Does Gameloft's 3D focus signal the future of mobile games?

A pioneer in mobile games, Gameloft has already released eight 3D titles for sufficiently powerful handsets: Massive Snowboarding, Asphalt: Urban GT2, Midnight Pool, Midnight Bowling, Vijay Singh Pro Golf, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, 2006 Real Football and Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.

That's not enough for the execs at the French mobile giant, however. The company has announced it will eventually launch all its games in 3D; it will have released 20 by the end of this year alone.

According to president Michel Guillemot: "The evolution towards advanced 3D games has been gaining momentum over the last couple of years and Gameloft has brought it to the forefront today. Thanks to improved telecom networks and terminals, as well as support from our carrier partners, 2007 is the year that Gameloft will mass market high-definition 3D games around the globe."

The company added it would continue to release versions of games (presumably including 2D where required) suitable for lower-end handsets. The mobile market is infamously diverse – Gameloft says its games current serve approximately 800 different handsets, from 170 carriers in 75 countries.

This ongoing debate in mobile games circles about 3D games is similar to that in traditional gaming back in the mid-1990s. If you recall (or you've read your back issues!), 3D critics said the extra dimension wouldn't become ubiquitous, because certain classic game genres just didn't work in 3D.

Of course, the critics were right. Traditional 2D genres such twitchy platform games and pixel-perfect shoot-'em-ups didn't work in 3D. Instead they evolved into 3D action / adventures and first-person shooters respectively, nearly everyone was happy, and the old 2D genres died off as a major force in the home console market (at least until the retro revival inspired by the likes of Xbox Live Arcade). So the critics were also wrong.

Mobile has particular disadvantages when it comes to 3D games, particularly with limited control methods and small screens (although how long the latter post Apple's iPhone revelations?). That said, titles like Fishlab's Planet Riders 3D and Gameloft's own Pro Golf 2007 show that suitably powerful mobile handsets can host stunning 3D mobile games.

Perhaps the traditional 2D mobile genres like puzzle games and quirky fare like Turbo Camels will one day be consigned to history, just like the likes of Donkey Kong and R-Type were post-3D on the home consoles? It seems a shame – history repeating itself.

In the meantime, it doesn't make life easier for us reviewers, who have to decide whether to review two versions of leading games, such as the two skus of I-Play's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In the end we reviewed both the 2D and the 3D version, and the reviews show why we needed to.

If only somebody could upgrade the number of hours in the day...