LOS ANGELES-Wireless watchers were inundated with news on the wireless gaming front coming out of the Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show, with Nokia Corp. in the lead and continuing to beat the drums for its N-Gage mobile-phone/video-game device.
Nokia reported further details about the device, which was first unveiled late last year. The company said the device is scheduled to start shipping throughout much of the world by October and that a total of 20 games will be available for the device by the end of the year, including “Tony Hawk Pro Skater” from Activision Inc. and “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” from Gameloft. Interestingly, Nokia will also produce its own games for the device, the first of which will be “Pathway to Glory” released early next year. The device will sell for around $300, according to reports.
Nokia however is not the only company looking to cash in on the handheld gaming market, currently dominated by Nintendo and its Game Boy device. PlayStation maker Sony Corp. announced it will offer a portable gaming device, the PSP, late next year, and Tapwave said it will sell a handheld gaming device that uses the Palm Inc. operating system. Neither the Sony nor the Tapwave devices are mobile phones; however, the Tapwave Helix device will feature Bluetooth technology. That the portable gaming market is expanding is no surprise-Nintendo has sold more than 140 million Game Boys since its introduction in 1989.
In addition, wireless gaming publisher Jamdat Mobile Inc. continued its momentum in the wireless industry with the announcement it acquired mobile gaming company Hexacto Games Inc. The move is notable because Hexacto develops games for Palm and Pocket PC-based devices, while Jamdat has so far focused on the mobile-phone market.
“We see tremendous synergies between our respective brands, distribution channels and studio resources that, when integrated, will enable our organization to be more capable and competitive than ever,” said Mitch Lasky, Jamdat’s chief executive officer.
The move is the latest example of consolidation in the nascent gaming and wireless content market. Jamdat last year acquired the multiplayer gaming assets of DemiVision L.L.C., and rival Mforma last year bought gaming company nGame.
In other gaming related news:
- Jamdat said it scored a deal with the NBA to develop and distribute downloadable NBA-branded basketball games for wireless phones and will sell its “NBA One-on-One” through Verizon Wireless;
- Face2face Animation Inc. said it will combine its technology with HI Corp. to offer a three-dimensional face animation and rendering product by the end of this year;
- Nextel Communications Inc.’s mobile virtual network operator Boost Mobile showed off a range of Java-based games it plans to sell, including titles from games developers Chasma, HelloNetwork, Sorrent and Thumbworks;
- Wireless entertainment company Digital Bridges said it is developing games for Qualcomm Inc.’s BREW application download service;
- Wireless technology company Summus Inc. said it will team with ZIO Interactive to offer five new wireless games in North America;
- Sprint PCS announced it will sell games from Sorrent and will also team with Wireless Gaming Review to offer its customers reviews of available downloadable games;
- Mforma said it scored the rights to distribute wireless video games based on Marvel’s X-Men by Activision, in conjunction with the release of the movie “X2:X-Men United.” Mforma also said it acquired the exclusive, worldwide rights to develop games and other content based on the forthcoming movie “The Italian Job”;
- And finally, mobile marketing company Enpocket said it will offer a text messaging marketing campaign to promote the new movie “2 Fast 2 Furious.”
