One of the more exciting areas of online gaming today is the ongoing
evolution of massively multiplayer online games, in which
thousands of players can simultaneously interact with each other in a
virtual world. The growth of broadband Internet availability has
facilitated the rapid expansion of MMOG diversity and consumer adoption
over the past decade. The Community Network Game project, a new
initiative supported by the European Union’s RTD Framework Programme,
will facilitate another wave of MMOG expansion by developing new
technologies that enable players to experience an unprecedented ability
to share user generated content while playing online.
Though MMOGs currently enable some degree of player community
activities while playing online, the client-server architecture typical
of most games has limited the degree to which this can be done and has
virtually prohibited the integration of sophisticated user generated
content (UGC) within the game. The CNG project promises to remove these
limitations through the addition of peer-to-peer (P2P) networking and
in-game graphical insertion technology (IGIT) from Exent. Exent, the leading distributor
of online downloadable video games, has pioneered the development of
IGIT, which enables game content to be inserted or replaced in real time
without the need to change the game’s code on the client or server
side. Coupled with P2P networking, the possibilities for MMOGs are
limitless.
"We are honored to continue our relationship with the EC
(European Commission) as we begin a third project with the
ground-breaking Development Framework Programme," stated Itay Nave, VP
and CTO of Exent. "Migrating our IGIT technology from the one-to-one
environment to a one-to-many, or more accurately, many-to-many
environment is an exciting challenge and one we are uniquely qualified
to undertake. Exent has frequently led the industry in the application
of IGIT, including the recent introduction of our U-Pic series of
customized casual games."
Exent has been involved in the EU’s fifth and sixth framework
programmes (FP5, FP6) and now embarks upon the seventh with the CNG
project. The new project will partner Exent with industry leading
companies like MMOG operator RedBedlam, UGC specialist Kaltura and
organizations like the European Game Developers Federation to overcome
the challenge UGC presents to networks already occupied by MMOG
client-server traffic. The project intends to research and develop new
techniques for 3D/video streaming that are "friendly" to MMOG
client-server traffic by pushing their processing and integration to P2P
networks and end-user devices.
Additional partners to Exent in the CNG project are Research
Academic Computer Technology Institute (CTI), Groupe des Ecoles des
Telecommunications (ITE), De Montfort University (DMU) and i2 media
research Ltd (Goldsmiths, University of London). The team of partners
brings together expertise in games development (Red Bedlam, EGDF), User
Generated Content (Kaltura), network/transmission (CTI, DMU, ITE) and
user needs/user research/ market research (i2 media research).
