Steps are being taken which may someday bring interactive casino games to the keypads of cell phones and other handheld devices. Last week Motorola announced a partnership with a start-up software company, UIEvolution, which will bring simple turn games like checkers and chess to Motorola's next generation of phones.
The founder and CEO of UIEvolution, Satoshi Nakajima, feels his company's partnership with Motorola will be the start of great things.
"This is the very first step to us becoming a big success," he said. "We are starting with very simple games only because it is difficult to create killer games."
Nakajima said the arcade style games like Pokemon and others are harder to create, but his firm will explore options of getting pre-existing games formatted for cell phones.
While the arcade games may be harder for UIEvolution to create on its own, card and casino games won't be.
"Setting up those won't be difficult," he said. "We know how to build those games. Turning them into gambling is a different question all together though. That is a little bit beyond our scope right now."
Nakajima said card games with a point systems are more of a possibility than playing for cash. He said there are too many legal issues and that his company would be venturing into uncharted waters.
"We are not ready to get into gambling at any stage," he said. "We are a software company and the business side of gambling is not what we do."
While playing games on cell phones isn't anything new, what UIEvolution brings to the table is the ability for users to play games between one another.
It will be the fist time multi-player interactive games can be played between multiple wireless handsets.
UIEvolution is utilizing Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition J2ME technology to develop the wireless applications.
As a participant in Motorola's J2ME technology-based developer program, UIEvolution will initially offer favorites such as chess, checkers, hangman, and Space Invaders, but with a major twist--true interactivity.
"As we've seen in other parts of the world, users love simple wireless games that they can play with their friends anywhere, any time," said Nakajima. "Our first-generation gaming applications are about exciting game play and interacting with other people. We consider our games another form of personal communication."
This alliance has been established in anticipation of Motorola's J2ME technology-enabled multiple communication handsets, which are expected to be available in the first half of 2001 through iDEN network operators including Nextel Communications and Southern LINC in the United States and TELUS Mobility/Clearnet in Canada. The combination of Sun's J2ME technology and the iDEN network's packet data capability enables users to play network-based games without the need to establish a dialup connection.
While UIEvolution is not looking to bring interactive gaming to cell phones, at least not in the near future, the partnership serves as a reminder that the technology for bringing multi-player casino gambling to the wireless world is within grasp.