Greg Costikyan, writer and game designer/guru, is an interesting character. I worked on a computer game he designed a few years back, which was brilliant. Unfortunately, the thing didn't take off, but I got a good look at a guy who knows how to design fun games. He's moved into the mobile world, specifically multiplayer mobile, and seems to be a bit pessimistic about its prospects. One of the primary problems is that the networks are not designed for multiplayer games. I can tell you from my own experience in mobile that he's correct. GPRS is a dog to configure on most carriers, and when you do have it configured it doesn't do a very good job of handling a multiplayer game's traffic requirements. Still, Costikyan's new gig as Nokia advisor should help a bit — if they actually take his advice.
