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Ideaworks3D Announces 3rd Generation Airplay Tools And Middleware For Mobile Game Developers And Publishers

Airplay 3.0 brings ground-breaking solution for development and cross-platform deployment of high-performance mobile games

LONDON, UK- Oct. 16, 2006 - Ideaworks3D Ltd., the BAFTA Award-winning developer of advanced mobile games and technology, today announced Airplay 3.0, a new generation of development tools and middleware for the mobile game market that will dramatically improve the quality of high performance 3D and connected mobile games. Further, Airplay incorporates a unique solution to the problem of handset and platform fragmentation that will change the ground rules and economics of mobile game deployment and porting.

Airplay serves a market for high performance native mobile games that is experiencing significant growth. Smartphone shipments, principally of devices based on Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile, will increase by 66% to reach 81 million units in 20061. Additionally, more than 150 million BREW-enabled devices have been shipped throughout the world., which will grow by the end of 2008 to an estimated 200 million plus devices worldwide.2 Games-capable devices will also increasingly benefit from 3D hardware acceleration, which is set to grow from an estimated total available market for embedded 3D hardware of 135m units in 2006 to more than 435m units in 20103.

The rapid growth of high performance devices that are capable of supporting console-class 3D gaming is tempered by increasing fragmentation of platforms and handsets. Airplay is designed to address the problem head-on with a deployment architecture that defeats fragmentation by maintaining a binary compatible version of the same game across multiple run-time environments and handsets, significantly speeding time to market for publishers, at lower cost.

"Ideaworks3D has long been known for its mastery of 3D and connected game development, delivering to market some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful franchises in the industry," said Alex Caccia, CEO, Ideaworks3D. "Now, our Labs team is bringing to market the tools and middleware that will help scale the market opportunity for both developers and publishers, and ultimately deliver better games to a broader consumer base."

Tools to Create, Connect & Deploy the Next Generation of Mobile Games

Airplay is an end-to-end software and service solution enabling mobile developers and publishers to create, connect, and deploy high-performance native mobile games across multiple platforms and operating systems, including Symbian OS, BREW, Windows Mobile, Linux and selected RTOS environments. The Airplay solution, developed for more than six years by Ideaworks3D Labs, is the industry's leading third-generation, commercially battle-tested game SDK, powering more 3D and connected mobile games than any other middleware solution in the market.

The Airplay 3.0 SDK consists of three complimentary modules, Airplay Studio, Airplay System and Airplay Online that together represent the industry's most complete end-to-end solution for game development and deployment.

Airplay Studio: Core Development Tools, Delivering Scalable Graphics Performance

Airplay Studio consists of the Tools and SDK needed for scalable 3D mobile game development. Comprising both a run-time graphics engine and offline tools for content export and optimization, Airplay Studio provides developers with the critical building blocks needed for next generation game development.

Airplay Studio incorporates Ideaworks3D's Segundo3D, the high performance mobile graphics technology used to power some the most acclaimed 3D mobile games in the industry since 2001. Segundo3D features a unique optimized rendering pipeline that supports fast software rasterization, while scaling up to support devices with 3D graphics hardware acceleration.

Airplay System: OS Agnostic, Platform Optimized Execution Environment

Designed to speed deployment across multiple software environments and hardware architectures, Airplay System is a cross-platform portability technology and run-time execution environment that delivers binary compatible game code across ARM-based mobile devices. The resulting game can be deployed over-the-air to multiple operating systems and run-time environments without further porting or any requirement for additional embedded software or resident game engines on the mobile device.

Airplay Online: Connected & Multiplayer SDK & Service Solution

Built to handle the complexity of mobile phone network connectivity, Airplay Online provides the rock solid framework needed to simplify development for multiple network technologies and air interfaces. Development of online game services is further simplified by a collection of modular Game Services that can be reused between games, further reducing complexity and cost of development.

Airplay Online, in continuous live commercial operation since the launch of early licensee Nokia's N-Gage Arena in 2003, offers carrier-grade service quality, and is deployed across multiple platforms today in support of many of the largest connected online mobile games, serving gamers across all major territories.

Availability

The Airplay 3.0 SDK will be available for commercial licensing in Q1 2007 from Ideaworks3D.

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 www.ideaworks3d.com.

Note:

(1) Source: Gartner Group October 2006

(2) Source: Ovum, September 2004

(3) Source: Jon Peddie Research 2006

ENDS

. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.

Airplay, Airplay System, Airplay Studio, Airplay Online and Segundo3D are trademarks of Ideaworks3D Ltd.

Contact Details:

For IDEAWORKS3D:

Alex Wood

Porter Novelli

+44-20-7853-2255

Alex.wood@porternovelli.co.uk

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