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IEEE COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINEFEATURE TOPIC:ENTERTAINMENT EVERYWHERE: System and Networking Issues inEmerging Network-Centric Entertainment SystemsBACKGROUND: The experience of bringing the Internet into ourlives deeply is now shared by millions of people. Take the USA, forexample. It is reported that more than a fifth of Americanhouseholds has a high-speed, always-on, Internet access, and anincreasing number of them is exploiting wireless technologies todistribute the broadband connection throughout the rooms of theirhomes. With such a high-speed, always-on, connection a drasticrevolution is coming in the way people watch movies and news,listen to music, and play games. This change has been drivenfundamentally by two dominant factors: First, the technologicaladvances of computer-based digital multimedia technology (highquality video and sound) have provided consumers with goodmotivations to upgrade their home entertainment systems (e.g., frommechanical VHS tape drives to digital DVD). Second, (wireless)networking technologies have enabled the possibility to shift whatthey first consumed on their desktop PC in the office to theirdigital TV equipment in the living room, as well as to the frontpockets in their jackets. All these mean that in anentertainment-equipped house we might easily find a broadbandentertainment center built on the top of a Cat-6 Ethernet cableinfrastructure or on a Wi-Fi network. Such an entertainmentplatform might be comprised, for example, of a connection from thecomputer to the digital stereo or the TV devices, as well as of aninterconnected PlayStation2 or XBox governed by programmable TiVoequipment for online play. In essence, what is really new,nowadays, is that we know what tomorrow's entertainment technologywill bring to us: a "magic box" where every game ever thought,every movie ever made, every song ever sung, plus news, sportevents and shows, will be available for instant enjoyment with justone click on a button. While interest for conducting research inthis area was moderate for a long time, recently, instead, greatopportunities have arisen in academia, as well as in industry, fordeveloping researches in the field of computer-based entertainmentsystems, especially focused on the provision of networking andsystem support to entertainment. Obviously, all these excitingtechnological advances have raised a number of interesting researchquestions: How can the Internet native language (i.e. the TCP/IPprotocol) take over this complex scenario for scaling the deliveryof entertainment contents to very large numbers of users? How candigital entertainment be delivered efficiently to small devicessuch as PDAs and cell phones? How can new system developmentstyles, like the peer-to-peer style for example, have influence onthe architecture of computer-based entertainment systems? How canthe employed protocol be integrated to optimize the distribution ofentertainment contents?SCOPE OF CONTRIBUTIONS:This Feature Topic solicits paper submissions from allresearchers involved in the field of computer-based entertainmentto provide an opportunity to publish state-of-the art originalpapers.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:- Networking and System Support for Entertainment Systems-Wireless and Mobile Technologies for Entertainment-Wireless Multimedia for Entertainment-Networked Systems for Music and Movie Distribution-Architectures, Platforms and Protocols for NetworkedMultiplayerGames- Games on Mobile and Resource-constrained Devices-Games and Wireless Technologies-Networked In-Home Entertainment Systems-Networked In-Car/Flight/Train Entertainment Systems-Interactive TeleVision and Interactive Digital Storytelling-Networked Technologies for Sport and Entertainment-Wearable Networked Technologies for Entertainment-Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality Technologies forEntertainment-Integration and Interoperability Issues in EntertainmentSystemsProspective authors should e-mail their manuscripts as apostscript or pdf attachment to the guest editors by November 01,2004. (Please see http://www.comsoc.org/~ci for the authorsguidelines.) The following is the timetable for this feature topicpublication:SCHEDULE FOR SUBMISSIONS:Manuscript Submission: November 01, 2004AcceptanceNotification: January 15, 2005FinalManuscript Due: March 01, 2005PublicationDate: May 2005Guest EditorsBarcin KozbeEricssonInc,11121Willows Rd, NE Suite 101Redmond,WA 98052 USAbarcin.kozbe@ericsson.com
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