[sneef]

rocky, what makes you think that scootdog's new phone will be able to play n-gage games?  non-ngage phones usually just play java games. that's it.  some have their own proprietary games, but they sure as heck can't play n-gage titles.

[rocky]

I dont realy know anything about phones.  but their are a few phones that have memory cards in them and they do play n-gage games.  N-gage games do work on some other phones too not just the n-gage.  He did say asphalt urban and that is one of the n-gage games. nevermind forget what I said

[kraken]

I have an ngage, and the verdict is simply that cell phone games suck.  What I would do is get vnes, vsun, picodrive, or vboy which are nes, snes, genesis and gameboy color emulators, and load up your phone with roms.  You won't find any cell phone games half as good as gameboy mono or nes.  All emus support state save, which makes the console games excellent for playing even if you only have like 5 minutes.

www.vampent.com

Also, if you want to play games on your phone, it better have symbian os(or comperable), plenty of processing power and a memory card.  I reccomend a Nokia, as they tend to be good phones overall, and most support symbian.

Games for most phones are .jar files which are small and thus feature uncomplex games with poor gfx and sound.  Phones like the ngage that run symbian OS support .sis files which are self extracting install files.  Any phone with enough power and running symbian OS can play ngage games (which are .blz files and must be extracted with a special program that is a .sis).  As I said at the begining of the post, ngage games aren't very good and tend to be large, so don't bother.

I have a link to a site with tons of pirated apps and games for phones, but I don't think I can post it here.

[rocky]

Yea your right vampent programs are awsome, the snes emulator is just about %100.  could you PM me that site kraken I bought one of them CDs on ebay but I think all the programs were free ones anyway except for some the guy even gave me an illegal copy of a video converter called helix producer plus 9

[ImmortalNinja]

If the company making the games are doing it properly then in general a game for one device wont work properly with another.
This is because even though in theory all the phones are running java their implementation of it are verrrry different, with screen sizes, key-codes and event handling.
I know this because this is what I do for a living.
In general mobile phone games cant compare to console games, however there are a few gems out there.
Check out www.glu.com (shameless plug of my own company    )
or you could try PM-ing me with your phone model.....
KK

(Having said that not all phones run Java. I believe Brew handsets are quite widespread in the US and the Jap phones are just crazy good with really decent games.
Check out Final Fantasy on the mobile:
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/ff/e_about_01.html
)

[scootdog]

Ok, I have a month til my old phone runs out and I get a new one.  I have read that the "60 series" phones are good with nes, snes, gba, mame emus.  My question is what company both sells and provides service for these phones?  I checked Sprint and Virgin Mobile because that is what I want to get because they have the best reception where I'm at, but neither company had these phones that I saw. :?

[kraken]

Cingular (AT&T), and T-mobile definatly support it.  I have been using cingular for years and thants to rollover minutes, I never have to worry about overages. I think Verizon might have some series 60 phones too.  Yes, phones with symbian OS are typically series 60.  They are now up to Symbian OS version 9.3, which you should try to get if its backwards compatible (which I don't know).

[ImmortalNinja]

I live and work in the UK and so am not too familiar with the US side of the mobile industry.
But I think the following still stands, and I think it depends what you want the phone for.
Even at their best mobile phone games arent going to be better than handheld consoles for gaming. Sure there may be a few quality titles but they wont last for long and are few and far between.
I would not advise on spending extra money with the intention of using it as a games machine especailly if you already have a DS.
If its free (or really cheap with your contract) then by all means go for a mid to high end phone.
Personlly I would like a phone that is just a phone, but sadly now days they dont seem to make cool phones without camera/mp3/laser guided missile targeting system functions.....