Reflecting their rocketing rise in popularity, smartphones and tablet computers like the iPad have stolen the spotlight at the annual Tokyo Game Show that opened to the media Thursday.
This year, the show includes a booth featuring game software designed for smartphones and other new handhelds.
Invited guests jostled to test-fly an AR.Drone quadricopter, a helicopter-like remote-controlled device that is flown by tilting and turning an iPhone.
After downloading a free app to their iPhone, players control the flying disc through a wireless LAN connection that relays images to the iPhone screen. Using live video streaming, players can engage in virtual dogfights or races with other AR.Drone owners.
Industry watchers say new forms of online gaming on handheld PCs and smartphones are likely to redraw the gaming map.
Traditional videogame makers, which sell software games coupled with hardware such as Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox, aren't taking this sitting down. Many are pumping up the game experience by unleashing motion-sensor systems and three-dimensional games.
Of the 712 software titles being exhibited at this year's Tokyo Game Show in Makuhari Messe in Chiba through Sunday, roughly 10 percent are designed for new information devices.
At Apple Inc.'s iPad and iPhone booth, game designer Konami Digital Entertainment Co. unveiled its newest games. Next door, games for devices that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system were on show.
Industry watchers point out that with the new devices, owners don't need to buy hardware costing tens of thousands of yen. Instead, they can simply download games from the Web for free or up to 1,000 yen ($12).
Now, people who previously did not play videogames are being enticed to play. According to Enterbrain Inc., a publisher of gaming magazines, sales of packaged software in 2009 fell more than 10 percent from three years earlier to 320 billion yen, while online game downloads reaped sales of 230 billion yen, a 50 percent increase over the same period.
Apple Inc. opened the floodgates with its popular information devices.
With online software, manufacturers don't have to worry about distribution or inventory costs, even though the per-unit value is much lower than for packaged games, which sell for several thousands of yen.
For game makers, the choice is difficult as a drastic shift to online sales could destabilize their business.
However, Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix Holdings Co., says the future is online.
"Five years down the road, games that don't include a networking function will disappear," Wada said. He added that businesses need to begin thinking about business models to cope with the change, and other challenges.
Meanwhile, the traditional game makers are trying to keep their core game fans happy by adding new features.
At the Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft unveiled the Kinect system, which is due out for its Xbox 360 game console in November. The software monitors a player's body movements using sensors and a camera, and allows interactive games to be played without a control device. People were lined up at the Kinect booth waiting for their chance to play virtual beach volleyball or other games. Some waited for over an hour and a half.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., meantime, is pinning its luck on a new control system for its PlayStation 3 games. With the wave of a control stick, the player engages in interactive sword duels or plays tennis using the Move software. Sony said it has created 35 software games for the Move system.
The company is hoping to couple Move with its existing lineup of 3-D games to create "unrivaled appeal," officials said.
