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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Multiplayer Computer Games are Big Business for Small Devices

Greg Flakus of voanews.com writes:

Millions of people are addicted to playing games on mobile devices, with rivals and teammates spread around the world. A company in Austin, Texas has developed such a game, known as a mobile multiplayer online game, for the Apple iPhone and iPad, basing it on a pen-and-paper game that was popular in the 1970s called Traveller.

Traveller AR is a game that takes players to the far corners of space on a small screen. The space ship exists in a virtual world of vast dimensions, but you see it on an iPhone.

Brothers Tony and Kieran Howlett grew up playing the old Traveller game and developed the online version at their Austin-based company, IngZ Inc.

Tony says they modified the game for remote, online players. “We create missions, we have what we call a mission system," he said.

Don Ballew of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, has been on many missions. “If you get bored, you can just pull your pad out and pick up right where you left off no matter where you are at," he said.

Ballew, who spoke to VOA via Skype, is a big Traveller AR fan and says he seldom has trouble finding another member of his player group. “We are scattered all over the world, so, in our little group, there is usually somebody online at some point in time during the day," he said.

While the game can be played as a peaceful venture, players can find their ship destroyed in a fight. “That's part of the thrill of the game, you never know what you are going to run into," said Ballew.

No problem, says Tony Howlett. His company sells ship insurance. “So if your ship blows up and everything on it blows up, you survive and we will give you a new ship, but it won't have any of the things you added to it," he said.

Although only a small percentage of players buy extra features, Kieran Howlett says being tied into Apple's large customer base makes it lucrative. “Once they approve you, you are in their store and you benefit from their resources and distribution, and then you have to follow their rules," he said.

Creating the virtual space world of Traveller AR was an undertaking that involved around 30 computer programers, as well as artists and designers.

Computer programer Chris Kauffman said, “It is a lot of different people working in a lot of different areas. I am not much of a visual artist, but I can take the pictures that you give me, and I can make them move around.”

Tony Howlett says the ultimate attraction of these role-playing games is the opportunity they give players to momentarily leave their ordinary life behind. “They may work a regular job during the day, but here they are in this giant space ship, and they are the king of the universe," he said.

Traveller AR is now in the beta testing phase, but it has already become one of the top 20 role-playing games in Apple's online store, and the Howlett brothers are working on other applications they hope will also meet with success online.

 

Originally published on voanews.com
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