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 N-Gage will ship throughout much of the world by October and that a total of 20 games will be available for the device by holiday season, including “Tony Hawk Pro Skater” from Activision Inc. and “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell” from Gameloft. Interestingly, Nokia will 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.
But Nokia isn’t 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 device features mobile-phone functions; however, the Tapwave Helix device will offer Bluetooth technology for multiplayer gaming. 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 other major gaming news, wireless gaming publisher Jamdat Mobile Inc. continued its momentum in the wireless industry with the acquisition of 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 acquisition 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.
Such maneuvering comes as no surprise; many industry firms predict wireless gaming will become the next big opportunity in wireless. The Zelos Group forecasts the market for downloadable wireless games in the United States will grow from about $40 million this year to more than $380 million in 2007, totaling 27 million players.
In other gaming related news:
c 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.
c 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.
c Wireless technology company Summus Inc. said it will team with ZIO Interactive to offer five new wireless games in North America.
c 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.”
c Sega Mobile, a division of Sega.com Inc., said it will sell its content over Handango’s own Web site and the various download portals it manages, including Yahoo! and Wireless Gaming Review. Sega’s games will sell for between $3 and $6.
c Qualcomm Inc. lined up several companies to provide content for its BREW application download service, including Digital Bridges, Thumbworks Inc. and Airborne Entertainment Inc.
c And on the carrier side, 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.
c 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.
c Finally, The Mobile Entertainment Forum, which represents many of the wireless gaming companies, at the E3 trade show announced it will form a new initiative to drive mobile communities, which allow users to communicate with other people through applications or services over mobile phones.
