Gaming on the Go

I am a “fidgeter.” I cannot help it. I’ve tried to mend my squirmy ways, but to no avail. In school, I doodled. In meetings, I play with the top of my red pen. Even now, as I sit at my computer to write, I tap my fingers on the desk between bursts of typing.

I know I am not alone.

There are others who are distraught at the idea of sitting still for five hours on a cross-country flight. I am not the only one who cringes at the thought of a road trip over three hours. The waiting room at the doctor’s/dentist’s/mechanic’s elicits a feeling akin to panic in many, for more reasons than the visit itself. What is a fidgeter like me to do in today’s “hurry up and wait” society?

Luckily, our dear friends in the hardware and game development community stepped up to the plate and alleviated our collective anxiety by creating Mobile Gaming. “Fidget no more!” they cry and hand over their wares. An entire world of gaming made to fit into, and enhance, our lives was born.

This new world of gaming goodness started with the tip of a toe in the water, with oldies such as Parker Brothers’ Merlin and Mattel’s Football. We have since plunged, head first, into a wide array of platforms and games to keep us entertained while we are on the go. In fact, some of you may be reading this on your handheld – we hear The Escapist reads quite well on the PSP.

Wherever and however you may be reading this, we are glad you have joined us for another week as we talk about Gaming on the Go. Tom Chick has weighed in on the PSP and the Nintendo DS, speaking about their respective functionalities and the games that best display them. Allen Varney has spoken with Greg Gorden, designer of the pen and paper DC Heroes, about how his past experiences have equipped him for his latest effort, Elder Scrolls: Shadowkey for the N-Gage. Sharing his particular take on the current mobile platform wars, Max Steele ponders the strategies of the various hardware developers. Find these articles, and more, in the next pages of The Escapist. First, be sure to take a look at what other readers are saying about us in the Letters to the Editor.

Cheers,