Sun Microsystems Isn't Interested in Supporting Java Gaming
The games market isn't a traditional one for Sun, and it'll probably never have the depth of knowledge of a Sony or Nintendo. However, the last few years have demonstrated Sun's increasing commitment to gaming.
J2SE has strengthened its games support through successive versions: Version 1.3 improved its graphics and audio capabilities, and Version 1.4 introduced full-screen mode and page flipping in hardware. Faster I/O, memory mapping, and support for nonblock sockets, which is especially useful in client/server multiplayer games, also appeared first in 1.4. Version 5.0 has a decent nanosecond timer at last. Java extension libraries, such as Java 3D, the Java Media Framework (JMF), the Java Communications API, Jini, and JAXP (Java's peer-to-peer API) offer something to games programmers.
Sun started showing an interest in gaming back in 2001, with its announcement of the Java Game Profile, a collaboration with several other companies, including Sega and Sony, to develop a Java gaming API. The profile was perhaps too ambitious, and was abandoned at the end of 2003. However, it did produce three game-focused technologies: a Java binding for OpenGL called JOGL, a binding for OpenAL (a 3D audio library) called JOAL, and JInput.
Part of the 2001 initiative was the creation of the JavaGaming.org web site (http://www.javagaming.org), initially manned by volunteers. In 2003, the Game Technology Group was formed, and JavaGaming.org ...