Do You Play Games on Kindle?
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Chances are you know what the above image is all about. If you have owned a PC , you have probably played the minesweeper a few times. But what I didn’t expect when I got my Kindle was to have the very same game on it. It was an Easter egg, but one that could make me dream about seeing more games on my Kindle.
Now, Kindle has ways to go to catch up with the iPhone and PSP as far as graphics and hardware are concerned. And let’s not forget that Kindle is an ebook reader and not a gaming device. But I can easily see Amazon or third-party developers selling Kindle games in the Kindle store.
Creating simple games for the Kindle shouldn’t really require too much processing power. Amazon can and will improve Kindle’s processor, and that should be enough to allow folks to design simple Kindle games.
Having color screen (and touch screen) on Kindle is not a necessity but would be a great addition. We already know that Kindle 2.0 will come with the “gift of touch.” And you can expect current Kindle games to work with the new feature, so the opportunity is clearly there to develop more applications for Kindle.
The biggest challenge at this point is creating and SDK for Kindle. Amazon should take a page out of Apple’s handbook and create an SDK that gives developers enough wiggle room to get creative. But right now that looks so far away.
At this point, 2010 is the earliest we can expect such changes to happen. But will they?
What’s your take: would you like to see more games on Kindle?
