Wireless Games Body Issues Mobile Gaming Specification

Using the Mobile Games 2002 Conference as its backdrop, the Mobile Games Interoperability Forum (MGIF) today publicly released its v1.0 specification, while announcing its intent to integrate into the Open Mobile Alliance by year-end. The forum also announced an upcoming requirements workshop that will be used to launch efforts toward future specification releases.

Today's MGIF v1.0 specification release represents the first concrete step toward addressing the issues of portability and interoperability in the mobile gaming space. MGIF v1.0 provides specifications for a basic set of common, reusable functionality in the form of programming APIs that are among the core functionalities for server-based mobile games.

"Since its inception, mobile gaming has been fragmented because of a lack of standards and a plethora of portability and interoperability issues," says Paul Goode of Motorola, chairman of the MGIF. "This specification is about lowering the technical barriers so that the entertainment industry can exploit the great potential of mobile phones as a channel to market. We're excited about today's specification release as it represents not only an important step forward for the Forum, but also for the mobile gaming industry as a whole."

Goode also says the MGIF v1.0 specs will provide benefits for all stakeholders in the mobile gaming space, including developers, publishers, platform companies, operators, hand-set manufacturers and end users. Benefits of the MGIF solution include reducing developer costs through standardizing access to core game services for server-based applications, as well as reducing the cost of ownership and delivery of games for mobile operators and service providers.

MGIF sees its v1.0 specification as a catalyst for future standardisation, and through a recently executed memorandum of understanding, the Forum will continue its work within the Open Mobile Alliance, a newly launched standards body established to remove the barriers to global user adoption by ensuring seamless application interoperability. The OMA is in the process of incorporating the work of the Wireless Application Protocol Forum, the Wireless Village initiative, the SyncML Initiative Ltd., the Location Interoperability Forum and the MMS-IOP group.

"The MGIF is committed to continuing its standardization work with the future specification releases to further address stakeholder needs and to ensure the vitality and prosperity of mobile gaming market," says Graham Thomas of Cash-U, vice chairman of the MGIF. "We expect the OMA will provide a great environment for us to do just that, since the OMA model is to develop specifications based on use-cases driven by end user demands and benefits."

Thomas says the planned integration into the OMA is beneficial to all involved, as the MGIF will now have access to a broader mobile community, including mobile operators, and the OMA will establish stronger ties with the games developer and publisher communities.