Making Phone Gaming Easier.

According to www.boygeniusreport.com has a great story on a new cellphone concept by "a mysterious Russian company named Industrial Design."

The phone, which looks like many of today's models, comes with a built in analog (yes, ANALOG) stick.

The "Compact Analog Thumb Stick" will give users a greater controllable experience than what is given now with the directional pad (d-pad).

The thumb stick, when not in use, is pushed in the center of the d-pad giving the appearance of standard phone models. It is when users give "a slight button push and turn [does] the [Compact Analog] Thumb Stick pulls out."

The future of gaming? In a sense, yes.

There are already games on portable devices. But as for games - such as first-person shooters or 3D adventures - on things like cellphones, iPods and PDA's, mobility was a hindrance.

If produced (and executed properly) this could be a huge step forward in portable device gaming.

How much will it cost?

Well that will probably be the kicker. A device like this would, upon time of release, be gouging much like the iPhone will.

But that's the price for better gaming, right? Hmm ... wonder if we'll ever see major game developers create something for it?

For now we have to see if it gets past development before we can think about games.

-R

*http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2007/02/10/pop-up-joystick-concept-aims-to-make-cellphone-gaming-more-accessible/#comments
*http://www.industrialdesign.ru/project_09_eng.html
*image courtesy of www.industrialdesign.ru