Nokia hooks up with EA to deliver next generation of mobile games
EA mobile titles will be easier to find on current and next gen Nokia handsets
When it comes to games and mobile phones, you can't get two bigger names than Electronic Arts and Nokia. So when the two companies announce they're joining forces to push mobile games to the next level, it's pretty exciting.
Granted, there have been rumours for some time that the two were working together, but it's only today that anything remotely concrete has been announced.
Revealed this afternoon, the new deal will see EA putting its weight behind Nokia's Content Discoverer solution, which is designed to make it much easier to browse, sample and download games and other content via digital stores.
And the first fruits of this labour will be seen very soon, with Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and FIFA Street 2 all set to be available on the system before Xmas.
The partnership should really come into its own however on the next generation N-Gage gaming platform, which we've mentioned several times previously.
Launching in the first half of 2007 across a wide range of Series 60 handsets, Nokia's platform aims to make it easy for people to find, buy, play and share games on a range of Nokia smartphones – and EA says it will produce a range of launch titles to help kick start Nokia's next gen initiative.
At the commencement of what sounds like a very promising friendship, EA senior VP Mitch Lasky said, "Nokia shares our vision of making it easy for people around the world to find and play the best quality games on their mobile phones. We're looking forward to working more closely with Nokia on promoting a delivery system that propels mobile gaming forward."
"Nokia and EA have a common vision regarding the opportunities in mobile games and how to turn them into a reality," confirmed Kaidesoja. "When you combine Nokia's leadership in hardware, usability and software platforms with EA's brands and quality thresholds, the results will speak for themselves."
It will be interesting to hear what the mobile operators make of all this, as a very much closer relationship between handset maker and games publisher could potentially leave their own games portals as something of a gooseberry.
Suffice to say we'll be tracking this love triangle as it develops as avidly as any romance-sniffing tabloid hack.
