aJile Systems has developed a way for companies that develop Java Games for mobile phones to also sell them for use in the Nintendo Game Boy Advance players. aJile's JAMiD game development kit is also the first platform to use Sun's latest MIDP 2.0 technology, which offers advanced audio and graphics features to Java mobile game developers.
Expanding the market for Java Games should make it easier for games developers to get a return on their investment, and could encourage some Nintendo developers to move to working with MIDP, which would lead to more games being made available for mobile phone users. The main issue will be how much re-coding will be needed to make an existing game work with the JAMiD interface.
The key component of the JAMiD kit is the Java game cartridge, which plugs into the external card slot on any Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, bringing Java capabilities to the world's most popular mobile game player. The JAMiD cartridge will allow users to run MIDP games while listening to MP3 music, both of which can be downloaded from dozens of Internet sites.
The JAMiD cartridge includes aJile's high-performance direct execution aJ-100 Java microprocessor, an MP3 audio player, and all of the necessary memory and interface hardware to download and run MIDP-compatible games and MP3 audio. aJile is selling the JAMiD as a complete development kit with software tools that enable game developers to rapidly create MIDP game titles for Game Boy handhelds. aJile is also negotiating with OEMs in Asia, Europe and North America to manufacture and merchandise consumer versions of the JAMiD game cartridge.
"aJile firmly believes that Java will be at the heart of mobile gaming, entertainment and interactive commerce. And we believe that mobile handsets, game players and computing devices should all have access to a common source for MIDP games," said aJile Vice President of Marketing Danh Le Ngoc. "For the first time, aJile's JAMiD game development kit links the huge Java development community with the enormous Game Boy(r) user community. We expect that consumer products based on our JAMiD cartridge will bring wireless and peer-to-peer gaming and entertainment to the millions-strong stand-alone game player market."
Posted to the site on 7th March 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/8435.php