Mobile Games

Dialing into the fast-growing market for mobile games, a San Francisco-based start-up is poised to unveil a new service today that it hopes will make television viewers as hooked to their cellphones as they are to remote controls. AirPlay Network Inc. said it would introduce a lineup of cellphone games tied to live television broadcasts.

Hoping mobile games will ring up sales, Electronic Arts Inc. said Thursday that it would pay $680 million for one of the world's largest makers of cellphone video games. EA plans to buy Los Angeles-based Jamdat Mobile Inc. for $27 a share -- a 19% premium over Jamdat's closing price of $22.77 Thursday, but 21% below the company's July peak of $34.19. EA shares fell 84 cents to $55.75, and to $54.10 in after-hours trading following announcement of the all-cash deal.

If Yahoo Inc. has its way, that beeping in your pocket could be a phone call. Or an invitation to play backgammon. The Internet titan plans to announce today that it has acquired Stadeon Inc., whose technology lets users of Web-connected cellphones play games against opponents on other cellphones or seated at computers. The service is expected to be available through all major mobile networks this year. It is Yahoo's latest bid to extend its reach beyond the personal computer.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts Inc. will boost production of video games for mobile phones over the next nine months, bringing top-selling franchise "The Sims" and a 2005 version of "Fifa Football" to handsets, the company said Thursday. By mid-2005, EA will offer for download four mobile-phone game titles sold through most major mobile-phone operators in Europe, North America and Latin America, including Germany's T-Mobile, Britain's Vodafone and America's Verizon Wireless.