The Histories of Mobile Media and Mobile Gaming

Abstract

The mobile interface is now a multi-variant medium that incorporates a number of platforms—predominantly smartphones and tablets or pads supported by iOS and Android operating systems, but also inclusive of Nintendo and Sony portable game consoles and supported software. It also circumscribes an expanding range of use-contexts and, as we have suggested, is fast emerging as a significant space for gaming and playful social activities more broadly. Web-capable smartphones are rapidly becoming ubiquitous, and together with app-based media ecologies and the uptake of gamification strategies by businesses and developers, mobile games are now increasingly infused into our mundane day-to-day media and communication practices.