Free (mediocre) Cell Phone Games! Rejoice!

Since I finally got with the 21st Century and bought a cell phone I’ve slowly been discovering that some of the games available aren’t crap. Okay, the 3D stuff is still pretty clunky and ports of action-intensive stuff like Metal Slug are more than a little tough to play on a keypad. But there are fine, shiny gems out there and no, that is not a reference to Bejeweled or any other simple puzzle game.

The problem with discovering the games worth playing is that they still cost money. Even if it’s only $7-$10, a dud is still a dud. Enter GameJump.com.

The new site allows users to download games for free thanks to the burgeoning “here’s your free stuff, now watch these ads” business model. Yeah, it’s lame and it sure didn’t work for the Gizmondo, but for free cell phone games I think it could work. It also helps that the ads aren’t totally intrusive. A two-second ad appears at the beginning and end of your game; there’s nothing that randomly pops up in the middle.

Of course, while the ads are free the airtime isn’t. GameJump.com requires mobile web or e-mail access in order to download the games. Alternatively, you can download a game and then send it to your phone via bluetooth or USB and that’s pretty nice of them to offer.

The catch, for me, is that my phone carrier isn’t supported. So far GameJump only works through Sprint, T-Mobile, and Cingular. Should they ad Verizon to the mix anytime soon I’ll definitely check it out. If anyone stops by for a free game of ‘Brick Annoyed!’ or ‘1805: French Empire’ let us know how it goes.