Java Isn t Supported on Games Consoles

Java Isn't Supported on Games Consoles

Unfortunately, this criticism has some justification. Video gaming is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with estimates placing revenues at $29 billion by 2007 with the market catering to over 235 million gamers. PCs and game consoles account for almost all the income, but only about 10-20 percent of it is from PCs, the majority coming from three consoles: Sony's PlayStation 2 (PS2), Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's GameCube. Sony is the dominant console maker, having nearly twice as many units in homes compared to Microsoft and Nintendo combined. Microsoft accounts for about 95 percent of the desktop PC market. Arguably, two important games platforms exist, the PS2 and Windows, and Java isn't available on the PlayStation.

This problem has long been recognized by Sun. Back at the JavaOne conference in 2001, Sony and Sun announced their intention to port the JVM to the PS2. Nothing has been released, but there are persistent rumors about a JVM on the PlayStation 3, earmarked to appear in 2006.

In the future, Java may have a better chance of acceptance into the closed world of console makers because of two trends: consoles mutating into home media devices and the meteoric rise of online gaming. Both trends require consoles to offer complex networking and server support, strong areas for Java and Sun.

The Phantom console from Infinium Labs was announced at JavaOne in 2004 (http://www.phantom.net/index.php). It's essentially a PC running an embedded Windows XP installation, with an nVidia graphics card, a hard drive, and a broadband connection. Most importantly for Java gaming, the Phantom will come with a complete JRE. It was demoed during Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3) in 2004, where it was shown running Law and Order: Dead on the Money (which uses Java 3D).

Die-hard programmers may point out that it's possible to get Java running on a PS2. One approach is to install Kaffe, an open source, non-Sun JVM, on top of PlayStation Linux. Kaffe can be obtained from http://www.kaffe.org/; details on Linux for the PlayStation are at http://playstation2-linux.com/. The gallant programmer will need a Java-to-bytecode translator, such as Jikes (http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/oss/jikes/).

The Linux kit adds a hard disk to the PS2, so this development strategy won't work for ordinary PlayStations. Configuring the software looks to be far beyond the capabilities (or desires) of ordinary console owners, and I couldn't find any documentation about using Jikes or Kaffe on a PS2. The PlayStation only comes with 32 MB of RAM, while a typical JVM and its libraries requires 5 to 10 MB, so how much would be left for a game once Linux was up and running?

The difficulties of this approach should be contrasted to the availability of feature-rich C/C++ tools and engines for consoles, such as RenderWare (http://www.renderware.com/) and Gamebryo (http://www.ndl.com/). They have a track record of best-selling games and can port games across the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and PCs.

The lack of Java on consoles is a serious issue, but the remaining PC market is large. Microsoft estimates that there are 600 million Windows PCs, growing to more than 1 billion by 2010. Games on PCs benefit from superior hardwaresuch as video cards, RAM, and Internet connectionsand can offer more exciting game play. There are many more PC games, particularly in the area of multiplayer online games. It's estimated that 40 percent of all gamers will start playing online in 2005. Revenues may reach $1.1 billion by 2008.

Another rapidly expanding market is the one for mobile games, with sales of $530 million in 2003, potentially rising to $1.93 billion in 2006. There are perhaps 200 million Java-enabled phones at the moment.