我并不是怀疑《马里奥》的魅力或者任天堂的设计水平，但是我真的感觉如果任天堂在发行《超级马里奥64》没有搭配发布一款游戏掌机（即N64)，那么这款游戏也许就不可能获得惊人的销量。如果单看这款游戏，其本身就存在着一定的缺陷。我的意思是，很多人虽然认为N64能够有效衬托这款游戏，但是其实这并不是它的预期用途，因为为了一款游戏而特别制作一台掌机实在是非常昂贵的代价。

如果任天堂并未寻找最适合的零售店发售《超级马里奥64》，那么情况将会变得更糟糕（游戏邦注：作者认为《超级马里奥64》能够在零售店售出，纯粹是出于运气，因为用户来买其他游戏时会碰巧看到《超级马里奥64》）。如果没有一台合适的掌机或者一家零售店，《超级马里奥64》将永远不可能获得成功，而所有玩家也仍然无缘接触掌机中的3D游戏。

html5 logo(from conceivablytech.com)

但是我却非常好奇，为何HTML5游戏却还不能点燃大众玩家的激情？虽然我并不是说HTML5游戏等同于《超级马里奥64》这种需要具备一定支付和盈利机制才能够最终发行的游戏，但是我确信，这些机制是这种新技术游戏所必须具备的基本内容。

这好比是经典的鸡生蛋，蛋生鸡的问题，迄今为止还没有出现一款一鸣惊人的HTML5游戏，是因为还未有一个具有影响力市场去销售这些游戏，且并未出现一个强大的内容平台发布这些游戏，而出现这种情况的原因又是此类游戏的数量又尚未多到足以催生出这种平台。Facebook采取的做法是将经过优化的HTML5内容带到现有的智能手机平台上，很显然可让这种新技术获得强势立足点的环境尚未成熟。

Zipline Games首席执行官Todd Hooper曾表示，HTML5实际上更像是一个各大会的关注话题，而非所有开发者都能加以利用的一种工具。他表示如今尚未出现一款可匹配HTML5宣传势头的HTML5产品，而我们也确实很难反驳他的观点。但我却认为，这并不是说HTML5不是一种开发手机游戏的新工具，只是说明开发者暂时无法从中获益，至少对于游戏来说是这样。

Facebook的举措向开发者施加了压力，让他们必须从iOS原生应用版本或通过Facebook iOS应用运行的HTML5版本中做出选择。对于开发者来说，他们没有必要同时选择这两个版本，因为当Facebook应用在Facebook中进行检索时，检测某应用拥有一个iOS版本，它就会自动将用户引进苹果App Store中，以便他们快速找到原生应用版本。这不只是一种步骤繁琐且让人厌烦的用户体验，同时它也因此破坏了HTML5应用程序在用户心中的价值。Facebook的观点是，必须让那些未拥有相关技能知识的用户直接获得原生的应用程序。

如果开发者希望针对不同设备开发兼具原生版本和网络版本的应用，那么他便不能将网络版本推到Facebook上，因此这也说明该应用必须放弃与Facebook相关的所有社交功能以及病毒式传播机制（更别说Facebook中的支付系统）。如今，除了苹果，我们很难再找到一个能够打败Facebook的平台。

但是，HTML5带给手机游戏的利益还是非常明显的，现在也不宜过早将HTML5贬为一种技术炒作。同时我们也必须清楚，HTML5并不会像人们所猜测的那样遏制原生应用的发展——开发者其实可以制作一款HTML5应用，然后按照原生应用的方式在App Store或者Android Marketplace上发布。一个很典型的例子便是Tagplay最新发行的社交游戏《Funpark Friends》便是一款同时支持iOS，Android以及基于网页的HTML5版本的跨平台游戏。

如今的智能手机和平板电脑发展势头非常猛烈，而直到今天我也仍然是iOS设备的忠实用户。当第一部iPhone问世的时候，乔布斯便声称iPhone比竞争对手领先了好几年，而事实也证明了他的观点是对的。但要注意的是，现在几年时间已经过去了，这个领域中的竞争却愈演愈烈。我希望在年底能够拥有垂涎已久的Kindle Fire和诺基亚Lumia Windows Phone手机，而且我也希望这两个设备上的内容都能够与我现在所拥有的iOS设备兼容。

不论HTML5是不是一种技术炒作，我想翘首期盼这种优良用户体验的人肯定不止我一个。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Give HTML5 a chance…

I don’t seek to diminish Mario’s charms or the game design mastery of the shadowy Nintendo overlords in any way, but I have a feeling Super Mario 64 probably wouldn’t have sold nearly so many copies had Nintendo not simultaneously launched a console to play it on. The game on its own probably would have been a bit of a flop. I mean, there’s a strong argument for N64 cartridges making for rather excellent drinks coasters, but that’s really not their intended use and it would have been a very expensive way to keep one’s mugs from marking the coffee table.

It would have been even worse if Nintendo had also neglected to find retail outlets to sell Super Mario 64 in – outlets where people who were already there to buy other games might chance upon it. Nope, I don’t care what you say, without a console to play it on or a shop to buy it in, Super Mario 64 would not have been a success and the world would have remained ignorant to the wonders of 3D gaming done right on a console.

So why then is it any surprise that HTML5 games are not yet setting the world alight? I’m not going to argue that there is the Super Mario 64 equivalent HTML5 gaming product just waiting to be unleashed should the proper mechanisms for delivery and monetization appear, but I do think those mechanisms are a fundamental pre-requisite to the technology’s successful adoption.

It’s a classic chicken egg situation where there are no big HTML5 products that really deliver on the promise of the tech because there is no obvious, highly visible marketplace to deliver them from, and no good content delivery platforms because the content doesn’t exist in sufficient quantities to justify such platforms yet. Throw into that mix the utter car crash that is Facebook’s approach to bringing mobile optimized HTLM5 content to smartphones and it’s clear that the nurturing environment that the tech needs to gain a strong foothold, just isn’t there yet.

Last week Zipline Games CEO, Todd Hooper, claimed that HTML5 is more of a conference topic than it is a real thing that actual games developers are using. His assertion is that there is very little product that delivers on the hype and it’s hard to disagree with him. The problem as I see it though isn’t that HTML5 isn’t a useful new tool for mobile games development, it’s that it just isn’t that easy to leverage its benefits yet – at least not for games.

The Facebook approach pressures developers to make the choice between having a native application that is iOS specific or a mobile optimized HTML5 version delivered through the iOS Facebook app. There is little point in having both because if the Facebook App detects that there is an iOS version of the application when it is searched for within facebook, it auto redirects the user to the Apple App Store so they can grab the native copy. Not only is this a horrible user experience with an uncomfortable number of steps in the process, but it undermines the value of the HTML5 apps in the minds of consumers. To the non-tech savvy, the user learns that where possible, Facebook thinks you should go native.

The work around, if a developer absolutely needs to have both native and web-based versions of its application available on a range of different devices, is to not host the web version on Facebook and hence forgo all of the social features and opportunities for viral discovery (not to mention Facebook’s payment systems) that are associated with that. It’s hard to see who wins with Facebook’s current approach, apart from Apple of course.

But the benefits HTML5 offers for mobile games are still tangible and to dismiss the tech as hype is a bit premature. It’s also important to remember that HTML5 doesn’t preclude native applications the way many people assume – sometimes it makes sense to create the application in HTML5 and then bundle it inside a native launcher and sell it on the App Store or Android Marketplace (don’t ask me how, I’m not a developer, the sight of raw code gives me nose bleeds). A great example of this approach done right is Tagplay’s newest social offering Funpark Friends, which sports iOS, Android and web-based HTML5 versions which are all entirely cross platform. But I don’t want this to turn into an “HTML5 GAMEZ ARE TOT8LLY THE FUTEREZ” post, so I’ll move on.

Given that it kick-started the current smartphone and tablet paradigm, I’ve largely been exclusively an iOS device user up until this point. When the first iPhone was unveiled, Steve Jobs claimed it was years ahead of the competition, and he was right. The thing is, years have now passed and the competition is really upping its game. By the end of the year, I hope to have myself both a Kindle Fire and a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone to drool over and I want those devices to play nice with my existing iOS devices.

HTML5 is the technology that will make that possible and hype or no hype, I’m sure I’m not the only gadget magpie in techland looking for that user experience.（source:frasermacinnes）