Java Games Upgrade Announced

Sun Microsystems has announced the completion of the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP 2.0) standard and the availability of the final specification and beta version of the J2ME Wireless Toolkit 2.0. Developed by more than 50 wireless industry leaders worldwide MIDP 2.0 supports new and enhanced gaming, graphics, video, audio, security, and many other features for mobile devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants.

MIDP is the standard being used to develop Java Games for cell phones - and the upgrade offers developers several useful enahncements. The main additions are the ability for games to support multi-player services and to connect over internet connections - allowing for example the uploading of high scores in games to a central server.

"MIDP 2.0 is an important milestone in the evolution of mobile devices for both consumer-centric content vendors and corporations that are interested in developing and deploying secure end-to-end wireless enterprise services," said Alan Brenner, vice president, Consumer and Mobile Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "This will directly translate into new revenue opportunities for industry participants and give further impetus to Java's growth as a de facto standard for wireless data services."

More than 50 million Java-technology enabled handsets have already been shipped worldwide by major carriers, representing all the main wireless network systems. Twenty of the world's leading carriers currently offer 29 deployments of Java-technology based mobile services in Asia, Europe and the United States. More than 30 additional deployments are planned or in trial."

Posted to the site on 3rd December 2002