IN-FUSIO Launches "Shado Fighter" for All Major U.S. Mobile Carriers
"LOS ANGELES--July 29, 2004--IN-FUSIO, the leading global game publisher and game services provider for mobile phones, today announced the launch of the critically-acclaimed mobile game, 'Shado Fighter.' Hailed by Wireless Gaming Review as 'a great game' and the recipient of both IGN.com and GameSpy.com's 'Editor's Choice' award, the title is now available to download via all major mobile carriers in the U.S. "

Sorrent raises $20 million
"SAN MATEO, Calif. ? July 29, 2004 ? Sorrent, Inc., a leading creator and global publisher of mobile entertainment, today announced that it has raised $20 million in Series C financing led by BA Venture Partners. Sorrent?s current investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Globespan Capital Partners and Sienna Ventures join BA Ventures in the round. Sharon Wienbar, a director at BA Venture Partners, will join Sorrent?s board of directors. Sorrent, recognized as one of the top publishers in the high growth mobile entertainment market, plans to use the money to expand its global reach and distribution."

Sorrent Signs Direct Distribution Deal with Korea's Largest Carrier
"Sorrent, Inc., a leading creator and global publisher of mobile entertainment, today announced it has signed the first foreign direct distribution deal with SK Telecom, Korea's leading provider of information and telecommunications services. SK Telecom, Korea's largest wireless carrier with more than 50 percent of the country's market share, will distribute Sorrent's portfolio of Java mobile entertainment products. Initially, SK Telecom will launch with four of Sorrent's most popular sports titles: Yao Ming Basketball '04 presented by FOX Sports, FOX Sports Track & Field '04, FOX Sports Batter Up! and FOX Sports Boxing. "

Worldwide phone market continues to exhibit strong growth
"After an expected seasonal drop during the first quarter of the year, the worldwide market for mobile phones returned to growth in the second quarter of 2004 on the strength of renewed consumer demand for mid-range handsets featuring color screens and cameras. According to IDC s Worldwide Mobile Phone QView, worldwide mobile phone shipments in 2Q04 increased 2.5% over the first quarter and rose 36.7% year-over-year to 163.7 million units."

WGamer now on Verizon's Get it Now!
"BEDMINSTER, N.J. and NEW YORK ? July 28th ? Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading wireless service provider, and Vindigo Studios, one of the best-known publishers and developers of consumer applications for mobile phones, today announced the launch of WGamer.com, a new application including content by Wireless Gaming Review, the leading online publication dedicated to wireless games, which will be powered by Vindigo"

NewLC Wants To Make It An Open Summer
"Symbian OS community web site NewLC is running a competition to find the best Open Source Symbian OS projects, with some great prizes from Nokia and Symbian on offer. Eric Bustarret webmaster at NewLC told us more."

Nokia launches QD in the USA
"The second version of Nokia's N-Gage hardware has arrived at US retail outlets, with its launch in the territory being supported by rebates which bring the price down to $99 and the bundling of Tony Hawks Pro Skater with all units sold."

HLT buys more Telcogames
"LONDON, July 27, 2004. Mobile game publisher and distributor Telcogames announced today that existing shareholder HLT (ASX: HLT) has increased it's stake in the company and acquired a 51% shareholding.

Telcogames will use the investment to increase the scope of its operations and fund further global expansion. Establishing a local presence in key territories and increasing the level of account management are key goals for the company. "

Kuju brings Sensible classics to mobiles
"Britsoft champs set to release Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer on Java phones. Kuju Wireless Publishing has announced a deal which will see it bringing two classic titles from legendary British developer Sensible Software to Java-enabled mobile phone platforms."

Flash Player for T-Mobile Phones
"Europe : T-Mobile International and Macromedia announced a strategic partnership to bring more expressive multimedia and interactivity to handsets."

Independent Ratings for Mobile Phone Games launched
"July 22nd 2004 - Lowestoft, Suffolk, United Kingdom Mobile phone games retailer, Mprovision Ltd today announced the launch of their independent phone games ratings. The ratings which went live today on their flagship mobile phone games site at myphonegames.co.uk, enable consumers to make an informed decision when choosing a phone game to purchase and play."

Qualcomm doubles Q3 profits
"The developer of cell-phone technology and microchips yesterday reported net income of $486 million, or 58 cents a share, for the quarter that ended June 30. That beat analysts' projections of 53 cents a share. "

DoCoMo Will [Not] Drop i-mode in Japan [Corrected]
"DoCoMo has plotted a course to eliminate the brand that made it famous in Japan, however foreign partners will still retain the i-mode name for their web services. [Correction: DoCoMo will keep the i-mode brand in Japan as well as elsewhere] "

SonyEricsson announces P910
"The SonyEricsson P910 device specifications are now available from SonyEricsson web site."

Airplay UK and Coyote Wireless announce North American, China, Korea, and Brazil Co-Publishing Agreements for 'Super Yum Yum'
"Coyote Wireless, a division of Coyote Developments Ltd, developer and publisher of award-winning games, announced that it has entered into an exclusive, co-publishing agreement with Airborne Entertainment, a leading publisher of top-flight branded wireless entertainment, for the J2ME and BREW versions of Super Yum Yum throughout North America. Also on the cards are similar co-publishing deals in China, Korea and Brazil with key players in those territories."

IOMO Get The Beers In After Pub Games Success
"Mobile game developer IOMO are celebrating the success of the first two titles in their Pub Games series, after Pub Pool topped the Vodafone UK chart, followed by Pub Darts hitting number two."

Acotel Group S.p.A announces re-organisation that sees Jinny Software subsidiary dedicated to messaging platforms
"The Acotel Group S.p.A., announced today that it has formally separated the messaging platform business from the provision of mobile content and services. A decision that sees the wholly-owned subsidiary Jinny Software dedicated to the provision of network infrastructure products that enable messaging and information services across mobile devices."

Leisure Suit Larry preening for the N-Gage
"Nokia today announced that it will co-publish and develop Leisure Suit Larry?: Pocket Party for the N-Gage platform. Based on Vivendi Unviersal Games? classic Leisure Suit Larry series, the N-Gage offering is a 3D adventure that challenges gamers to help Larry get the ?action? he so desperately craves. "

O2 Toons Up Its Games Arcade With Cartoon Network Mobile
"London, UK ? 22 July, 2004 ? Cartoon Network today announced the UK network launch of its growing catalogue of mobile games featuring Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Powerpuff Girls and a whole host of its other world famous characters on O2. Cartoon Network?s mobile games and content has been developed and published in partnership with Macrospace, the mobile games specialist."

Mobile Gaming Contest Uses GPS To Promote Fun, Sales
"The Global Positioning System (GPS) can be a lifesaver in the right circumstances and a source of fun on other occasions. For fun lovers, the second annual Magellan 'Cache Her If You Can' GPS Adventure is a game that began last week, giving participants of all ages a chance to combine outdoor recreation with technological sophistication. The Web-based competition, which started June 24 and continues until Sept. 1, is designed to allow amateur crime-solvers to use GPS to chase clues in 30 cities across the country each week. "

Mobile Gaming: The Latest Wireless Cash Cow
"Wireless carriers are finding online gaming via use of cell phones to be the latest cash cow to boost revenues. 'Carriers have been surprised that wireless gaming is even more lucrative than ringtones,' Ken Hyers, a senior analyst with market research firm In-Stat/MDR, told TechNewsWorld. "

Sony Ericsson Game Developers Challenge 2004
"On 15th July, the contest entered the Consumer Voting stage. This allows everyone to play the (approximately 50) short-listed games - free of charge - via a browser-based phone emulator. The results of the Consumer Voting stage - which ends 15th August - will determine which 20 games will go through to the finals to be evaluated by a jury from Sony Ericsson and the wireless gaming industry."

CEO Ollila says Nokia's 'sisu' will see it past tough times
"ESPOO, Finland ? In times like these, the executives who run Nokia talk up a uniquely Finnish quality called sisu. 'The translation would be 'guts,' ' says Jorma Ollila, CEO of Nokia, the world's most prolific cell phone maker, in an interview at company headquarters here."

N-Gage QD to launch for $99 with rebate
"Electronics Boutique has already decided the N-Gage QD needs a little help at retail. The company will offer customers who sign a one-year service contract with carrier T-Mobile an instant $100 rebate when they purchase the QD, which goes on sale next Tuesday. The rebate will cut the price of the new model in half, from its list price of $199 to just $99. "

Sun Pushes a New Brand of Java
"Sun is searching for new ways to turn the Java brand into gold. If the company has its way, 'Java Powered' logos will soon start appearing on everything from mobile phones to microwaves."

Nokia, Siemens, and SonyEricsson lead the way in handset satisfaction
"Strategy Analytics' newly released research finds that the chasing pack led by Siemens, SonyEricsson, and Samsung have raised the feature, style, performance benchmarks and are narrowing the satisfaction gap with market leader Nokia."

The Donald mobile game on the way
"MONTREAL, Canada and MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota ? July 6, 2004 ? Donald Trump is coming to wireless. Big deal. VERY big deal. The oft-quoted entrepreneur and real estate developer is ready to conquer mobile, thanks in part to Airborne Entertainment and Activision Value Publishing, Inc. The multi-platform software company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), has combined with leading mobile publisher Airborne Entertainment to produce a mobile adaptation of Activision Value's popular PC game Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon. The mobile version of the game challenges players to manage Trump's growing empire directly from their cellphones."

Bitboys Selects Hybrid Graphics's 3D Hardware Driver Solution
"Espoo, Finland - July 20th 2004 Bitboys, a provider of graphics acceleration hardware solutions for wireless and embedded devices, today announced the selection of Hybrid Graphics?s OpenGL? ES and Mobile 3D Graphics API for J2ME? software drivers as part of Bitboys? graphics processor solutions."

Growth in mobile data usage expected - report
"Consumer demand for wireless data services is accelerating rapidly throughout the world as advanced multimedia phones find their way into more users' hands, according to the latest Mobinet study of 4,500 mobile phone users in 13 countries conducted regularly by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Judge Institute of Management of Cambridge University."

Superscape to Launch 2Oth Century Fox 'ALIENS VERSUS PREDATOR' 3D Game For Mobile Phones
"Monday 19th July 2004, Hook, Hampshire, UK: Superscape Group plc (LSE: SPS), leaders in revolutionary entertainment for mobile phones, announces that it has signed a licensing agreement with 20th Century FOX Licensing and Merchandising, part of FOX Entertainment, to develop a 3D wireless game based on the forthcoming Alien versus Predator film which is due for release in August 2004."

Macromedia Lite. A Multimedia Revolution From Content To UI?
"Macromedia Lite provides a new level of integration between multimedia and wireless platforms; it could also provide the ultimate in flexible UIs. We explore the possibilities with Anup Murarka, SR. Director of mobile and devices for Macromedia."

Sony Ericsson to Compete with Nokia’s N-Gage
"Sony Ericsson today cheerfully reported its second quarter financial results, and added that it will create a competitor product to counter Nokia?s game-phone hybrid device, N-Gage."

Sony Ericsson launches Consumer Game Challenge 2004
"STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 15 - Sony Ericsson today launched a campaign web site, where games from the Sony Ericsson Game Developers Challenge 2004, a competition for mobile Java game developers, are published. Through consumer promotions in various countries, consumers are invited to influence the future content available for Sony Ericsson phones by participating in trying out the games, playing them through a web emulator and voting on different features."

Nokia announces sales slump; N-Gage titles to appear at EIGF
"Mobile handset giant Nokia has reported a fall of almost six per cent in its global sales during the second quarter, and dropped its full-year forecasts; while the company plans to showcase its N-Gage range at the Edinburgh Festival next month.
Shares in the Finnish company tumbled by almost 16 per cent on the Helsinki stock exchange after the company reported results for the three months to June 30th which included a 5.7 per cent drop in revenues."

THQ Wireless Knocks One Out of the Park With New Baseball Offering
"CALABASAS HILLS, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Just as the baseball season is heating up, THQ Inc. today announced that its wireless games subsidiary, THQ Wireless Inc., has struck exclusive licensing deals with Major League Baseball Advanced Media(C) (MLBAM) and the Major League Baseball Player's Association(C) (MLBPA). Under the agreements, THQ Wireless will develop officially licensed baseball-themed applications, including games, ringtones and graphics for wireless devices. THQ Wireless' catalog of entertainment applications based on professional baseball will be available worldwide beginning this summer."

Mobile Sales Top 40 Million Handsets in the Middle East and Africa
"Europe : The mobile handset market in the Middle East and Africa jumped by almost 26% in 2003, with shipments surpassing 40 million units across the region. According to a new IDC study, sales were highest in the Middle East, reflecting the region's more advanced level of economic development compared to most of Africa. "

Rococo Software Releases Java/Bluetooth Developer Kit For Linux
"DUBLIN, IRELAND ? July 13, 2004 ? Rococo Software, an innovator of Bluetooth software development tools and infrastructure software, today releases the latest version of Impronto Developer Kit. Using Rococo?s Linux-based Developer Kit (DK), software developers can easily design Java/Bluetooth applications for a variety of wireless devices. Rococo offers today?s product release free for non-commercial Bluetooth projects."

i-mode grows to 3 million users outside Japan
"NTT DoCoMo has announced that its i-mode service has now reached 3 million subscribers just via international partners. Although originally based in Japan, NTT's i-mode data and content service has started growing to other countries via partnerships with carriers in Greece, Italy, Spain, Germany, Taiwan, and other countries. As of the end of June 2004, there were over 3 million i-mode subscribers not counting those in Japan, just four months after i-mode service reached the 2 million subscriber mark."

Bitboys to Unveil Next-Generation Graphics Processor Product Line at SIGGRAPH
"Espoo, Finland - July 12th 2004) Bitboys, a provider of graphics hardware solutions, will unveil and demonstrate its new graphics processor product line for wireless and embedded devices at SIGGRAPH 2004, held at Los Angeles Convention Center from August 10th to 12th."

Gameloft Breaks 100
"Gameloft is extremely pleased to announce its status as the largest mobile phone game distributor in the world. 110 carriers currently offer Gameloft software in 66 different countries, including America, Peru, Finland, Iceland, Japan, and Australia."

Card company's greetings reach digital markets
"BROOKLYN, Ohio - The company that created the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake is looking to be a major player in wireless games, graphics and ring tones for mobile phones."

Vodafone adds mobile games
"Vodafone and Square Enix have together launched new mobile content on Vodafone live! Game titles, aleste and actraiser will initially launch in Germany this month, which will then be rolled out in the UK, Spain, and Italy over the summer. "

elkware opens UK Office
"elkware, Europe's leading mobile phone game developer, is continuing its vigorous expansion plans with the opening of a UK office. The company, based in Germany and having opened a US office last year, has appointed Anglo-Nordic trade expert Jens Lauritzson as UK country manager."

Focus On: Elkware
"Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, elkware is a true success story for the mobile industry - a bedroom developer which has grown organically to become a profitable market leader. Rob Fahey caught up with Jan Andreson and Jens Lauritzson to find out more..."

MFORMA Opens Chinese Subsidiary
"Officials from mobile publisher MFORMA have announced the establishment of MFORMA China. This new subsidiary is based in Shanghai and is fully licensed and authorized by the Chinese government to do business in China. The company will distribute mobile games and services directly to wireless operators throughout the country. In addition to Shanghai, the company has also opened offices in Beijing to facilitate the growth of content distribution across China."

Square Enix And Macrospace Team up to Launch Mobile Versions of Aleste, Actraiser And Drakengard
"Square Enix (Square Enix Co., Ltd and Square Enix Ltd.) and Macrospace today announced the launch of the European versions of Square Enix?s latest mobile games Aleste, Actraiser and Drakengard. As Square Enix ? world-renowned for its FINAL FANTASY video game series ? enters the European market, Macrospace is working with Square Enix to tailor the three titles for European audiences, with both companies jointly handling marketing and distribution."

Symbian raises new funding
"Symbian?s continuing shareholders reiterate their continued full support for Symbian?s strategy and objectives as an independent, for-profit company, and have provided significant further investment to ensure the long-term success of Symbian OS as the industry?s chosen technology platform for mass market, advanced phones for 2.5 and 3G networks. Shareholders have participated in a rights issue to raise ?50m in additional funding for Symbian. Nokia, Panasonic, Siemens and Sony Ericsson have also agreed to participate in the pre-emption process for the purchase of Psion?s equity stake in Symbian. The process is expected to complete on 12th July 2004. In addition, Shareholders have jointly agreed to appoint an independent, non-executive Chairman to the Symbian Board."

It’s Alive Mobile Games merging with Daydream
"Swedish game developers It's Alive Mobile Games and Daydream Software are merging to create a strong game provider with focus on games for mobile phones and portable game consoles."

Lightplay games now on PlayPhone's pre-paid cards
"Overland Park, Kansas - July 5, 2004 - Lightplay Studios? has announced a licensing and distribution agreement with PlayPhone, Inc. of San Jose, California, allowing PlayPhone to provide select Lightplay content through North American mass-market retailers including Best Buy, EB Games, ExxonMobile, Rite-Aid, and Target."

3D menus for mobile phones
"HI Corporation has announced the development of a 3D menu application that operates on mobile telephone terminals. By supplying menu screens in 3D, depth expressions unavailable in conventional menus and 360-degree free-space menu actions are enabled. The company says visual recognition improves dramatically, and enhances the user experience. "

Midway defends Defender with lawsuit
"The company sues Sony Ericsson over unauthorized use of its arcade classic in mobile phones. Midway served Sony Ericsson a steaming plate of litigation as it filed a lawsuit accusing the mobile communications giant of distributing Defender on mobile phones without permission. Midway still holds the copyrights for the arcade classic from 1980 and 1981, according to the lawsuit. "

Macromedia acquires Animoi
"In a continuation of the apparent effort to purchase every company that has an interesting Flash technology, Macromedia has just purchased Animoi, a company that enables Flash files to run on Java and J2ME-based systems, including mobile phones."

Superscape Network Operator Strategy Brings Mobile Games to Fourth 'Top Tier Targeted Operator'
"HOOK, England, July 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Superscape Group plc (LSE: SPS - News), the leader in revolutionary entertainment for mobile phones, announces today that through a new partnership the company will be distributing its portfolio of mobile games to another of its top ten targeted network operators. Distribution of Superscape's games on this latest network will commence in the next few weeks."

Overloaded and Resolution Bring Unique 3D Game Experience to Mobile Phones
"Resolution Interactive AB (owner of the online game Clusterball?) and Overloaded | Fun Everywhere (leading developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones), have signed a deal for the development and exploitation of a 3D version of the hit game Clusterball? on mobile phones. The revolutionary mobile 3D game Clusterball? will be available for download to mobile phones before Christmas 2004 and available at operators around the world. "

DBi Goes Gosen
"July 02, 2004 - Digital Bridges picked up a new COO this week: David Gosen. The former Managing Director of Sales and Marketing for Nintendo of Europe will be in charge of Digital Bridge's day-to-day activities."

N-Gage European summer tour announces UK dates
"Mobile phone giant Nokia has announced details of its N-Gage Summer Tour, a promotional event which is visiting cities across Europe to give gamers a chance to try out the new N-Gage QD device and a range of new software."

JAMDAT files for $86 million IPO
"Los Angeles based mobile entertainment publisher JAMDAT Mobile has announced its intention to float on the NASDAQ stock market, with an initial public offering of some $86 million planned for the company."

Sony Ericsson licenses Java software - ARM
"Sony Ericsson has licensed the ARM JTEK software to be used with ARM Jazelle acceleration technology, in its Java platform-enabled mobile handsets."

JSR 232 key to next generation Java applications
"02 July 2004 -- PMN -- Java Specification Request (JSR) 232 will be a crucial step in improving the capabilities of Java applications on mobile devices. Originally submitted by Nokia, the JSR calls for the development of a middleware framework to allow individual components of a Java application to be installed, removed or repaired on-the-fly. "

One third of UK mobile customers dissatisfied with service
"According to a study by LogicaCMG, 35% of UK mobile phone customers are dissatisfied with their service enough to switch to another carrier. The company estimates that could cost carriers as much as 3 billion GBP in customer churn. According to the survey, most mobile carriers managers (86%) don't consider quality of service their top priority. 22% said that expansion was their top priority. In addition, 28% of unhappy customers will contact their service provider before potentially leaving the network, putting a strain on customer service centers as well. "

Phone with a joystick
"Samsung has unveiled a uniquely designed 3D Game Phone that uses the company's established clamshell design. The game phone (SCH-V450) which comes installed with 3 games, such as ZioGolf (golf game) and Metalion (shooting game), allows users to get a full and enjoyable mobile gaming experience as the games are in three dimensions and can be heard through dual speakers."

3-D Gaming on Your Mobile Phone
"Europe : Last year, it was the camera phone. But this year, industry insiders say the newest trend for mobile phones will be three-dimensional video games, attracting a new generation of users and driving sales throughout the mobile market. "

The (Mobile) Games Women Play
"A new study shows that women are mobile gamers more than men. Is it really all that surprising?
The Yankee Group came out today with their 'gender stereotype bending' study saying that women are bigger mobile gamers than men. Apparently, 58% of mobile gamers are women. While that seems surprising to some, it really doesn't go against most other findings either."

Women Tend To Play, But Not Pay For Mobile Games
"Women are more likely to play games on their cellular phones than men, but are less likely to pay to play, a survey released Thursday showed."

InfoSpace Makes A Play For Wireless Games
"Looking to accelerate its entry into the mobile gaming arena, InfoSpace has scored the assets of Atlas Mobile, a mobile multiplayer tournament game provider. Terms were not disclosed."

Superscape Mobile Games to be Available on World’s Largest Network
"Superscape Group plc (LSE: SPS), leaders in revolutionary entertainment for mobile phones, announces that it has signed a major distribution and revenue-sharing agreement with Beijing-based KongZhong Corporation. KongZhong is the number one supplier of games to China Mobile, the world?s largest carrier by number of subscribers."