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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Systems/Enterprise:
SUN DEMOS MASSIVE MULTI-PLAYER
JAVA GAME SERVER PROTOTYPE
Sun Microsystems Inc, the creator and leading advocate of Java technology,
will demonstrate how it is shaping the future of the video games industry this
week at the Game Developers Conference. An industry first, Sun will be
showcasing a game server prototype -- which integrates Java technologies with
IGN/GameSpy and TimesTen technologies -- to connect various game devices to
one game network. With this approach, developers and publishers will benefit
from higher server performance, reliability, scalability and lower cost of
entry into the Massively Multi-player On Line Game (MMOG) market. The unique
architecture of this prototype enables several different games to co-exist on
the same infrastructure, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership for any
game company deploying an online game. In addition, developers can get the
latest information, source code and participate in active forums at the Java
gamingcommunity on java.net. Sun will showcase Java technology for game
developers at its booth and kick off a Java Game Developer Contest with
approximately $50,000 in prizes donated by the contest sponsors IGN/GameSpy,
AMD and Tapwave.
"With Java technology, video game developers can now bring their new and
innovative online games to market faster, easier, and more cost effectively
while still being able to scale the infrastructure to meet demand," said Chris
Melissinos, chief gaming officer for Sun Microsystems. "Sun's expertise in
building massively connected infrastructures provides the robust, scalable and
secure foundation needed for the next generation of online games which can
easily scale to hundreds of thousands of users."
No More Idle Resources
Built on the Solaris operating system running on the Sun Fire Blade B1600
platform, Sun's Game Technology Group (GTG) designed the server prototype to
not only scale vertically -- but to scale horizontally too. This enables game
companies hosting their games to add server resources, such as memory and
CPUs, incrementally to meet growing demand -- one blade at a time -- so the
server uses resources only when they are needed. By keeping the architecture
flexible, integration of technologies such as TimesTen's real-time in-memory
database technology and the matchmaking and communication SDKs from GameSpy is
easily achieved and enables developers to continue to leverage their existing
technology expertise.
"The integration of GameSpy's industry leading online game technologies and
services into Sun's prototype will usher in a new era of online game
development and deployment," said Henk van Niekerk, senior director of sales,
Publisher and Developer Services Division, IGN/GameSpy. "GameSpy technology
connects the players, and Sun's game server controls the game world --
offering state-of-the-art reliability, scalability and security."
"The Sun game server prototype represents a giant leap forward for game
developers, enabling them to rapidly build persistent online games that easily
scale to hundreds of thousands of users," said Jim Groff, chief executive
officer of TimesTen. "Speed, scalability and continuous, 'always on'
availability are absolute requirements for a massively multi-user online
gaming environment, and that's exactly what TimesTen helps deliver."
At Sun's booth, visitors will be able to learn more about java.net,
java.com,
Java development tools and mobile devices. Game demos at the booth will
include multiplayer game demonstrations from Immediate Mode Interactive and
Wurm Online as well as various commercially available games that utilize Java
technologies.
In addition, the first 500 attendees at Sun's booth will receive Sun's Java
Technology Game Developer's Pack. The pack includes a CD that contains all of
the open source Java technology Game APIs released by Sun, game demos,
documents, whitepapers, the Java Runtime Environment, and more. The CD
includes the debut album from Arockalypse and the Amazing Trans-Metropolitans,
a techno-rock band, to help developers keep the beat through those late night
coding sessions and a bottle of Bawls' Guarana beverage to keep the creative
juices flowing.
Also announced is the release of a new professional game development book,
"Practical Java Game Programming," written by Dustin Clingman, Shawn Kendall
and Syrus Mesdaghi of the Full Sail media school in Orlando, Fla. This new
book focuses on game development using the open source Java technology Game
APIs released by Sun Microsystems. Sun's GTG acted as consultants and
contributors to the book.
About Sun Microsystems Inc
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The
Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a leading
provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the
Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide
Web at sun.com/.
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