Analysis on Types of Mobile Games Played among the IHL Students in Malaysia HAFIZULLAH AMIN HASHIM, SITI HAFIZAH AB HAMID, MAS IDAYU MD SABRI Faculty of Computer Science and Technology University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA hafizullah.amin@mimos.com.my , sitihafizah@um.edu.my , masidayu@um.edu.my Abstract: - Mobile phones are no longer a luxury but are now considered a necessity by its users. Many applications are developed to replace electronic devices and extra ‘baggage’ that people used to carry around with them. A mobile phone now also serves as a planner, camera, music player, video player, gaming console, calculator and other useful gadgets. Mobile gaming is getting more attention from gamers as one of the most preferable type of digital games. One good reason that contributes to the success of mobile game is because of its mobility, which means gamers can play games anytime and anywhere. In this paper, we examine the usage of mobile games as compared to other types of digital games such as console or arcade games in Malaysia. We also perform a series of analysis regarding to students preferences in every gaming phase from console or arcade games to mobile games. A survey on user preferences among students of Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) has been done to gather useful information and relevant data to support this paper. The survey showed that an overwhelming majority (60%) of the respondents prefer to play games on mobile phone. The data that have been gathered from the survey were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), Release 13.0.0, to investigate the number and percentage of students that use mobile games. The future direction of this study is discussed at the end of the paper. Key-Words: - Mobile game, mobile learning, mobile phone, programming 1 Introduction Be it online, offline or on a mobile device, gaming is an industry that is growing and catching up speed. At the same time, mobile phones which are being used as a platform for games are becoming a necessity for the public. A growing body of research [1] indicates that mobile technologies can be an effective tool in catering for students in a digital age and there are signs of the motivating potential and possible learning gains of games played on mobile devices with young adult audiences. The market for mobile games is an important growth area for the games industry. There are estimated to be 1.5 billion mobile phones in the world today [2]. This is more than three times the number of personal computers (PCs), and today’s most sophisticated phones have the processing power of mid-1990s PC. The market for mobile games is an important growth area for the games industry. The market is predicted to grow rapidly with the convergence of mobile technologies and as mobile applications become less constrained by device limitation. Last generation of mobile devices have higher definition color screen, enhanced memory and many more functionalities, which in turn makes mobile gaming more appealing. The development cost which is lower for mobile games than for games on traditional platforms contributes to its popularity. Furthermore, most new phones now include preloaded games, and all but the cheapest models offer downloading additional games. There are large numbers of games available on the market to be purchased and downloaded for only a few Ringgit Malaysia (RM) each. Mobile phone companies are competing with each other to provide the latest and most sophisticated mobile phone models to users. With the increasing number of mobile phone models, the number of mobile games is also getting higher. With this growing interest in mobile gaming, phone companies are starting to develop mobile phone which doubles as a gaming device. The ultimate example is the Nokia N-Gage QD game deck, which is primarily a portable games machine but can also be used as a phone. Therefore, with the sophistication and affordability of mobile technologies and applications, it also gives a good impact on the educational area. Mobile phone is WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on INFORMATION SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS Hafizullah Amin Hashim, Siti Hafizah Ab Hamid, Mas Idayu Md Sabri ISSN: 1790-0832 349 Issue 4, Volume 5, April 2008