Ready, Set … Standards

If you’re a wireless games developer or a carrier, don’t pass go and don’t even think about collecting $200, or any other revenue, before ensuring your games can be distributed and played across multiple wireless networks, servers and devices.

Or at least, that’s the rule a new group wants the industry to follow in the future.

Four wireless handset makers have teamed up to form the Mobile Games Interoperability (MGI) Forum to define a wireless games interoperability specification that will allow game developers to produce and deploy wireless games that can be distributed across multiple servers and networks, as well as played over different devices.

Ericsson (www.ericsson.com), Motorola (www.motorola.com), Nokia (www.nokia.com) and the Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (IC Mobile) (www.siemens-mobile.de/mobile) launched the MGI Forum to create common standards for wireless games and promote an open approach to the gaming market.

“The mobile games market represents an attractive opportunity to games developers, publishers and providers alike,” said Ilkka Raiskinen, Nokia vice president, mobile applications and services. “By supporting open standards and interoperability, we are ensuring that all parties, and especially mobile game players, will benefit.”

The MGI Forum evolved out of the “Universal Mobile Games Platform” initiative, first announced in March by Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens IC Mobile. With the formation of the MGI Forum, the founding members reinforce a joint commitment to the wireless games market and will work to define application programming interfaces (APIs), which will allow developers to produce and deploy games over wireless networks in a client/server model.

The group’s goal is to specify a global standard and develop certification procedures to encourage its wide adoption. The MGI Forum will work with and provide recommendations to the appropriate standards bodies and forums to ensure an open environment for developing wireless games.

The four founding companies said the forum will play central role in setting up 3G game services, which are important facilitators in the future success of the wireless Internet.

“The games and entertainment environment is key to the development of mainstream success in GPRS and 3G for operators, manufacturers and developers,” said Tim Krauskopf, Motorola’s Internet Software and Content Group vice president and general manager, core solutions.

(The MGI Forum) “will play an important part in creating the conditions for developers to produce and deploy mobile games quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively."

Games and network gaming services have emerged as a hot growth area for the industry, and carriers are expecting wireless Internet access, software downloads and games will produce premium profits and service fees.

According to Siemens IC Mobile, the forum wants to facilitate multi-player games availability anytime, anywhere and across multiple devices and platforms.

“Mobile gaming is not only about ‘just playing’ but encompasses a rich entertainment experience that includes various application segments such as messaging and location-based services,” said Thorsten Heins, Siemens IC Mobile Group president of solutions.

“When smartly combined, it will raise end users’ loyalty and help boost operator revenues."

The MGI Forum said it’s already working with one tool-developing company, Metrowerks ( www.metrowerks.com), to create software development kits for developers.

The forum encourages the entire wireless gaming community, including game publishers and developers, platform vendors, service providers, wireless carriers, device and infrastructure manufacturers, and service integrators, to join. Email mgif@mchp.siemens.de for more information.