Will Wireless Gaming Be a Winner?

February 1, 2007

Sumit Rohit ThakerSung Ho Hwang

Wireless gaming revenues

•In 2001▫US - $436.4 million▫East Asia - $827 million

•By 2006▫Worldwide - $17.5 Billion▫80% all mobile users will play games

Issues & Designed Difficulties•Limited Memory•Screen Resolution•Network Bandwidth•Will work on various handsets

▫Various screen size, color depths, APIs•Controls are single key presses•Need to develop new approaches &

techniques

New Approach – “Swerve”

•Usage: ▫Download relatively small amounts of data▫then use the processor & various algorithms to

build the rest of the file•Data Size

▫Single skill level on a standard game can take up less than 50Kbytes

▫Most Complex game rarely exceeds 100Kbytes.•Typical game – 2Mbytes only

Tile based rendering

•Technique:▫Partition a scene into small tiles, each of

which can be rendered independently.▫Most of the processing is done in the

graphics core of the processor•Advantage:

▫Can use simpler and more cost-effective memory technologies

Deferred Texturing•Technique:

▫Identifies surfaces in graphic elements that won’t be visible in a scene when it’s fully rendered

▫Discards that data before the scene is textured, lit, and shaded.

•Advantages:▫Eliminates redundant processing▫Requires less power & memory

3D Graphic Toolkit

•Developed by Intel•Uses shortcuts to approx. the floating-

point arithmetic, division, trig, etc.•Advantage:

▫Saves computational resources

Standardizing•Ericsson, Motorola, and Siemens•Define standardize APIs and software

development kits (SDKs) that developers could use to build games.

•Advantage:▫Save Time & Money▫Focus on the game▫Works on Multiple devices

Handheld-Gaming Platform

•Sun Microsystems’ Java 2 Platform, micro Edition (J2ME)▫Java and related tools to develop

applications▫J2ME-enabled device can run Java code▫Current offers

The Connected Limited Device Configuration The Connected Device Configuration

Handheld-Gaming Platform

•Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW)▫Wireless-application-development platform

for phones ▫Runs between the application and the

mobile chip’s OS software

Challenges

•Low US Interest▫Cultural and geographical differences

•Business Model▫Appropriate pricing level

•Technical Issues▫Unreliable connection

Future Potential

•Multiplayer Games▫The interactive experience

•Technology Advances▫Faster processors and networks▫Longer lasting batteries▫Shaper color screens

A Mobile Gaming Primer

•Early wireless games▫Function within minimal processing and

memory resource▫Wireless networks’ limited bandwidth

•Nowadays▫Processors that runs up to 400MHz and

hole up to 64Mbytes▫Store and run bigger and better games▫Larger screens and color display

Question