MIDP 2.0 changing the face of J2ME gaming

ABSTRACT

Pervasive computing is coming to the masses. The tremendous growth in cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) has resulted in a new platform for programmers. Analysis of online sales records for these platforms shows that games, specifically those using the Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) in conjunction with the Mobile Information Device Proflle (MIDP), are the best sellers. Currently most consumer devices use the MIDP 1.0 API which provides little API support for gaming. As a result developers have been forced to write their own game libraries which has led to slow games with large distribution sizes. Recently devices supporting the revised MIDP 2.0 specification have become available. In this paper we analyze the benefits the new API brings to game development and provide a short tutorial which details the steps in porting a MIDP 1.0 game to 2.0.

REFERENCES

• 1: Cindy Bloch , Annette Wagner, MIDP 2.0 Style Guide for the Java 2 Platform (The Java Series), Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA, 2003
• 2: M. J. Burge. A handheld and ubiquitous computing curriculum. In Proc. 41st Annual ACM Southeast Conference, pages 22--24, Savannah, GA, 2003. ACM.
• 3: M. J. Burge and Y. D. Liang. Java Micro Edition Programming. Prentice Hall, to appear in 2004.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.5 COMPUTER SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
      C.5.3 Microcomputers
          Subjects: Portable devices (e.g., laptops, personal digital assistants)

Keywords:
J2ME, Java, MIDP, handheld gaming, pervasive computing