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Enhanced Platform Simplifies Development Process to Quickly Deliver Games to
Multiple Handset Market Segments
Texas Instruments and Ideaworks3D 'OpenKODE(R)-Ready' OMAP(TM) Gaming Platform
to Drive Premium Multimedia and Gaming Capabilities
DALLAS, March 1 -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) (TI) and Ideaworks3D
are extending the capabilities of the OMAP(TM) Gaming Platform to support the
OpenKODE(R) 1.0 specification, addressing a wider market targeting feature phones
to high-end multimedia handsets. This platform will be one of the first in the
industry to incorporate the OpenKODE Khronos Open Development Environment to further
simplify the development and deployment of new games across multiple mobile phone
segments, creating a larger market opportunity for game publishers.
To enable developers to address the broadest possible market, the gaming platform
has been expanded to include TI's OMAP2 and OMAP-Vox(TM) product families. Additionally,
the offering spans both accelerated and non- accelerated 3D graphics solutions
using a common development and deployment environment through Ideaworks3D's Airplay(TM)
software.
The Ideaworks3D Airplay SDK is optimized to take advantage of TI's OMAP2430 and
OMAPV1030 processor capabilities, while maintaining cross- platform portability.
The SDK on TI's OMAP2430 processor takes advantage of hardware-enabled 3D graphics
to provide a premium gaming experience. The Airplay SDK on TI's OMAPV1030 processor
utilizes software graphics renderers to enable compelling casual games for the
feature phone market. Both platforms exceed the performance guidelines being defined
in a mobile gaming white paper currently under development by the Open Mobile
Alliance(TM) Games Services working group. The platform will scale to support
future standards such as OpenGL(R) ES 2.0 with TI's OMAP 3 product family.
"Game developers will see dramatic reductions in development costs by utilizing
the TI and Ideaworks3D gaming platform," said Alex Caccia, CEO, Ideaworks3D. "We
have found that game developers can achieve up to 60 percent cost savings for
development and porting of mobile games using Airplay SDK on TI's OMAP and OMAP-Vox
platforms."
One of the most significant benefits of the TI and Ideaworks3D solution is that
it changes the current mobile gaming development process by allowing developers
to create one game binary which runs on leading open operating systems, including
Symbian OS(TM), Linux(R) and Microsoft(R) Windows Mobile(R). This enables the
same code to run on a range of handsets with performance on par with other native
applications.
"Support for open standards including OpenKODE, OpenGL ES and the OMA mobile
gaming white paper is important to advance the development of mobile games," said
Avner Goren, marketing director of Texas Instruments Cellular Systems Solutions.
"We view these open standards as vital to the success of the mobile gaming market
and TI will continue to enhance the mobile gaming platform with Ideaworks3D to
help developers quickly deliver new and compelling games to market."
For handset manufacturers and operators there are distinct benefits to using
the combined TI and Ideaworks3D gaming platform. This includes a reduction in
porting costs and development time, as well as enabling the development of higher
quality games that can be used on a broader range of handsets. Due to the portability
benefits of the gaming platform, handset manufacturers can instantly tap into
a larger catalog of mobile games by integrating the Airplay SDK into their products,
rather than porting and validating games on each new handset. For operators, the
Airplay SDK allows premium native games to be delivered to handsets using their
existing Java- based content delivery platforms. The robust security mechanisms
provided by TI's M-Shield(TM) technology ensures that platform security is maintained
when installing premium native games.
At the Game Developers Conference, March 5-8, TI and Ideaworks3D will be demonstrating
the scalability of the Airplay SDK on TI's OMAP 2 and OMAP-Vox platforms in the
Khronos booth 160 WH, 260 WH.
About Ideaworks3D
Ideaworks3D is a privately held technology and game development company headquartered
in London. Founded in 1998 with a strong Oxford and Cambridge computer science
and electronic engineering pedigree, the company has an unparalleled track record
of creative innovation and technical leadership in the field of high performance
mobile gaming. Ideaworks3D's Studio is the recipient of multiple industry accolades
including two consecutive BAFTA Games Awards in 2005 and 2004 for best handheld
and mobile games. More information can be found at http://www.ideaworks3d.com/ .
Texas Instruments - Making Wireless
TI is the leading manufacturer of wireless semiconductors, delivering the heart
of today's wireless technology and building solutions for tomorrow. TI provides
a breadth of silicon and software and over 15 years of wireless systems expertise
that spans handsets and base stations for all communications standards, wireless
LAN, Bluetooth, A-GPS, mobile TV and Ultra Wideband. TI offers custom to turn-key
solutions, including complete chipsets and reference designs, OMAP application
processors, as well as core digital signal processor and analog technologies built
on advanced semiconductor processes. Please visit http://www.ti.com/wirelesspressroom for additional information.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies
to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition
to Semiconductor, the company includes the Education Technology business. TI is
headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations
in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN.
More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com/ .
Trademarks
OMAP, OMAP-Vox and M-Shield are trademarks of Texas Instruments. All registered
trademarks and other trademarks belong to their respective owners. |