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Port mobile games from Java to iPhone in a jiffy

That's the idea behind Innaworks' new AlcheMo for iPhone tool

Port mobile games from Java to iPhone in a jiffy
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As any fule kno, to make native iPhone games developers will need to sign up for Apple's SDK. However, what to do if they've got a bunch of existing Java games that they want to port across?

New Zealand firm Innaworks reckons it has the answer in its new AlcheMo for iPhone technology. The claim is that it'll "instantly" port a standard Java mobile game to iPhone and iPod touch, without any need for manual tweaking.

The idea is that developers and publishers can save time and money by porting their Java games to iPhone automatically, although just how automatic that is remains open to question, given that Innaworks also says that the tool lets developers take advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer and multi-touch features.

"iPhone is emerging as a serious gaming platform," says Innaworks CEO Stephen Cheng. "We are amazed by the effectiveness of the touchscreen and accelerometer on enhancing gaming experience. We expect the early backers among game publishers to significantly benefit from their first mover advantage."

Innaworks hasn't sprung from nowhere – the company already has a tool called AlcheMo for BREW, which publishers have been using to port their Java games to the BREW platform that's popular in the US (for example, Vivendi Mobile Games used it for Urban Attack).

However, thinking about this from the point of view of gamers, we hope that technologies like AlcheMo aren't misused by developers to simply shovel all their Java games onto iPhone, without thinking about how the gameplay should be adapted for the strengths of Apple's handset.

Stuart Dredge
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)