BANGALORE: New York based Zeboo Corporation, a venture finance company, has announced plans to establish the first mobile game studio by a US company in India. Zeboo's mobile gaming studio will be launched in the first quarter of 2005 at Hyderabad, India. Zeboo also announced a mobile game developer contest to identify developers and domestic studios for strategic partnerships.

While India has a large talent pool and a growing mobile market, the development of mobile games is moving at a relatively slower pace. A contest has been framed to identify developers and companies that have passion to develop world class mobile games. The games will be judged on criteria such as rich graphics, intuitive game play, code stability and efficiency. Contestants can build on established game concepts or build new games from scratch. Contestant can be an individual or a team or a company. All games must be built with Sun's Java 2 Mobile Edition [J2ME].

"India has the richest talent pool of Java developers," said V Krishna Polineni, Vice-President of Development. "Developing world-class games requires assembling a team that not only has the skills but has a deep passion for games. As mobile phone capacities accelerate in terms of chip speeds and memory, the promise of truly mobile entertainment becomes more viable."

To participate in the contest for mobile developers, the contestants can register by sending an email to letsplay@skript.com before January 10, 2005 by sending the name, address and phone number of the primary contact. Finished games are due by March 31, 2005. The contest is open only to developers based in India.