World Snooker Championship heads to mobile

Are we snooker loopy? Well, we are for two weeks of the year, when the World Championship takes place at the Crucible. It's an excuse to veg out on the sofa for some late-night ball-clacking action. And then we watch the snooker, obviously.

I-play has announced that it's bringing out an official game, World Snooker Championship, which will be released in March to tie in with the actual tournament in April.

The game's being developed by Blade Interactive Games, the new mobile division of Blade Interactive, which was responsible for Sega's PSP game, erm, World Snooker Championship. In other words, they've got form.

"Will you play as snooker demon Ronnie O'Sullivan, the legendary Steve Davis or all-time favourite John Higgins?" asks I-play CEO David Gosen, getting into the spirit of things. "With these snooker gods, the World Snooker Championships on your mobile will be as compelling as the real thing."

Interesting, given that Ronnie O'Sullivan already has his own snooker game on mobile published by Player One, and Steve Davis has his own slightly older title published by Infospace.

But Blade Interactive is promising that the new game will feature the top 32 players in the world, so we won't argue. The developer also says that World Snooker Championship will feature motion-captured animation and real tournaments as well as the World Championship itself.