Adobe Enables Multi-Platform 3D Mobile Gaming With Flash Player 11

Updated

Adobe Systems (NAS: ADBE) unveiled its Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 software, promising publishers the tools to deliver console-quality 2D and 3D gaming experiences to mobile platforms including Google's (NAS: GOOG) Android, Apple's (NAS: AAPL) iOS (via the AIR runtime) and Research In Motion's (NAS: RIMM) BlackBerry Tablet OS as well as the desktop and connected TVs.

New features in Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 include full hardware-accelerated rendering for 2D and 3D graphics, with rendering performance 1,000 times faster than the previous Flash Player 10 and AIR 2, along with AIR Native Extensions touting support for thousands of highly-optimized, open-source libraries, enabling developers to access to software and hardware capabilities like vibration control, magnetometers, light sensors, dual screens and Near Field Communications.

Developers can automatically package AIR 3 with their apps to simplify the installation process on Android and iOS in addition to Windows and Mac OS, meaning consumers no longer to need to install and update the runtime separately. (The BlackBerry Tablet OS ships with AIR built-in.)

Adobe also promises full frame rate high-definition video quality within AIR applications on iOS devices using H.264 hardware decoding. With support for the Adobe Flash Access content protection solution and Adobe Pass authentication protocol, publishers can introduce rental and subscription options and offer TV Everywhere content to more than 80 percent of U.S. pay TV subscribers.

Adobe will release Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 in early October. The firm's Flash Builder and Flex (an open source framework for building mobile, web and desktop apps) will add support for the new features later this year.

Adobe first introduced AIR in early 2008. A superset of Flash Player, AIR enables developers to leverage existing code to build standalone applications across devices and platforms. AIR native extensions add support for unique device features and native code libraries, giving developers the flexibility to mix and match elements of Flash, HTML5 and native code. Companies including Apple and Google have made significant investments in the HTML5 web standard, touted by many as a Flash killer.

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