Feature: 'Event Wrap Up: 2005 Nokia Games Summit'

In another of today's main Gamasutra features, Iain Simons reports from the first ever Nokia Games Summit, held earlier this month at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam. The summit involved 190 delegates, made up of Forum Nokia developers, publishers, and game industry press from around the world, all invited to participate in this annual forum directly addressing mobile games development. In this extract from the feature, Lincoln Wallen, Chief Technical Officer of Electronic Arts' mobile division discusses some major trends: "Electronic Arts is expecting convergence to be driving the market forward by 2010, but realizing that convergence would require a concerted effort, according to Wallen. “Data is only really valuable to people when it's not mobile,” claimed Wallen. “By which I mean, people need consistency across their data. They don't want a separate email account for their mobile phone, they want the same one they use in their office.” Moving on to address the consumer experience, Wallen explained that a key driver for emotional attachment is the mass market nature of the franchise; the repeated investment in a franchise game is an iterative expression of a growing emotional attachment to it. Mobile becomes an alternative access point to a media property. For an example, Wallen cited Star Wars, “a huge casual brand – a franchise that can be dipped into in lots of different ways.” In the same way, EA seeks to create and leverage relevant casual brands... Wallen summarized his ideas in a response to a question during his final Q and A, explaining that mobile isn't an appendage to the rest of the gaming market – but an access point to the same core media property. “The FIFA console player should see getting FIFA Mobile as an essential addition to the experience. This isn't about mobile gaming from our point of view. This is about gaming."" You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on the two-day conference (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).