[MUD-Dev] Wireless MUDS?

[Michael Tresca]

Got this off of Yahoo, thought it might be of value:

  Mike "Talien" Tresca
  RetroMUD Administrator
  http://www.retromud.org

PacketVideo Partners With Four Leading European Game Providers to
Bring Interactive Multimedia to Wireless Games

Digital Bridges, Picofun, Orchimedia and Cash-U Announce Technology
Collaboration with PacketVideo to Co-Develop Wireless Multimedia Games

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2001-- Game Developers
Conference 2001, Booth No. 1908

PacketVideo Corp., the recognized leader in wireless multimedia, today
announced that four leading European wireless game providers (Digital
Bridges, Picofun, Orchimedia and Cash-U) will partner with PacketVideo
to develop and market the world's first applications that bring the
excitement of streaming media, rich graphics, animation and
interactivity to games for mobile devices.

'Games are the most compelling interactive content on any digital
network.  Wireless networks are no exception,' said Robert Tercek,
president of PacketVideo's applications and services division. 'We're
witnessing a huge global surge in demand by wireless operators for
games that attract and retain mobile data subscribers. Datamonitor
predicts that wireless game services will generate $2.4 billion in
revenue by 2005 in the U.S. alone.  The rollout of GPRS makes Europe
ground zero for the transformation of mobile data to mobile
multimedia. We're thrilled to partner with these leading game
providers as they pioneer the first networked multimedia games to
mobile devices.'

PacketVideo's new wireless game partners are described below:

Digital Bridges is a UK-based company that creates and delivers
entertainment services for mobile devices on the wireless Internet via
its Unity platform. The company brings three major assets to the new
medium of wireless communications: delivery technology, distribution
and publishing capabilities, and content design experience. Digital
Bridges has already signed 20 network operators across the world in
countries including the UK, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
Italy, Canada, the USA, South Africa and the Philippines. For more
information, visit www.digitalbridges.com.

Picofun, a Sweden-based company, develops, publishes and distributes
leading-edge mobile games and entertainment applications via network
operators and mobile portals to the end user's mobile phone. For more
information, visit www.picofun.com.

Orchimedia is a Finland-based mobile entertainment company that
provides personalized games with interactive communities. Its platform
integrates entertainment and game content development functionality
for mobile devices and enables multiplayer entertainment applications
to be played on any device. Orchimedia currently has four of the top
five games on Sonera's Zedaamo, the world's leading mobile games
portal, and with a proven business model in the Finnish market,
Orchimedia is approaching operators, portals, media companies,
developers and device manufacturers in Europe, Asia and the U.S.A. For
more information, visit www.orchimedia.com.

Cash-U is an Israel-based mobile entertainment company whose
innovative platform and products empower cellular operators and
wireless ASPs to create new revenue streams by delivering interactive
applications over wireless networks. Cash-U is an end-to-end solution
provider serving as a one-stop shop for the full cycle of mobile
entertainment needs---from the platform to the application development
kit and application bundle. For more information, visit
www.cash-u.com.

Kevin Bradshaw, chief executive officer and founder of Digital Bridges
Ltd., said, 'Digital Bridges has been a pioneer of mobile
entertainment since the earliest days of the wireless Internet. We are
looking forward to working with PacketVideo to explore the new
possibilities offered by interactive rich media and animation within
the content created by all of our development partners. The technology
behind the wireless Internet is moving so quickly that within a very
short time we believe wireless games will offe r a much more
sophisticated level of graphical content.'

PacketVideo's MPEG-4 multimedia platform allows content providers to
create rich interactive experiences for mobile audiences. The MPEG-4
protocol provides for synchronous delivery of interactive data
embedded into the multimedia content, useful for games and clickable
overlays on video sequences.  'As a pioneer in wireless games, we
continuously look for new ways to expand our applications through next
generation technologies,' said Johan Lenander, founder and vice
chairman of Picofun. 'We were first in the world to launch a
multi-player

WAP-game as well as the first GPRS optimized game, and we believe that
the integration of new features such as multimedia into our mobile
game applications will help us build upon our strong position with
wireless operators.'

PacketVideo has established preliminary relationships with a select
group of application developers in every leading wireless market
worldwide to explore technology integration and build prototype
applications to co-market to wireless operators. To learn more about
PacketVideo's application developer opportunities, visit www.pv.com.

About PacketVideo

PacketVideo, the recognized leader in wireless multimedia, provides
MPEG-4 compliant software that enables the delivery, management and
viewing of video, audio and multimedia applications over current
wireless networks to mobile devices such as telephones and personal
digital assistants.  PacketVideo's pioneering end-to-end solution
delivers the highest quality multimedia experience possible in every
mobile environment, globally. The company markets its software to
wireless operators, wireless device and silicon manufacturers and
content providers to ultimately enable mobile consumers to access a
variety of applications, including news and financial stories, sports
highlights, music videos, weather and traffic reports and home or work
security cameras, from any location. Mobile consumers can gain access
to multimedia content today by visiting PVAirguide
(www.pvairguide.com), the world's first wireless streaming media
showcase.

PacketVideo's investors include Comverse Technology (Nasdaq:CMVT -
news), Credit Suisse First Boston, GE Equity (NYSE:GE - news), Intel
Capital (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Kyocera (NYSE:KYO - news), Motorola
(NYSE:MOT - news), Philips (NYSE:PHG - news), QUALCOMM (Nasdaq:QCOM -
news), Siemens' Mustang Ventures, Sony Corp. of America (NYSE:SNE -
news), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW - news), Texas Instruments
(NYSE:TXN - news), AOL Time Warner (NYSE:AOL - news) and others. To
learn more, visit www.pv.com.  PacketVideo and PacketVideo product
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of PacketVideo Corp. All
other trade names and trademarks are the property of their holders.

Note to Editors:

Robert Tercek, president of PacketVideo's Applications & Services
Division, will provide a presentation on 'Unwired Games!

Wireless Multimedia Game Design' during the Game Developers Conference
in San Jose, on Thursday, March 22, from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. For more
information on this presentation, visit:
http://cmp.bluedot.com/re/attendee/sessionViewer/gdcEventViewer.esp?presenta
tionIds=36589245&searchResults=true&lastChoice=search

Contact:
PacketVideo Corp.
Cherie Weurding, 858/212-2330 (Mobile at GDC)
weurding at pv.com
or
PacketVideo EMEA
Cathi Ulsenheimer, +44 20 7841 2752
cathi at pv.com

_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev