Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless Game Time: On-Field Live Football

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 14:47:08 -0400

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Wireless Game Time: On-Field Live Football

23 minutes ago

Jay Wrolstad, Wireless.NewsFactor.com

Ready to play some serious football? Wireless company Sorrent sure hopes
so as it launches an in-the-helmet game that promises to put players in
the thick of the action.

•

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•

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•

Baseball Broadcasts Go Wireless

Sorrent and FoxSports.com recently announced that Fox Sports On-Field
Live Football will become available in a single-player game next month to
subscribers of AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE - news), Nextel (Nasdaq: NXTL - news), Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS - news) and Verizon, with a
multiplayer version expected by the end of the year.

Inside the Helmet

Instead of presenting the bird's-eye view typical of most handheld-device games,
On-Field Live Football puts players inside the quarterback's helmet, allowing them to pick from a playbook of offensive sets or to apply defensive schemes.
"Our games are built around the cell phone, and we have brought the
GameBoy or console experience to phones," Sorrent CEO and founder Scott Orr told NewsFactor.

Using the numeric keypad, players can throw to receivers tied to the 1, 2 or 3
keys, with an in-helmet perspective that simulates the experience of the
quarterback surveying the field and throwing to an open teammate.

On the other side of the ball, gamers can call defense plays, such as
double-coverage on a receiver. Artificial intelligence technology enables the
creation of opponents, or "bots," that adjust to a player's skill level.

The Gaming Persona

On-Field Live Football players can create their own "mobile persona,"
using their collected experience against a defense that gets tougher as
the player improves. This persona, with such attributes as agility
rating and intelligence, can transfer to other sports and adventure
games offered by Sorrent, Orr explained.

Sorrent is pushing the interactive, connected aspects of the game that let
players compete with other individuals as well as bots. "The advantage of
cell phones is the ability to go head-to-head on a multiplayer level," said Orr.

The target market for On-Field Live Football is 13- to 34-year-old consumers,
many of whom are gamers with experience using consoles and handheld devices. The games are designed to provide about five to 10
minutes of entertainment for on-the-go wireless users, who also have the option to
continue playing on a PC using an emulator available from Sorrent.

Data Service Subscription Required

Orr, former designer and executive producer of the Madden NFL Football
video game sold by gaming publishing giant EA Sports, said Sorrent's
objective is to bring the Game Boy or console experience to mobile phones
without sacrificing the user experience.

Sorrent's games are available for purchase and download via a
service provider on phones equipped with either Qualcomm's BREW or Sun
Microsystems' Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) platforms. Once downloaded,
the game is listed in the applications or games menu on the phone.

The cost is US$2.99 per month, in addition to the carrier's rates for data service. Sorrent faces stiff competition in the mobile
gaming world from established companies, such as THQ and Sega, but Orr
contends that those companies are relying primarily on SMS (short message
service) and WAP (wireless application protocol) games that lack the sophistication and PC
compatibility of his offerings.

High Gamer Expectations

Sports is a major category among wireless games, but Sorrent will have to
meet experienced players' expectations of console-like quality, Yankee Group analyst Michael Goodman told NewsFactor. The gaming market -- including video, console and handheld offerings -- totals some $10 billion, he noted, but there are some impediments to wireless gaming in the United States, which is the target market for Sorrent's football.

One such hurdle is that few people thus far have purchased advanced
phones with such features as color screens and BREW or J2ME
compatibility, and few have signed up for data service. Another obstacle is that
carriers need major data-service revenue streams, not just
games that garner one-time fees, Goodman said.

"The challenge for Sorrent is that THQ and Sega, for example, have huge
followings among avid gamers and are bringing their popular titles to
mobile devices," he said.

Sorrent and FoxSports.com, the online hub for Fox Sports, also plan to
offer an On-Court Live Basketball game as well as other sports titles
for mobile phones.

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