Sony Ericsson at Game Developers Conference 2005 -
Bringing mobile Java 3D gaming to the masses

The number of mobile games being downloaded in 2005 is set to triple that of 2004, an indication indeed that mobile gaming is a significant market opportunity for talented developers to start tapping, and as we found more mobile developers attending the annual GDC on March 7-11th than ever before, we know it was the right place to be.

This year, the GDC was hosted at the Moscone Center in San Francisco (CA), USA. Sony Ericsson's key message was "Bringing mobile 3D gaming to the masses", and the company demonstrated its leadership in Java 3D development by showcasing twelve 3D-enabled phones, successful game development partners, hosting two sponsored seminar sessions during the conference and four presentations in our booth as well as offering free technical support to visiting developers. Read on to make sure you stay on the fast track from mind to market.

GDC Expo

Sony Ericsson's booth at the GDC was one of the most well-attended on the whole show floor. Booth visitors took the opportunity to check out all the new Java 3D technology enabled phones. They were impressed by the game-play and graphics, and the quality of the games from our exhibiting partners. Many were unaware that mobile gaming quality is now equivalent to at least GameBoy Advance or PS1.

Sony Ericsson is committed to Java 3D and believes Java 3D will be the key driver for mobile gaming in the next few years. We are the only handset manufacturer with a broad range of 3D phones already on the market, from entry-level to high-end. To summarize our overall Java commitment:

• Now 25 model versions supporting mobile Java 3D through implementation of both JSR-184 and Mascot Capsule Micro3D Ver. 3 on all handsets
• 11 model versions with JSR-82 Bluetooth API enabling wireless multi-player gaming: P900, P908, P910i, P910a, P910c, W800i, W800c, K750i, K750c, K600i, K600c, D750
• 7 model versions with JSR-75 File and PIM API: W800i, W800c, K750i, K750c, K600i, K600c, D750
• Now in total about 30 model versions with J2ME MIDP 2.0

In order to induce some extra fun play, we had asked Frank Alvarez III, America's ranked number 27 pool player, to join us on stand to show visitors pool tricks and to challenge them on a game. In addition we held our own mini-golf tournament.

Frank Alvarez was definitely an attraction to the stand, many people wanted to play him for the chance to win a high-quality pool cue. For those delegates who were beaten by Frank or our Mini-Golf competition, there were mobile versions of these sports and other mobile games to play. A 3D pool game, 3D Beach MiniGolf and other attractive game titles were available to play on a range of newly announced Sony Ericsson 3D phones.

Tech Support Live!
Sony Ericsson Developer Support demonstrated the J2ME SDK, 3D graphics exporting, full 3D emulation and on-device debugging in the stand. Developers could also get free technical support and get assistance with coding challenges.

As always we are committed to sharing our knowledge and experience with you, so for GDC we created a series of presentations to assist you in the creation of new game development projects, inform you about which phones we would like you to create applications for.

Our Partner Group Manager for Sony Ericsson Developer World, Jens Greve, had in excess of 180 delegates listening to his session during GDC Mobile's opening day. If you weren't one of them, check out his presentation below to learn what he had to say about Evolutionary Mobile Game Debvelopment at GDC 2005.

Jens and one of our favored external speakers, Ralph Barbagallo from Flarb, also hosted a sponsored seminar entitled Mobile Java 3D Development on GDC's last day. After Jens's introduction about Sony Ericsson's mobile Java 3D strategy, Ralph intended to do a technical presentation on 3D development, but sadly technology let us down and he could not show his formal presentation. Instead Ralph gave an overview of what his presentation contained and invited the audience to ask questions. This turned out to be an informative session and gave the audience what they wanted; we even ran over time. Check out Ralph's presentation material below to learn more about the differences and similarities of Mascot Capsule v3 and JSR-184, available tools and some of Ralph's own tips.

Left: Jens Greve with a new K750i. Right: Ralph Barbagallo.

The GDC seminar presentations and mini presentations from the booth can be downloaded below:

Speaker biographies

Jens Greve, Partner Manager of Sony Ericsson Developer Worl, has been with Sony Ericsson since the start of the joint venture in 2001. Jens manages the partner relationship with high profile Java game developers around the world to ensure that games are created for Sony Ericsson phones and made available to consumers for download. Jens has also been responsible for all technical support services provided to developers through Sony Ericsson Developer World. This includes infrastructure, hosting services and functional maintenance/development of the web portal, e-mail support, discussion forums, tips and code samples and phone loans and sales to development partners.

Ralph Barbagallo, President and Despot of Flarb LLC, has a BS in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and has been employed in the game industry since 1995. He has worked in software engineering and game design at companies such as Ion Storm, Papyrus/Sierra On-Line and Neversoft. In the wireless gaming industry since 2001, Ralph has developed numerous popular games including a licensed title for one of the Lord of the Rings films. He's also the author of various articles on game development as well as the first books on BREW and J2ME MIDP 2.0 development.

David Markowitz from Digital Element is an artist with experience in a multitude of industries including 3D animation, graphic design, web design, audio/video editing, and music composition. He owns and runs his own freelance consulting business, Artfoundry, through which he has co-produced a 3D adventure game demo and produced artwork for a variety of 2D and 3D games. He has also assisted on artwork for an animated feature film and is currently producing his own animated short film. David has worked with modeling of 3D objects for a 3D game prototype, designing levels for a 2D platform game demo, designing and editing UI elements, and testing of games to ensure BREW compliance. He has formal training in fine art from the Academy of Art College, and in 3D modeling and animation from 3DExchange, a Newtek authorized Lightwave training center. While knowledgeable about many different art forms and their respective industries, David specializes in 3D modeling.

Peter Ahnegård, Partner Manager for Sony Ericsson Developer World, joined Sony Ericsson in March 2004. Peter's main responsibility is the relationship to 3rd party Java game developers, ensuring an attractive game portfolio for Sony Ericsson phones. Supplying games, ringtones and other entataining content to Fun & Downloads is an important part of Peter's role. Through Fun & Downloads, only the best content from key development partners is made available for easy access and download by consumers. Peter also manages the partnership with Handango, a leading software publisher powering the Sony Ericsson Application Shop. The goal is to make consumers aware of available applications for Sony Ericsson phones as well as increasing the number of applications being downloaded.

More information:

• Sony Ericsson press material from GDC 2005>>
• More about mobile Java 3D development>>
• Partner: Digital Chocolate>>  Sumea game development studio>>
• Partner: Gameloft>>
• GDC 2005 web site>>
• GDC Mobile 2005>>