Yahoo! Games plans to debut a kind of Web-to-wireless interface for its poker games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in mid-May. In fact, Yahoo! is so confident in the new feature that it will have three top professional players – Phil Hellmuth, Phil (Unibomber) Laak, and Antonio Esfandiari – play against E3 guests during the show.
“Our goal at Yahoo! Games is to provide a dynamic, thriving online community that unites and connects gamers of all ages and tastes,” said general manager Geoff Graber in announcing the interface debut. “We’re excited to lead the industry in building the best multiplayer games and deliver a multiplayer mobile game, Yahoo! Poker, which lets people play friends anytime, anywhere, and on any device.”
Yahoo! Poker is a multiplayer, cross-platform game product set to include such community and personalization features as enabling mobile phone players to play against tens of thousands playing on their personal computers, according to a Yahoo! statement.
The feature also will "[l]everage Yahoo! Games’ huge community, so there are always thousands of people ready to play," the Yahoo! statement continued. It also will allow users to "show their Poker face with personalization features. Millions of people have created online personas through Yahoo! Avatars. Now they can bring those same personas into Yahoo! Poker, so they see who they are playing."
Hellmtuh, Laak, and Esfandiari will play poker and demonstrate tips, tricks, and how to stay connected to fellow players from desktops and cell phones alike, the Yahoo! statement added.
Several unnamed third-party developers reportedly are partnering with the portal/search giant to help tap into cross-platform multiplayer game experiences and Yahoo! community networking.
“The tools and applications that we are offering our industry partners will not only provide exciting new game play experiences for consumers, but will also provide our partners the opportunity to leverage Yahoo!’s extensive network of millions of users, presenting new sales, marketing, advertising, and cross-promotional opportunities,” Graber said.
