New Game Player from Antix Enables Native Games to Run Unchanged Across Different Handset Platforms

- Antix Game Player makes games as portable as music and transforms publisher economics -

9th January 2008: Antix Labs today launches the Antix Game Player [‘Antix’]. Its introduction enables games developers to replicate many of the dynamics so successful in the games console industry. The unique Game Player software breaks down the barriers in mobile gaming technology so that signed and certified games authored in C and C++, the languages used for console games, can be played across phones from entry-level to high end in both open and closed software platforms.

Antix is an innovative, compact and powerful software player designed to meet the consumer’s ever increasing expectations and aspirations for running native¹ games on phones, personal computers and other connected devices. Quality and flexibility for the subscriber combine with attractive economics and differentiation for publishers and developers, operators and manufacturers.

Francis Charig, Chief Executive of Antix Labs, comments, “Despite advancements in sound, video and picture quality, the experience of mobile games has not lived up to the expectations set by the console and PC-based players. Small screens, battery drain and fiddly input devices have also hampered development, but the true problem has been the incompatibility between different devices that has led to fragmentation and little opportunity for the publishers of content to see a return on their investments.”

Charig continues, “The Antix Game Player turns business models for mobile game development and publishing on its head, by taking gaming to new levels through improved service quality, content discovery and pervasive deployment. Games publishers are now poised to deliver top quality games to the complete range of mobile devices in a very rapid timeframe – ensuring the launch of a new game can be achieved across all platforms from console to mobile simultaneously. This creates a massive revenue opportunity for games developers, handset manufacturers and network operators alike.”

The total addressable market for Antix content is vast; Antix runs across handsets from entry level upwards as well as PCs and later on televisions. Content compiled for Antix, whether 2-D casual games or 3-D AAA (“triple A”) titles, can run unchanged across multiple target devices as a single SKU² a user’s Antix Game Player on their phone will run the same portfolio of games on their PC with new content accessible via advanced content discovery capabilities.

Using techniques never used before in released gaming products, content on the Antix Game Player runs stunningly fast across Antix-enabled targets while remaining independent of software platform and hardware. With the ability to run across multiple platforms, the Antix Game Player uniquely provides a single, advanced, industry standard development tool chain³ for all target platforms. The game binaries developed on a PC are identical to the game binaries on the target. Developers can integrate the tools with their own differentiated game engines, utilizing their own functional capabilities with the portability provided by Antix.

Original games written for Antix, existing games ported to Antix on the PC, and individual new levels or new library features can be immediately deployed on any Antix-enabled device. The reduction in SKU fragmentation and the ability to differentiate meets the critical demands of developers and publishers seeking to focus on game development rather than a multitude of expensive game ports and the logistical nightmare of multi-SKU certification, maintenance, product support and royalty management.

In summary, the Antix Game Player will enable:

• A reduction in SKU fragmentation reducing development and maintenance costs, accelerating time-to-market for developers, publishers, manufacturers and operators whilst simplifying game management and use for consumers.
• A single, advanced, industry standard development tool chain for all target platforms. Further reducing development complexities; maintenance, training and support.
• Focus investment on game development rather than the ‘ports’ of it. So game play and user experience should improve per title.
• Continued differentiation for game developers through the integration of the Antix Player with their own engines.
• Casual to console quality gaming with ‘Fast as native’ game code execution supporting a compelling gaming experience for consumers

Antix will be debuting its Game Player at Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona (11-14 February 2008).

1 Games written in C and C++, not Java or Flash
2 SKU - A number associated with a particular product, often represented by a barcode. For Java games, the publishers are having to produce anything up to 200 SKUs for a single game.
3 The Antix IDE uses Eclipse.

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