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Nerde approves games winners for Sony Ericsson's newest phone range

Three games have been picked from 20 Java-writing finalist contributions to Sony Ericsson's "Game Developers Challenge 2004" - a matter of interest to game players? Not yet. Sony Ericsson is only revealing this news to its developer community, so far.

<1/> The K700 - one of the new range<1/>running Java based games<1/>

The publicity scheme was aimed at encouraging developers to write in Java for its new range of phones. "We are happy to see that there has been such a great interest among game developers but also among consumers who have participated in playing and voting on the games," said Mikael Nerde, senior Manager and head of Sony Ericsson's Developer Program. .

"The winning games all utilise full screen mode, support joystick use well and show that good programmers can create really good games that are smaller than 100 Kb, making it easier to distribute the games over-the-air," he said.

Considering that this competition wasn't publicised anywhere on Sony Ericsson's normal consumer web sites - you'll search in vain for any mention of the developers challenge - and only appeared on the developer site the fact that 7,000 odd members of the gaming community found it and played the games is impressive.

But what motivates game writers isn't the approval of jury members. "It's great to see Sony Ericsson encouraging mobile games innovation through this contest," said Matthew Bellows, VP Mobile Entertainment for Gamespot.com," - but he was one of the external jury members. So when he says: "Developers are making great strides in the quality of their work, and competitions like this bring well deserved recognition to top developers worldwide," he very possibly exaggerates.

And the winners? Picked by people playing simulators on the Web, they are:

ARES II developed by Brownbear Mobile Games, Singapore

Jury's motivation: "This is a fun, intense action game that is challenging to both kids and older gamers thanks to many and different advanced weapons used to destroy enemies. The game is a well executed and very enjoyable shoot 'em up game that quickly gains popularity."

GearBox: Puzzle Party developed by Spoon Interactive Arts, Philippines

Jury motivation: "This is an innovative and challenging Puzzle game for both young and old. The developers add a new dimension to one of the most popular game genres by presenting the gamer an exciting mix of Puzzle Game and Beat'em Up features which will probably have appeal to many."

Nano Kid developed by Pocket Panic!, Sweden

Jury motivation: "This is an eye-candy Platform game with beautiful graphics and great personality. It is fun to play, gives a complete experience and is suitable for all target groups."