Google is courting folks that make games people love to play on smartphones.
The Internet giant has teamed with a professional Game Developers Conference (GDC) taking place in San Francisco in March to offer free Nexus One and Droid smartphones to those that register early for the event.
Sessions at the conference will be devoted to games tailored for mobile devices, “making attendees great potential developers of new content for phones using the Android” operating system, GDC organizers said.
Game applications are top sellers at Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch devices, which Google has in its cross-hairs with its freshly launched Nexus One and an online Android Market for mini-programs.
Growing numbers of hardware makers are building smartphones, netbooks and tablet computers based on Google’s open-source Android software.
Smartphones are among the most widespread and widely-used game platforms, and have proven particularly suited to independent developers experimenting with new and unusual gameplay, GDC said.
GDC is billed as the world’s largest exclusively professional event for game developers.
Game developers who register for the conference by Feb. 4 will get Nexus One or Motorola Droid smartphones to help them “catch the Android wave,” GDC said.
Meanwhile, US mobile phone maker Motorola filed a complaint on Friday with the US government alleging patent infringement and unfair trade practices against the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry device.
The complaint against Research in Motion (RIM) said the BlackBerry maker infringed on Motorola’s patents in key technology areas, including Wi-Fi access and power management.
Motorola called for an probe that could potentially lead to an ordering banning some importation of some BlackBerry devices, which are widely used in the US.
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