Abstract
When Nintendo launched the Game Boy on the European market 25 years ago (1990), this first portable game console not only changed the entire computer game industry, but also influenced the media biography of many of today's 30 to 40-year-olds. At present, the social diffusion of smartphones and tablets seems to have triggered another significant development in the computer games market and in children's mobile gaming. At least, this is the impression one gets when observing the public discussion and the marketing of hardware and game manufacturers. But does the image of a children's game world conquered by smartphones and tablets really correspond to reality?
