GameJump
Usability: 
wap.gamejump.com (xhtml-mp)
GameJump is a mobile (wap.gamejump.com) and web site (GameJump.com) offering free downloadable ad-supported Java games. The site and service seems to be a raging success with 1.4 million downloads in it's first four months of operation. There are currently over 350 games available on GameJump. This success has not gone unnoticed with Greystripe, the company behind GameJump, winning Best in Show Overall at the Under the Radar Mobility Conference. In a comment to this MobileCrunch post, Andy Choi, Greystripe CTO, claims impressive 5-15% click through rates. Greystripe has also released some metrics where they report that the service is most popular in the US, UK, India, South Africa and Indonesia. It's pretty amazing that they can get that many off-portal downloads, particularly from US users who are notoriously reluctant leave the carrier deck. Also telling is the carrier breakdown with the largest US carrier, Cingular's 39% share barely beating much smaller T-Mobile's 30%. Could that be because T-Mobile charges $6/month for unlimited data compared with Cingular's $20. Yes, cheap unlimited data does drive mobile data adoption.
I gave the service a try and liked what I saw. First I downloaded a couple of games to my old Nokia 3650 from GameJump's mobile site. There is no registration required, you don't have to give GameJump any personal information, especially not your phone number so there are no worries about Text SPAM or premium SMS scams. The whole process was very smooth. GameJump correctly identified my phone but also allowed me to override and pick a device from a list if that was "Not my phone". Both downloaded games looked and worked well with attractive full screen graphics and good game play. When I launched the games there was a message to the effect that the game would occasionally use the phone's data connection to download new ads and I had to agree to allow this before I could start playing. I have an unlimited data plan so I was fine with this but I do appreciate the disclosure.
Next I downloaded a game from GameJump's Web Portal for side loading onto my Boost Mobile Motorola i855. I was pleased to see that GameJump lists games for all the Java capable iDEN phones all the way back to the i85. Unlike some sites, GameJump has both the .jar and the .jar files available for download, both of which are required by iDEN handsets. The game I downloaded for the i855 installed with no issues and again looked and played well. As with the mobile site, no registration is required to download games. You can register, all that's required is an e-mail address. Registration lets you review games and participate in GameJump's contests where you can win free phones.
You have probably never heard of most of the games on GameJump but the ones I downloaded were of commercial quality - much better than what you typically find on freeware game sites like GetJar.com and Midlet.org. GameJump has games in many genres like sports, action, adventure, casino, puzzle and retro. I'm not much of a gamer but I do like puzzle games and downloaded three, a well done version of the classic Same Game, BubbleTrouble which combines elements of Bejeweled and Same Game and Magic Crystals - a Tetris variant with particularly nice graphics. All three were easy to play, fun "casual" games with no run learning curve - ideal for killing a few minutes while waiting for a bus ,- .
About those ads, I was pleasantly surprised that the ads are not at all intrusive. GameJump says that they only display ads when you start or quit a game so as not to disrupt the playing experience. In over an hour of playing the three games I downloaded I only saw one ad. When I quit Same Game an ad appeared offering a $5.00 off coupon for an oil change if I entered an e-mail address. The option to decline was a little hard to find (in a menu linked to the left soft key) but it was there and choosing it ended the game with no nagging. Overall, I was quite pleased with the GameJump experience. I think these guys will do well.
More on GameJump from:
20-Jun-2011 Gamejump is out of business.
