Gundam, Katamari come to tilt-sensitive Japanese phones
No sooner does Japanese cell phone giant DoCoMo announce a new line of phones with tilt-sensitive controls then the game announcements come pouring in. Well, trickling in, at least. Bandai/Namco's You Are Gundam and Katamari Damacy will both take advantage of the phone's unique motion-sensitivity: the former by letting asking players to "[wave] the phone vigorously to match the character's movements;" and the latter by letting you move the eponymous sticky ball by tilting the phone.
While we're excited about the idea of new control schemes for cell phones, we're a little wary about the particular implementation being used here. DoCoMo's 904i series uses GestureTek's EyeMobile system to calculate tilt based on digital camera images, unlike the Wii and PS3 controllers, which use internal gyroscopes. An IGN review of EyeMobile-compatible 3D Tilt-a-World warns that the system fails "if your movements are too sudden for the game to translate" and that the setup requires "a well-lit area so the camera can get a good 'fix' on an image." Not to mention the inherent problem of keeping the phone steady on a bumpy subway ride.
Read - Katamari Damacy Mobile
Read - You Are Gundam
