Special issue of Computer Networks (Elsevier) on
Networking Issues in Entertainment Computing

Guest Editors:
  Lars Wolf, TU Braunschweig, Germany
  Ryohei Nakatsu, ATR / Kwansei Gakuin Univ. / Nirvana Technology, Japan
  Jesse Schell, CMU, USA

The ever increasing performance of computer-based systems opens up various
new application fields. Since the relatively early days of the computer
industry, computer systems have been used for entertainment purposes.
Today, several different entertainment areas and industries exist where
computers play a significant role.  While interest in academia was moderate
for a long time, recently great interest has arisen in academia as well as
in industry.

Many different aspects play important roles in the different faces of
entertainment computing. However, there are also many common issues which
are worth further in-depth research, especially issues related to the
distribution of information and the networking of components involved in
entertainment computing systems.

The intention of this special issue of Computer Networks is to
illustrate the need for continuing research and to present the current
state-of-the-art in networking aspects of entertainment computing.
This comprises various areas such as massive multiplayer games,
music & TV production and on demand systems, entertainment robots,
training & education.

Only technical papers describing previously unpublished, original,
state-of-the-art research, and not currently under review by another
conference or journal, will be considered. We solicit papers covering
a variety of topics related to computer entertainment networking
including, but not limited to:

o Massive Multiplayer Games
o Mobile Games
o Mobile Entertainment via, e.g., Mobile Phones, PDAs, etc.
o Education, Training, and Edutainment Technologies
o Networked In-Car/Flight/Train Entertainment Systems
o Interactive Tele-Vision and Interactive Digital Storytelling
o Sport and Entertainment
o Ambient Intelligence for Entertainment
o Networking support for Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality
o Pervasive Entertainment and Game-Playing
o Wearable Computers and Sensors for Entertainment
o Robots and Cyber Pets
o Novel Hardware Devices
o Distributed Simulation Systems


Authors should follow the Computer Networks (Elsevier) manuscript format
described at http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/comnet. Prospective authors
should submit a PDF version of their complete manuscript according to the
following timetable to: wolf@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de

Manuscript Due:                 March 15, 2004
Acceptance Notification:        May 15, 2004
Final Manuscript Due:           June 30, 2004
Publication Date:               November 2004


Guest Editors:
--------------

Lars C. Wolf
IBR
TU Braunschweig
Muehlenpfordtstraße 23
38106 Braunschweig
Germany
Email: wolf@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de


Ryohei Nakatsu
Chair, IFIP Specialist Group on Entertainment Computing
Professor, School of Science and Technology
Kwansei Gakuin University
Director, Entertainment Computing Research Laboratory
CEO, Nirvana Technology Inc.
Japan
Email: nakatsu@atr.co.jp


Jesse Schell
Entertainment Technology Center
Carnegie Mellon University
700 Technology Drive
CMU/ETC Room 5305
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
USA
Email: jns@cs.cmu.edu