Along with the announcement of the new Snapdragon S4 processors, Qualcomm has revealed their plans to launch a game showcase application to the Android Market, called Snapdragon GameCommand. GameCommand will feature Snapdragon optimized games in one easily accessible app, similar to how Nvidia promotes their Tegra 2 (soon Tegra 3) titles with the Tegra Zone app.
The new gaming titles being introduced as part of the extended Snapdragon GamePack and the new Snapdragon GameCommand app are all expected to hit the Android Market in early 2012. Additions to the Snapdragon GamePack include several new, exclusive gaming titles that will be available through the Android Market, and which will initially be designed to operate exclusively on Android-enabled devices powered by Snapdragon processors.
• “The Ball” from Tripwire Interactive, which has earned several accolades including PC Gamer’s 2010 Action-Adventure Game of the Year, is built on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 and is debuting for the first time ever on mobile
• “Fight Game Heroes” from Khaeon Gamestudio
• “GALAGA Special Edition,” the 30th anniversary edition of the perennial arcade favorite from NAMCO BANDAI Games.
Unfortunately, this means Qualcomm will have exclusivity on certain games when they first launch, much like Nvidia (Tegra) and Sony Ericsson (Xperia Play). In other words, more fragmentation for the Android gaming world. While we’re happy to see a gaming push on Qualcomm’s part, we’re not thrilled about the whole idea of temporary exclusives within the same platform. Such strategy could be hurting Android gaming in general.
Source: Qualcomm
