Over a dozen wireless and mobile gaming industry heavyweights are collaborating on an open gaming architecture in support of “premium quality” native games on mobile phones based on TI's OMAP processors. The key objective is to provide a framework for platform-independent gaming software, according to TI (Texas Instruments).

The effort will be “well aligned with related industry standards, like Khronos,” according to TI's media relations program manager, Jennifer Anderson.

Athough no processor manufacturers other than TI are listed in TI's announcement of the initiative, Anderson says the architecture specification will be “hardware agnostic, and will be publicly available. Therefore, it may be implemented by any silicon vendor.”

In a press release about the initiative, TI said, “The architecture will be assessed and influenced by an ecosystem of gaming application developers to efficiently and openly support development, testing, and deployment of premium quality games on major high-level operating systems, including Microsoft Windows Mobile, Linux, Symbian OS, and mobile operators' terminal platforms like WIPI GIGA of SK Telecom.”

In addition to TI, the group's initial members include Activision, Digital Chocolate, Electronic Arts, Ideaworks3D, Konami, Microsoft, MontaVista Software, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Square Enix, Symbian Limited, and Tao Group.

According to TI, an open architecture will offer benefits all elements of the “gaming value chain” in the following ways:

• OS vendors will benefit from a “more compelling value proposition” of their platforms
• Developers and publishers will see higher and faster returns on gaming content investments
• Middleware companies will be able to create portable middleware and tool chains that allow developers to focus on game development rather than platform intricacies
• Handset manufacturers can expect higher phone replacement rates, as users upgrade handsets for an improved “gaming experience”
• Mobile operators can expect increased revenue through higher value applications and recurring revenue opportunities through subscriptions.
• Users will have access to a larger library of richer, top-console games with a “consistent, high-quality gaming experience,” regardless of operating system or mobile phone model

Reference implementation

TI said it plans to release a reference implementation of the new gaming architecture in the second half of 2006, based on its OMAP 2 architecture. TI SoCs based on OMAP 2 include its OMAP2420 and OMAP2430 parts, both of which support Linux-based devices including mobile phones.

 
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