Why should you care about motion-sensing mobile games?

The mobile games industry truly is going loco for motion at the moment.

Motion-sensing games are big news, whether it's waving an iPhone about to control Super Monkey Ball, flicking your wrists to fling a ball in I-Play Bowling, or getting your wallet out for the new motion-sensing handsets from Sony Ericsson and LG.

It's certainly a hot topic right now for developers and publishers, for several reasons. One of which concerns a certain console beginning with 'W'.

"It is a brave new world," says Kyu Lee of Gamevil. "I think this comes in at the right time with all the hype on the Wii platform. Games should be something that use all your senses, and motion-sensing definitely does open up a large room for new creativity."

That reference to Wii is important to understanding part of the reason why mobile developers are so excited about motion-sensing. Thanks to Nintendo's efforts, the concept itself is now familiar to many gamers and could bring some all-important buzz back to mobile gaming.

"With the overwhelmingly positive mass-market response to the Wii, the thought of including gesture-based movement into mobile games is very alluring," says Chris Gibbs of EA Mobile. "I think most people's reaction is 'Wow, that must be cool!'. However, it could easily prove to be a gimmick unless it's designed for very carefully."

Remember that note of caution: later this week we'll be talking to developers and publishers about when motion-sensing should and shouldn't be used – it's not a miracle cure for mobile gaming by any means. Wilhelm Taht of RealArcade points out that motion-sensing fits in with other new mobile technologies and platforms.

"All of the new developments on the handset side – tilt, touch, iPhone, N-Gage and Android, for example – will help drive the uptake of mobile games as consumers start seeing that the games aren't the same as they were three to four years ago," he says.

Motion-sensing: a new gaming dimension
Across the board, publishers are openly enthusiastic about the potential for motion-sensing mobile games to inject new zip into their titles. "We think the introduction of motion sensing is great," says Paul Maglione of Vivendi Games Mobile, who also highlights Nintendo's crucial role.

"It's yet another way around the limitations of small devices and can open up new areas of creative gameplay. Certainly the Wii revolutionised how motion-sensing can make many genres of games far more intuitive to non-gamers, and for a mass-market platform like mobile phones, anything which makes a game more intuitive is heading in the right direction."

The huge buzz around motion-sensing mobile games owes a lot to those limitations that Maglione refers to, as do touchscreens and peripherals like the Zeemote JS1 Bluetooth joystick.

"Motion sensing brings a whole new dimension to a mobile game," says Paul Farley of TAG Games. "The phone itself can become the controller, instead of fighting against the user who might be wrestling with an unergonomic D-pad and confusing button layout."

However, Farley sounds a note of caution, pointing out that not all phones support motion-sensing, and those that do approach it differently, making it more complex for developers to integrate motion into the development process. With several handset manufacturers using different accelerometers, there's a danger of fragmentation – something that the mobile games industry hardly needs more of.

Nevertheless, this idea of motion sensing as the most intuitive control system yet for mobile games is a pervasive one. "It's a great step forward to turn mobile phones into even better gaming devices," says Fishlabs' Michael Schade, who's particularly pleased about how it fits with the kind of richer 3D titles made by his company.

"Finally we've got analogue controls, and this will improve the gaming experience, especially for 3D games, hence we are very excited about it. But developers will come up with totally new game concepts as well."

Using motion-sensing appropriately
The key thing for developers, once they've got over the initial rush of chucking their old phones on the floor and smashing those pesky keypads in celebration, is to take a realistic look at the pros and cons of motion-sensing gaming.

"Motion sensing for games isn't new, of course," says Howard Tomlinson of Astraware. "I think it is exciting in that it is built in as standard with a mass-market device, and covering enough dimensions to be useful. I don't think it will be world-changing, but rather that it will become a more standard feature of games where it is appropriate."

"As a gimmick, I'm sure we'll see a whole slew of games involving balancing things, guiding marbles round mazes and that kind of fun stuff," he continues. "But these are very much making use of the motion sensing as the primary reason for the game. Over time, we'll see many games building in motion features in subtler ways."

Maglione agrees: "It has to actually enhance gameplay rather than be a forced modification of action that can just as easily be handled via a D-pad."

Meanwhile, some developers think there's scope for motion-sensing mobile games beyond the current system, where the motion sensing is done entirely within the handset itself. John Chasey of FinBlade points out the fundamental design 'feature' that means jerking a mobile phone around makes it harder to see what's happening onscreen.

"I think these features will only come into their own as part of separate physical devices, for example using a Zeemote type device with motion sensors to control the game, or alternatively using a separate screen," he says.

"You might have TV or video eyewear like the Vuzik, which can then be static while you use the phone as the input device. Ironically, as more features get integrated into the phone handset, from a usability perspective it makes more sense for some of these devices to be separate. How about a Transformer-style handset, where you can detach a motion controller from the main device?"

Bring it on! It's enough to make us start a rumour that Apple is doing just that with the 4G iPhone…