Trip Hawkins is a mythical figure in the video game business, having founded Electronic Arts more than 20 years ago. His latest venture is Digital Chocolate, which he hopes will become the EA of mobile games. I don’t pay a ton of attention to mobile gaming, but I find Hawkins’ thinking to generally be good stuff. He’s quoted over RCR News, talking about some new DC games that eschew fancy graphics and gameplay for social connection.

There’s a market for high-quality mobile gaming, just ask Sony. But as Hawkins points out, it’s probably not on the mobile phone. While it’s certainly possible to make some very graphically slick games on phones, the PSP, or whatever, is always going to be slicker. But the phone is still a relatively unique platform in that it offers a constant network connection, and that’s where it can make up the difference.

What Digital Chocolate’s thinking sounds like casual games meets multiplayer, and an interesting facet here is that these types of games probably won’t appeal to your hardcore 15-year-old boy gamer — but that’s sort of the point. These are the kinda of games that will have a much wider appeal. Flashy? No. Successful? I’d predict yes.