Mobile gaming contest rocks Oman

“The Gamer Challenge 2006,” organised by Oman Mobile in association with Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) Communications and Information Research Centre, has generated immense interest among the mobile gaming enthusiasts in the Sultanate. Last year also, the contest had evoked widespread enthusiasm among the mobile gaming community in Oman.

The contest entails development of mobile game concepts by the student groups and then sending the winning team for advanced training in mobile game development abroad. Last years’ winners were sent to China to learn the finer points of the mobile game development from the professional game developers. The winning entry ‘Forts Adventure’ was developed into a full-fledged mobile game and it was launched by Oman Mobile on its network in December last year. The game concept was based on the character ‘Khalfan’ who learned many anecdotes from his grandfather about forts encompassing a lucrative treasure. He decides to hunt it out in the numerous local forts and castles. However, he eventually comprehends that the treasure his grand father meant was the wonderful architectural endeavours of his great grandfathers’ enchanting the forts and castles.

This year the contest has been introduced on a much wider canvas. The ten nominees were selected in February among the participants from colleges operating in Muscat Governorate: namely the Caledonian College, Muscat College, Middle East College, and Modern College of Business & Science in addition to Sultan Qaboos University. Oman Mobile has selected this time the community interaction in the voting for the winning group.

This trend will encourage the participants to excel as well creating an interaction and motivation for further enhancement and betterment.

This year the winners will be rewarded with an all expenses paid trip to Amsterdam, Nokia Communicator 9300 and Sony PSP with one game. The winning group will be announced in 19 March 06 at a special ceremony planned to be organized at the SQU, as well honouring the other participating groups where the top three as well public audience will be awarded prizes.

Mobile gaming is turning into a huge industry worth US$1.5 billion globally and growing a fast pace. According to ABI Research, "recent efforts by mobile gaming giants to develop an open gaming architecture in order to reduce development fragmentation will open the doors to more content for consumers and overall higher revenues for game downloads" in the mobile market, and an increasing consolidation between the traditional videogames market and the wireless sector adds weight to the company's assertions.

If 2005 was the year that mobile gaming went 3D and broadband, 2006 will be the year that mobile gaming gets big. Not in terms of the size of the cell phone screen, of course. But in terms of game capacity, pricing, audience and the size of publishers entering the market. While 2006 will see changes in terms of the mobile sector's audience and the hi-end games available, one thing that won't change from 2005 are the two highest hurdles that developers will face - gaining access to the cell phone deck and porting games to an ever-growing number of handset models.