Motorola to offer classic games like Pong on phones

CHICAGO: If Metal Gear Solid is too edgy for your tastes in video games, let Motorola Inc. take you back to a more innocent age.

Chicago area-based Motorola, the No. 2 maker of wireless telephones behind Finland's Nokia, said it has signed a global distribution deal with Manchester, England-based iFone to add such classic Atari games as Pong, Centipede and Asteroids to its cell phones. "Atari games are known and loved by players of all ages," Juan Montes, a vice president of technology and content solutions at Motorola's handset unit in Europe, said in a statement.

iFone's Atari game catalog can be downloaded initially to Motorola's V60i and V66i phones starting next month in a trial launch with some European wireless carriers, a Motorola spokesman said. The games will be available in the fourth quarter on Motorola's color screen handset, the A720.

Some Motorola phones with embedded games will be available later in the year and the trial will be expanded to other wireless operators around the world, including the United States, within three months after the initial launch, the spokesman said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

iFone, backed by technology investment firm Marlborough Holdings, is an entertainment content provider for mobile phones and wireless devices. It is a partner of Infogrames Entertainment, the publisher of Atari games.

(C) Reuters Ltd.