Mobile: IdeaWorks3D Partners For AirPlay 3.0

Author: by Justin Davis, Modojo.com

In a trio of announcements, London-based mobile game & mobile technology developer Ideaworks3D revealed today the third generation of the company's mobile game development middleware tool, AirPlay. The AirPlay tools are designed primarily with high-end, 3D game development in mind. IdeaWorks 3D noted that according to Gartner Game Group, the number of smartphone shipments, principally of devices based on Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile, "will increase by 66% to reach 81 million units in 2006." Furthermore, according to Jon Peddie Research, total phones with 3D hardware acceleration is expected to grow "from 135m units in 2006 to more than 435m units in 2010." It was also announced the OS-agnostic tools was being developed in partnership with technology company ARM to integrate ARM's RealView Compilation Tools and RealView Real-Time System Model into AirPlay 3.0. "The RealView tools, together with the Airplay solution, represent a uniquely powerful combination designed to combat platform fragmentation while delivering higher performance gaming to consumers,” ARM general manager of Development Systems Bryn Parry said. Completing today's AirPlay 3.0 announcements is IdeaWorks3D's announcement of a partnership with Texas Instruments to create an integrated game development platform based on TI's OMAP processor. The platform, combined with the AirPlay middleware, is intended to "...change the current mobile gaming development process by allowing developers to create one game which runs on leading open operating systems, including Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile," as well as decrease time and investment risk in high-end mobile titles. “The case for next generation mobile games rests on the ability of our industry to provide integrated tools and platforms that help developers diffuse their content across the widest range of mobile phones, without sacrificing game performance along the way,” Ideaworks3D CEO Alex Caccia said. AirPlay 3.0 is actually a collection of three modules: AirPlay Studio, for development itself, AirPlay System, for cross-platform porting, and AirPlay Online, for development of network connectivity, The OMAP gaming platform and the AirPlay 3.0 SDK are currently expected to be available Q1 2007.