E3: Nokia SNAPs up first customers for game platform

LOS ANGELES--Nokia used the E3 gaming expo as the forum to announce its first customers for its SNAP multi-player gaming solution, which has been built out of the networked gaming assets it acquired from Sega.

Japanese developer Taito has agreed to begin publishing mobile games on the SNAP mobile platform, which will allow multi-player real-time gaming sessions across different carrier networks. Taito publishes a lot of arcade classic games as well as social games. Specifically Taito has agreed to create a SNAP version of its hit game Bust-A-Move, launching late this year along with other game titles. Nokia also announced a relationship with one of the leading game publishers in the west, Gameloft. Though the two companies did not say whether Gameloft would be building games for the SNAP platform, they said they would collaborate on optimizing Gameloft’s extensive game portfolio for Nokia’s next-generation gaming platform featured on its new N-Series multimedia phone line.

The SNAP platform has both a server component and a community component. Games built on the platform can be used to play head-to-head or tournament matches through SNAP’s hosted platform, and the community aspect allows users to compare notes, review games, track high scores and communicate during gameplay. While Nokia plans to launch the service commercially this year, it has not announced a carrier partner yet. Other companies like InfoSpace have been offering community and hosted gaming portals since 2003.