Vivendi teams up with Exit Games to bring voice to mobile games
Trash talking in a game? Now that's pretty cool...
IP Multimedia Subsystem, eh? What a marvellous technology.
What's that? You haven't heard of it? Don't feel too downcast – we don't know much about IMS (as it's known), either. But we're going to be boning up on the subject in the coming months, as it sounds like it's going to have quite an effect on mobile gaming.
What sparked our interest was some news today from Vivendi Games Mobile, which is teaming up with technology firm Exit Games to use the latter's Neutron platform on a new wave of mobile games.
The new games, starting with a new version of Vivendi's Navy Battle, will take advantage of IMS for some smart new features, including in-game voice, so you'll be able to shout at your opponent (oh, yes, we should have mentioned it'll also be multiplayer).
Another feature that IMS will bring to Navy Battle is application wake-up, which is when if one of your friends challenges you to a game, your phone is automatically 'woken up' enabling you to accept it – rather than relying on you being in that game at the time.
Meanwhile, IMS will also enable advanced 'presence' features, such as a buddy list which tells you exactly what games your friends are playing at the moment, and letting you challenge them to a game.
When will the all-new Navy Battle be available? Vivendi doesn't say. Obviously, you'll need an IMS-capable phone to play it, and we're not entirely sure when they'll be on sale (or even if they're available already).
Rest assured, we're chasing that subject up right now for a longer feature, to explain what IMS is, and when or indeed whether it'll be changing the way you play mobile games.
