Sun Microsystems at 2005 Game Developers Conference

At the 2005 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems will showcase new high-performance offerings designed to provide developers with a more expansive offering of technologies for game creation. In addition to the continued advancement of the Sun Game Server prototype and the Sun Grid, developers can now benefit from the cross-platform capabilities of Java technology, the breakthrough Solaris 10 Operating System, world record performance of Sun's x64 servers and workstations, and the array of tools available today for development efforts. Sun hosts the Java Games developer community website on both java.net ( http://community.java.net/games/ ) to further assist in the development and deployment of Java technology-based games and java.com, a website where consumers can experience the power of Java technologies and play with some of the hottest Java technology applications in the world.

"Sun continues to demonstrate its commitment to the games industry with the continued performance improvement in Java technologies, the introduction of AMD Opteron based servers and workstations for compatibility with existing and future game technologies," said Chris Melissinos, chief gaming officer at Sun. "The industry is at a crossroads where constraints of traditional technology are hindering its evolution and Sun is helping to provide a flexible infrastructure that helps developers focus on creating innovative games."

For developers, Sun offers a broad array of products, tools and services to enable developers to create applications and bring them to market faster, easier and more cost-effectively.

Additionally, Sun continues to enhance its Sun Game Server prototype, introduced last year as the industry's only platform that can scale both vertically and horizontally to enable companies to host their games and add server resources incrementally. These enhancements include improved session management and support for fast paced arena style games. Developers can benefit from higher server performance, reliability, scalability and lower cost of entry into the Massively Multi-player On Line Game ( MMOG ) market. The unique architecture of this prototype enables several different games to co-exist on the same infrastructure, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership for any game company deploying online games.

Servers -- The Sun Fire V20z and Sun Fire V40z servers, the Sun Java Workstation W1100z and Sun Java Workstation W2100z equipped with AMD Opteron processors provide an ideal platform for game developers because of its high-performance and cost-effective architecture. Leveraging both Solaris 10 and Linux operating systems, and x64 servers and workstations represent the strongest value for systems platforms in the games industry.

Software -- With the availability of Java tools and technology, developers are able to create content for multiple platforms which can span many devices, from a mobile device to a desktop PC, which allows developers to fully leverage the network for online video games.

Java Games Developer Community

To further assist in the development and deployment of video games, a community website is hosted on java.net for Java technology based games. The forum has more than 70,000 postings, 5000 registered developers and is host to many game demos, some of which will be demonstrated in the Sun booth. The website provides the game community with a place to share ideas and gain up-to-date information about Java technology-related gaming development resources. Visit the community today at http://community.java.net/games/ and check out Chief Gaming Officer Chris Melissinos web log at http://blogs.sun.com/ChrisM

java.com

Sun unveiled the refreshed java.com, a cool website where consumers can experience the power of Java technologies and play with some of the hottest Java technology applications in the world. Visitors to http://www.java.com can play with a variety of exciting Sun and third party content, including games, videos and multimedia for desktop and mobile devices.

Game Developers Conference Booth #858

At Sun's booth 858, attendees will be able to learn more about java.net, java.com, Java technology development tools, Sun Microsystems hardware platforms and the power of the Sun Grid service for game deployment. Game demos at the booth will include multiplayer game demonstrations of Wurm Online, Puzzle Pirates, MegaCorps and Nokia's Pocket Kingdom. Additionally, a full day tutorial titled "Practical Java Game Development" will offer information on the latest techniques in Java technology based game development and cover topics such as 3D graphics programming, high performance audio rendering and tips on integrating Java technology into current productions. The session will be held on Tuesday, March 8th from 10:00am - 6:00pm in room 205.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. ( Nasdaq: SUNW ) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com

Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Melissa Pereira
408.276.6123
melissa.pereira@sun.com

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