A Survey on Mobile Games Usage among the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) Students in Malaysia

The emerging of mobile games invites many researchers from all around the world to continue the studies related to this field. As in many countries especially Japan and Korea, mobile game is getting more attention from digital gamers as one of the most preferable type of digital games. One good reason that contributes to the success of mobile game is because of its mobility, which means gamers can play games at anytime and anywhere they wish for. In this paper, ire examine the usage of mobile game compared to other type of digital game such as console or arcade game in Malaysia. We also perform a series of analysis regarding to student preferences in every situation before a paradigm shifts from console or arcade game to mobile game. A survey on user preferences among students of Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) has been done to gather useful information and relevant data to support this paper. The survey showed that an overwhelming majority (60%) of the respondents prefer to play game in mobile phone. The questionnaire survey is part of an ongoing research study titled Mobile-Based Mental Skill Game Technology for Programming Course sponsored by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTT). The data that have been gathered from the survey were analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS), Release 13.0.0, to investigate the number and percentage of students that use mobile game.