Phones to become mobile games consoles

Mobile phones are to be transformed into portable games consoles thanks to French mobile gaming company In-Fusio.

Mobile phones are to be transformed into portable games consoles thanks to French mobile gaming company In-Fusio.

The company has launched its Execution Engine (ExEn) technology, which it claims will give current generation handset owners 24-hour access to a library of games directly from their mobiles.

ExEn works by handling the interface between the terminal's operating system and the game program, such as 3D graphic functions, mapping, music and sound. It fits between the phone's software and hardware layers.

The technology will be fully launched in the UK in the first quarter of next year.

Marc Lefour, ExEn product manager, said: "ExEn meets all the consumer's expectations: quality of game play, large choice and instant access to games everywhere you go."

The technology has to be installed on the mobile phone first but works on most handsets and over existing Global System for Mobile communications networks.

In-Fusio aims to have about 100 games available in ExEn mode by late 2001, supplying games to eight operators in seven countries.

Gilles Raymond, founder of In-Fusio, is confident of the success of the technology. "With 10 million ExEn mobile phones by the end of next year, In-Fusio will become a major player in the handheld game device industry," he claimed.