3GSM 2007: We interview Kiloo about taking C64 and LEGO mobile

For anyone who grew up with a Commodore 64, the recent news that Kiloo had signed a deal to bring a bunch of classic C64 titles to mobile phones was unfeasibly exciting. The games you grew up with, now in the palm of your hand – without the lengthy tape-loading delay before you play.

There are some questions though, particularly over which games Kiloo will release, and whether they'll be based on the most famous C64 titles (those that haven't already been brought to mobile, of course, like Turrican).

I sat down with Karl Woods from Kiloo at 3GSM to find out.

"The games we've got are the original Commodore-published games," Woods says. "We've not gone for third-party brands though. For example, we could have gone for Ghosts And Goblins, but that would have meant going to Capcom to get the rights, and I assume they wouldn't want to give them to us! But there's enough: there's about a thousand titles to pick from, so we've taken 22 of the ones that we think will work on mobile."

As we reported previously, Jupiter Lander will be the first game to be released. Woods says that because some of the 22 chosen games are so simple, Kiloo will be selling multi-packs, where you get three C64 games in one package. Dancing Monster is one game likely to get this treatment, apparently.

The other big question about this deal is whether modern-day mobile users are really interested in playing old C64 games? After all, even average handsets are capable of graphics a console or computer generation or two beyond the C64, while the better phones are pushing PlayStation 1 quality. Do people want old 8-bit games on their phones?

"All I know is that people's gaming habits haven't changed over all the years, and this just goes back to the roots of gaming," says Woods. "We might polish games up to the standards of new handsets as they come out, but the games are the games. The operators love this too, because a lot of the games managers grew up with the Commodore 64, so they love the brand. It makes them feel like they're a kid again."

Even as a committed C64-lover, I do still have some reservations – not least because most of my favourite games on the computer WEREN'T published by Commodore, so won't be covered by the deal. Still, Kiloo is talking about doing some interesting competitions when the games launch, such as giving away a full C64 setup including a tape drive and proper joystick. It'll certainly be worth watching.

Kiloo is also working with another iconic brand, LEGO, developing games based on the classic toy set, but also on its higher-tech Bionicle spin-off. Woods says the latter is perfect for mobile, not least because many of the keenest Bionicle fans are also already playing mobile games regularly.

If you read our review of LEGO Racer, you'll be aware that the classic LEGO games have so far not featured the level of customisation you would have hoped for. You can't build stuff, in other words. But hold your horses: that's changing.

"Our first game was LEGO Soccer, which came out for the World Cup and was quirky, but it wasn't core to the LEGO brand," admits Woods. "They don't play football! LEGO Racer is getting closer, as bits on your car can fall off. The next game in the series is even closer to the core values of LEGO, and the fourth will be even more so."

"We'll be getting close to the core value of personalisation: not destruction, but construction," he concludes.