#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a Videogame Journalist (Mobile Gaming)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote> 

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JohnSollitto

So, I’ve been doing some very interesting work since I’ve graduated school.

I’ve got numerous things going on, some of which I can’t talk about, but one thing I’ve been working on has been a site called Game Mob that is going to focus solely on mobile gaming.

Now, I’ve been vocal about mobile gaming in the past. Maybe not on this site in particular, but to my friends and colleagues I’ve mentioned that I didn’t particularly like it. However, starting to work on content for this site has actually changed my tune quite a lot.

Perusing the mobile gaming market in the last month or so has exposed me to a TON of mobile games that are both fun and creative. They’ve definitely changed my opinion from thinking that the world was full of Angry Birds and Words with Friends.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of time wasters like that out there, but for every one of those there are a dozen good games that are undiscovered and passed-over.

Take for example the game Life is Magic. Not a fantastic game, but boy oh boy was I addicted to it for a couple of weeks hardcore. My girlfriend and I spent hours playing that game together and fighting monsters.

What was really unique about it, at least to me, was that the game map changed depending on where you were geographically at the time. It tapped into Google maps or the GPS of your phone and found out where you were in the world, and spawned little dungeons and caves around you to fight. Not only that, but you could visit the magical and medieval version of Starbucks or Sports Chalet to get quests or buy upgrades.

That little thing was just enough to make me smile and giggle a little bit when I started playing each day.

Then there was the game Vector for which I recently wrote the script of a video review. You all know free-running and parkour right? All that crazy stuff that was in the Daniel Craig James Bond movie? Well this game has that in it and you just run from bad guys while free-running. It’s awesome!

Now some of these games you have to pay for and some of them you don’t. I can’t get mad at that. I really can’t. These are small teams or companies pumping out games to keep the lights on to make more games just like this so that they can save up enough to make a bigger game. At least some of them are. But what I can’t abide is the blatant money squeezing of some of the bigger companies.

There are some companies, I won’t name names, but there are some out there who will give you a great game for free, but constantly try and charge you at every turn to try and get a quick buck out of you. They’ve got ads in their games, they’ve got multiple titles, and they’re a big company. So why do they do this?

Sure, every company needs to make the most out of their product. I get that. But is this how a mobile company really works? Is this what’s needed for mobile games to survive? Finding clever ways to make the gamer pay for things they may need or may not want to pay for? It’s a little sad that these companies need to do that.

I’m not sure if it is the fact that there’s so little money in the mobile market or it’s just the business model of that company, but I feel like something has to change to make some of these really great games that are hidden in the App Store or Google Play Store, rise up and survive without having to try and get gamers to pay a lot of cash for stuff that should just be in the game.

I’ll be writing more as Game Mob goes into production, but I’m excited for this new opportunity and to see where this part of the industry goes.

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

Check out his gaming site too!