THQ, Jamdat, and Nokia team up with NBA for wireless suite

On Tuesday, the NBA revealed a new suite of mobile games and sports-news programs that will let fans track their favorite basketball teams and manage fantasy leagues. The "NBA Unwired" suite is launching in conjunction with the start of the NBA season, and will boast offerings from wireless publishing giants THQ and Jamdat Mobile, as well as downloadable game highlights provided by handset manufacturer Nokia.

THQ will be providing a five-on-five basketball game, a score-tracking program, a fantasy basketball application, and ring tones featuring player voices, such as Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Webber.

Jamdat's contribution will consist of two new basketball games that will be available for multiple handsets across multiple carriers. It is unclear whether Jamdat Sports NBA 2005, which was released last month, is one of the two games being included.

Nokia's game highlights will be available only to those with video-enabled phones, as they will come in the form of MPEG-4 movie clips--currently the standard on mobile.

A projection revealed at the recent CTIA mobile entertainment convention suggested that mobile data will be a $35-billion industry by 2008. While this figure seems a bit high, it's clear that major corporations are recognizing mobile as a lucrative vehicle for their brands.