Recent focus on HTML5 - boosted by Facebook's pending Project Spartan announcement - means Adobe is having to fight harder than usual for press attention where Flash is concerned.

Nonetheless, the company is planning a huge push when Flash Player 11 and Adobe AIR 3 roll into town in October, with Adobe keen to stress the platform's new found capabilities when it comes to games.

Playing with platforms

Indeed, getting on the right side of HTML5 appears to be an increasingly important strategy for Adobe.

Dubbing Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 as "the game console for the web", the firm claims AIR's native extensions will allow developers to "choose the right mix of Flash, HTML5 and native code" from one platform to the next.

What's more, performance has also been ramped up, enabling accelerated 2D and 3D graphics with up to 1,000 times faster performance than Flash Player 10 and Air 2.

Data-driver

"Dozens of new features in Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 allow developers to deliver a new class of gaming and premium video experiences, as well as sophisticated, data-driven applications with back-end systems integration across devices, including the iPhone and iPad via AIR," the firm said in a statement.

"Flash Builder and Flex, Adobe's open source framework for building mobile, Web and desktop apps, will offer support for the new features in an upcoming release before the end of the year."

Early support on the mobile front will initially be restricted to Android, iOS and BlackBerry, though the company claims further platforms will be announced in the future.

Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 will launch in "early October".



[source: BusinessWire]