ICHIYA’s POP Eye – Mobile Games

　From Kyary Pamyu Pamyu Moshi Moshi Nippon’s “ICHIYA’s POP EYE”.
  Today’s topic is Mobile Games!
  In recent times, portable games for smartphones and mobile phones have been gaining popularity over video games for the home, and the world of small and compact is where Japan shines. 
  The first portable gaming device to have come out was a product called “Game and Watch” by Nintendo followed by products like Nintendo’s “Gameboy”, Bandai’s “Tamagotchi” and Sony’s “Playstation Portable”. In the last 10 years, games for mobile phones and smartphones have seen a rapid development. 

  The smartphone market has almost doubled in the last year and accounted for almost 50% of the overall games market. The international social game market is now worth $7 billion and half of this market is in Japan. It is developing into an enormous market.
  On top of that, the Japanese send on average, $20 a month on smartphone games, which is 50 times more than the average spent on American social media games like on Facebook. That’s 50 times. For some reason, Japanese users spend a substantial amount on mobile games. 
  As a matter of fact, Japan was the first country in the world to combine mobile phones and the Internet 15 years ago. Since then, the Japanese have enjoyed and have become familiar with playing games and shopping on their mobile phones even before the introduction of smartphones. The custom and social system to spend money on mobile phones has already been established. 

  Japanese mobile games are based on the technology developed for video games. The graphics and music is excellent, and games of a diverse range of genres have been developed, such as games where the player nurtures a character like “Tamagotchi” and farming games where the player grows vegetables.
  There is a game from Kyoto that allows players to visit tourist attractions in Kyoto. The game merges the real historic locations with the world in your smartphone. It is a serious endeavor undertaken to revive the towns in the area through games. Attempting to revitalize towns using the power of pop culture is typical of Japan and and interesting isn't it? 

  There aren’t many cruel games in Japan. Games involving bloodshed or killing is rare. Instead, the Japanese want to develop games that can be enjoyed by different generations, like nurturing and dating games. 
  There are serious games too, for example, educational games for brain training. These are games that allow the player to do number exercises in a game setting and these series have several million copies worldwide. There are researches being done on the effects games can have on the revitalization of the brain. There are schools that use these games during class everyday. They are used in retirement homes as well. 

   Japan will continue to create fun mobile games. Don’t miss them.