SAN DIEGO�Coming off its fantastic reception at Comic-Con, where three screenings of footage from Paramount Pictures' and Shangri-La Entertainment's Beowulf (www.beowulfmovie.com) were shown to about 1,400 attendees; French mobile game publisher Gameloft has secured the rights for the mobile game based on the November 16 blockbuster.

Ubisoft previously announced it was expanding Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf computer-generated movie experience for gamers on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PSP. Now cell phone users will be able to take this modern adaptation by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery of the classic English poem mobile. Gameloft will develop, publish and distribute the game in over 75 countries.

"This is the third project that we have undertaken with Paramount Pictures, so we've established a real foundation to work well together," said Michel Guillemot, president, Gameloft. "We're currently working on developing gameplay to capture the essence of the film and break new ground with fans and mobile gamers alike."

Sandi Isaacs, senior vice president, Interactive & Mobile at Paramount Digital Entertainment, said at the Paramount Pictures Beowulf Party on July 25 that Gameloft has been a great partner in bringing tentpole movies like Mission: Impossible III, War of the Worlds and now Beowulf to mobile gamers.

"The ubiquitous nature of mobile phones makes this the perfect platform to reach a truly mass market audience with these games," said Isaacs. "Beowulf is a property that most people are familiar with from reading it in high school and now this new game will bring the action to life in a unique way."

Gonzague de Vallois, vice president of publishing, Gameloft, discussed the game maker's plans for Beowulf. Like Ubisoft, Paramount provided Gameloft with a great deal of material such as short movie sequences, screenshots, and drawings.

"While I can't provide details about the game yet, I can say that it will stay true to the storyline of the new film and will be an epic action game," said de Vallois. "The Beowulf legend is full of heroes and monsters, a battle of good and evil. The game will certainly capture all the excitement of this."

Beowulf will be the largest 3D movie opening ever. The film, which was created by computers in a 3D universe, will be offered across multiple 3D formats, including IMAX 3D, Real D and Dolby Digital 3D. The film will also be shown on traditional 2D screens.

"CGI truly ups the bar in game design because the graphics for the film are so realistic that the quality of the game must also be up to the same par," said de Vallois. "CGI for the film industry is what 3D gaming is to mobile. It entertains on a greater and richer level."

De Vallois added that since most cell phone gamers are very tech savvy, they certainly have an appreciation for the latest technology whether that be in film or mobile gaming.

Unlike Ubisoft, which has next generation consoles and the powerful PSP to tap into for translating the film's story to interactive entertainment, Gameloft is constrained with a 600K memory cap for mobile phones.

"The storyline will of course stay the same, but developing a game for mobile is very different from developing a game for console, so it's not really a fair comparison," said de Vallois. "The production team has to be pretty skilled to work within the size limitations, but also develop a fun and interesting game that will keep you engrossed for hours. We've worked with Paramount previously and they've always been happy with the results, so we're confident that it will be the same with Beowulf."

Gameloft's Beowulf mobile game will ship in conjunction with Ubisoft's next-gen console and PSP games November 16 to coincide with the movie's theatrical launch.